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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Specialized Residential Placements for Child Trafficking Victims 2019

Amy Farrell, Sarah Lockwood, Kelly Goggin, Shannon Hogan - Violence and Justice Research Laboratory, Northeastern University, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2019

This study outlines the policies, practices, and programming that have been implemented across the US to provide specialized responses to exploited and trafficked youth within residential placement settings.

Children in care: Spending time in institutions causes overwhelming harm to children. How can we build alternatives?

Apolitical, 2019

This field guide, produced by Apolitical in partnership with Hope and Homes for Children, is designed to help public servants understand the issue of children in care. It covers the following learning objectives: (1) Understand why experts say institutional care is harmful to children, (2) Learn about deinstitutionalisation and new approaches to replace institutions and prevent family separation, and (3) Learn about interventions that have improved outcomes for kids who do experience care.

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Occupational Aspirations of Care Leavers and their Pathways to Work

Sabrina Göbel, Annabell Hansmeyer, Marei Lunz, Ulla Peters - Social Work & Society, 2019

In this article, the authors examine the experiences of transitions to work and the associated challenges for the agency of young people leaving residential care institutions in Luxembourg.

When a good heart is not enough: Summary of a research project "A Comparative Analysis between the Practice of Chiang Mai Children's Homes and the United Nations Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children"

CRC Coalition Thailand, 2019

This summary report presents the findings of a study comparing practices within residential children's homes in the Thai province of Chiang Mai with the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children.

Factors Affecting Educational and Vocational Plans of Foster Care Charges

Marzena Ruszkowska & Józefa Matejek - Society. Integration. Education. Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference, 2019

In this study, the authors analyzed the literature on foster care in Poland and conducted a narrative questionnaire with an educator who simultaneously holds the responsibility for teaching youth in foster care autonomy in order to identify factors that affect educational and vocational plans that foster care charges have.

Deinstitutionalization of Youth Under Institutional Care: Transition from Institutional Care to Independent Life

Leontina Mihaela Dragu - Revista Universitară de Sociologie, 2019

The present study analyzes the process of deinstitutionalization in Romania, as a transition stage in the life of youngsters who leave care system after turning eighteen.

Caring and thriving: An international qualitative study of caregivers of orphaned and vulnerable children and strategies to sustain positive mental health

Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, et al - Children and Youth Services Review, 24 Dec 2018

The study's objective was to determine what successful caregivers of orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) in diverse countries do to sustain their positive mental health.

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Youth Transitioning Out of Residential Care in South Africa: Toward Ubuntu and Interdependent Living

Rajeshree Moodley, Tanusha Raniga, Vishanthie Sewpaul - Emerging Adulthood, 19 Dec 2018

Informed by the qualitative method and the descriptive-interpretive design, this study, which was underscored by radical humanist goals of structural social work, reflects the voices of 16 youth who had transitioned out of care.

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Identifying effective interventions for promoting parent engagement and family reunification for children in out-of-home care: A series of meta-analyses

Christine Maltais, Chantal Cyr, Geneviève Parent, Katherine Pascuzzo - Child Abuse & Neglect, 19 Dec 2018

The aim of this meta-analysis is to identify the most effective interventions to promote parental engagement and family reunification in high-income countries.

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‘This is our story’: Children and young people on criminalisation in residential care: Ending the criminalisation of children in residential care. Briefing four.

The Howard League for Penal Reform, 19 Dec 2018

This briefing, part of a series from the Howard Leauge, tells the anonymised stories of four children and young people who have been criminalised in residential care in their own words.