Residential Care

Residential care refers to any group living arrangement where children are looked after by paid staff in a specially designated facility. It covers a wide variety of settings ranging from emergency shelters and small group homes, to larger-scale institutions such as orphanages or children’s homes. As a general rule, residential care should only be provided on a temporary basis, for example while efforts are made to promote family reintegration or to identify family based care options for children. In some cases however, certain forms of residential care can operate as a longer-term care solution for children.

Residential care can be a positive alternative for some girls and boys when it is used appropriately and meets certain standards. For example, small group home living arrangements or supported independent living can work well in cases where children (often older teenagers) don’t feel comfortable in a family setting, or where large groups of siblings want to stay together. Similarly in cases where children have suffered trauma, severe abuse or neglect, have a severe disability or require specialised support, small group settings where trained staff can provide therapeutic care may be an appropriate care option. As much as possible, residential facilities should be small, community-based, organised to resemble a family-type or small-group situation and allow for sufficient staff to provide individualised attention to children.

It is important to distinguish between residential care and institutional care, which should only be used as a last and temporary resort for children. Institutional care refers to large-scale group care within big institutional facilities and has been associated with a wide range of problems for children including physical, social and emotional under-development - with babies and infants under the age of three especially vulnerable to lasting harm. Long periods in an institution can deprive children of positive individual attention from consistent caregivers, make it difficult for them to assimilate back into a family and community, and are often linked to increased risk of sexual and physical abuse, a lack of stimulation, and harsh discipline.

In recent years, deinstitutionalisation has been at the heart of national care reform efforts, which seek to reduce reliance on institutional care and to promote family and community based care options for children instead. This includes efforts to promote ethical volunteerism within residential care centres, educate donors and to avoid proliferation of orphanages and children’s homes after humanitarian emergencies.

The documents in this section outline residential care options for children, examine the damaging impact of institutions, explore family and community-based care alternatives and describe care reform efforts including initiatives around ethical volunteerism.

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“A child who is hidden has no rights”: Responses to violence against children with disabilities

Janet Njelesani - Child Abuse & Neglect, 08 Jan 2019

Guided by social-ecological theory, this study explores responses to violence against children with disabilities, including preventative measures and treatment of victims in the West African countries of Guinea, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Togo.

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Emotional and Behavioral Problems and Psychosocial Skills in Adolescents in Residential Care

Joana Campos, Maria Barbosa-Ducharne, Pedro Dias, Sónia Rodrigues, Ana Catarina Martins, Mariana Leal - Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 03 Jan 2019

This study compared adolescents in residential care (RC) in Portugal, with a Portuguese community sample on the incidence of mental health problems and psychosocial skills, explored gender differences and the relationships between mental health problems and psychosocial competencies.

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Empowering Residential Carers of Looked After Young People: The Impact of the Emotional Warmth Model of Professional Childcare

Robert John Seán Cameron & Ravi K Das - The British Journal of Social Work, 03 Jan 2019

This study examined the impact of the model of professional childcare in a three-year project involving fifty-three children and young people and their carers in local-authority children’s homes on two UK areas (Northern and Southern England).

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Self-control and subjective-wellbeing of adolescents in residential care: The moderator role of experienced happiness and daily-life activities with caregivers

Harry Orúzar, Rafael Miranda, Xavier Oriol, Carme Montserrat - Children and Youth Services Review, 02 Jan 2019

The main objective of this study is to explore, from a bottom-up perspective, the moderating effect of an experienced happiness indicator (OHS) and the daily-life activities shared between caregivers and adolescents in the residential care system in Peru.

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Residential childcare in Ghana: Analysing current trends and drivers

Kwabena Frimpong-Manso, Antoine Deliege, Theresa Wilson and Yvonne Norman - Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care, 2019

The paper describes the findings of a geographical mapping and analysis of residential care facilities in four regions of Ghana.

Handbook for Commune Committees for Women and Children (CCWC): Improving Child Care and the Safe Return of 30 Per Cent of Children in Residential Care to Their Families

Cambodian Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, 2019

This handbook highlights the role commune committees for women and children (CCWCs) can play in support of implementing the Action Plan for improving child care, which is being carried out in five priority provinces in Cambodia. The Action Plan intends to safely return 30 per cent of children in residential care to their families by the end of 2018, as well as establish effective preventive and gatekeeping mechanisms to prevent unnecessary family separation. This handbook is useful in strengthening CCWCs’ roles and enhancing their knowledge and capacity to protect children in their communes.

The Dynamics of Prolonged Child Residential Care in Botswana: Prospects for Alternative Child Care Systems

Kabo Diraditsile and Gosego Ivy Mmeanyana - Botswana Notes and Records, 2019

Using the Attachment Theory as a guiding framework, this study sought to explore the effects of prolonged residential care for children.

Exploring the "Orphan Myth" in Thailand: An Analysis of Unregistered, Private Children's Homes in Sangkhlaburi District

Convention on the Rights of the Child Coalition for Thailand Alternative Care Working Group, 2019

This summary report presents key findings and recommendations from an analysis of unregistered, private children's homes in Thailand's Sangkhlaburi District.

Adolescent Girls’ Psychosocial Experiences Following Transition out of Institutionalized Care: A Qualitative Exploration of Life at an After-Care Program in Delhi, India

Neha Srivastava - University of California Los Angeles, 2019

This dissertation study aimed to describe and understand adolescent girls’ subjective experiences of life in an after-care facility after transitioning out of institutionalized care in Delhi, India.

Lessons learnt from the child protection component of the Global Fund’s Young Women and Girls Programme in ten districts in South Africa

Röhrs S, Delany A & Mathews S - Children's Institute University of Cape Town, 2019

This briefing paper reports on the lessons learnt from a process evaluation of the child protection component of the Global Fund’s Young Women and Girls (YWG) programme, a multi-pronged HIV prevention programme targeting young women and girls implemented in 10 districts in South Africa.