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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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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Institutional Neglect in Romania’s Long-Term Residential Centers in the 1990s from the Perspective of Children’s Rights

Ecaterina Stativa, Adrian V. Rus, Sheri R. Parris, Jacquelyn S. Pennings, Oana Clocotici - Child Maltreatment in Residential Care, 03 Aug 2017

This study presents the findings from a secondary analysis of data collected in 1999, which focused on child abuse and neglect within long-term residential centers in Romania, from a child rights perspective.

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Institutional Care Environments for Infants and Young Children in Latin America and the Caribbean

Afton R. Kirk, Christina J. Groark, and Robert B. McCall - Child Maltreatment in Residential Care, 03 Aug 2017

This chapter from Child Maltreatment in Residential Care provides an overview of institutional care in Latin America and the Carribean, describes current efforts toward deinsitutionalization and child care reform in the region, and discusses practical suggestions for further research and reform.

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Young People’s Voice: The First Visiting Advocacy Project in Italian Residential Care for Children

Valentina Calcaterra & Maria Luisa Raineri - Department of Sociology, Catholic University of Milan, 01 Aug 2017

This article presents the research of the project "Giving Young People a Voice: Advocacy in Children’s Homes," which evaluated the implementation of a visiting advocacy project and services provided by an independent advocate working in children's homes in Italy.

Finding Common Ground with Orphanage Supporters

Philip Goldman, Maestral International - MacArthur Foundation , 27 Jul 2017

In this video, Philip Goldman, President of Maestral International, discusses how donors, faith communities, advocates and other committed actors can be brought together under the common belief that all children belong in families.

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EEG Correlation during Social Decision-making in Institutionalized Adolescents

Jorge Hevia-Orozco, Araceli Sanz-Martin, Miguel Angel Guevara and Marisela Hernández-Gonzalez - Abnormal & Behavioral Psychology, 26 Jul 2017

This study investigated and compared electroencephalogram (EEG) functioning between a group of institutionalized adolescents and a never institutionalized group of adolescents during a social decision making task.

Effectiveness of life skills education and psychoeducation on emotional and behavioral problems among adolescents in institutional care in Kenya: a longitudinal study

Victoria Mutiso, Albert Tele, Christine Musyimi, Isaiah Gitonga, Abednego Musau, David Ndetei - Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 25 Jul 2017

This study aimed to test the effectiveness of life skills education (LSE) and psychoeducation in the reduction of Youth Self Report (YSR) scores on institutionalized children in Kenya, using structured activities supported by trained facilitators.

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Africa Expert Consultation on Violence against Children in All Care Settings

Better Care Network & African Child Policy Forum, with support from CRS, Family for Every Child, Hope and Homes for Children and Save the Children , 21 Jul 2017

On 21-22 June 2017, the African Child Policy Forum and Better Care Network - with the support of Catholic Relief Services, Family for Every Child, Hope and Homes for Children and Save the Children - convened 40 leaders representing child rights bodies, regional economic communities, national governments and civil society in Nairobi, Kenya for the Africa Expert Consultation: Violence Against Children in All Care Settings.