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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Caregiver-child interaction, caregiver transitions, and group size as mediators between intervention condition and attachment and physical growth outcomes in institutionalized children

Hilary A. Warner et al - Infant Mental Health Journal , 16 Aug 2017

This report presents the findings from a secondary analysis of data from a comprehensive intervention in three baby homes in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. The analysis examined whether caregiver-child interaction quality, number of caregiver transitions, and group size mediated the impact of intervention on children's attachment behaviors and physical growth.

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Preventing Parent-Child Separation: Myths and Facts from a KAP Survey in Central and Western Liberia

Mónica Ruiz-Casares, Russell Steele, Rashid Bangura and Geoffrey Oyat - Global Social Welfare, 16 Aug 2017

This paper presents the findings from a population-based, multi-stage random cluster knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) survey of child caregivers in Liberia, revealing the primary reasons for parent-child separation and common misconceptions about alternative care.

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Language and Psychosocial Skills of Institutionalized Children in Greece

Asimina Ralli, Schiza Melpomeni, and Tsiatsiou Alexandra - The Open Family Studies Journal , 12 Aug 2017

This study investigated the language and psychosocial skills of pre-school aged Greek institutionalized children in comparison to Greek children of the same age raised in a family environment.

Changing the Way We Care | A Family Torn

Catholic Relief Services, 10 Aug 2017

All over the world, children are placed in orphanages because their families do not have the resources to care for them. In this short film, a mother makes the difficult decision to leave her daughter to the care of an orphanage.

Young people's views on safety and preventing abuse and harm in residential care: “It's got to be better than home”

Tim Moore, Morag McAruthur, Jodi Death, Clare Tilbury and Steven Rouche - Children and Youth Services Review, 08 Aug 2017

This study consulted with young people in Australia about their perspectives on what makes residential care safe and how safety could be improved within residential care.

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Institutional Care in Ukraine: Historical Underpinnings and Developmental Consequences

Nataliya A. Dobrova-Krol & Marinus H. van IJzendoorn - Child Maltreatment in Residential Care, 03 Aug 2017

This study provides a background on the historical, cultural, and social circumstances in Ukraine as it relates to the continued institutionalization of children in the country, despite efforts for reform.

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Child Sexual Abuse in Religiously Affiliated and Secular Institutions in Germany

Miriam Rassenhofer, Nina Spröber-Kolb, Paul L. Plener, Michael Kölch, and Jörg M. Fegert - Child Maltreatment in Residential Care, 03 Aug 2017

This study investigated the prevalence and nature of abuse experienced by children in secular and non-secular care institutions in Germany.

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An Introduction to Maltreatment of Institutionalized Children

Adrian V. Rus et al. - Child Maltreatment in Residential Care, 03 Aug 2017

This chapter serves as an introduction to the book Child Maltreatment in Residential Care and provides a brief overview of the research on child maltreatment within the context of institutional care.

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The Prevalence of Stunting Among the Romanian Institutionalized Children Placed in Long-Term Institutional Settings in the 1990s

Ecaterina Stativa et al. - Child Maltreatment in Residential Care , 03 Aug 2017

This secondary analysis, based off data collected in 1999 by the Survey on Child Abuse in Residential Care Institutions in Romania, investiged the prevalence of growth stunting of institutionalized Romanian children and compared the prevalence of stunting between four different institutional contexts.

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Best Practices for Residential/Institutional/Group Care of Children: A Harm Reduction Framework

Victor Groza & Kelley McCreery Bunkers - Child Maltreatment in Residential Care, 03 Aug 2017

This paper utilizes a harm-reduction framework to present best practices for improving residential care and reducing the negative effects residential care can have on children's development.

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