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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Supreme Court of India Judgment Re: Exploitation of Children in Orphanages in the State of Tamil Nadu

Supreme Court of India, 05 May 2017

This document, released by the Supreme Court of India on 5 May 2017, outlines decisions taken by the Court in regards to child care institutions in India.

Therapeutic residential care in Spain. Population treated and therapeutic coverage

Eduardo Martín, Carla González-García, Jorge F. del Valle, Amaia Bravo - Child and Family Social Work, 05 May 2017

The goal of this study is to describe the population treated in therapeutic residential care (TRC) facilities in Spain and the therapeutic coverage given.

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Hungary state institution to close over shocking conditions report

Nick Thorpe - BBC News, Hungary, 04 May 2017

Tophaz Special Home, a 220-bed state institution for the disabled in Hungary, is to be closed following a shock report by a human rights group.

Country Care Review: Honduras

Better Care Network, 04 May 2017

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during the seventeenth session (20 March 2017 - 12 April 2017) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Episode 51: Dr. Delia Pop – How We Can Discover and Develop Each Child’s Uniqueness in Cross-Cultural Situations?

Think Orphan , 02 May 2017

In this episode of the Think Orphan podcast, Philip Darke speaks with Dr. Delia Pop about the impact of institutional care, deinstitutionalisation (DI), cross-cultural application, and how faith communities, missionaries, volunteers, and donors can work toward better outcomes for children outside family care.

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Factors Affecting the Psychosocial Well-Being of Orphan and Separated Children in Five Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Which is More Important, Quality or Form of Care?

Hy V. Huynh - Clemson University, 01 May 2017

This study explored the extent to which components of quality of care predicted psychosocial well-being of orphaned and separated children (OSC), as well as the extent to which these components of quality of care and demographic factors moderated the associations between care settings and psychosocial well-being of orphaned and separated children (OSC).

The Charm Toolkit Piloted Findings from Monitoring Visits: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary and United Kingdom

Dr Sarah Woodin - Mental Disability Advocacy Centre, Ann Craft Trust, Global Initiative on Psychiatry, The League of Human Rights , 01 May 2017

This report is one of several outputs arising from the project “Identifying and Preventing Abuse of Children with Mental Disabilities in Institutions.” The report presents findings from the monitoring of European institutions where children with intellectual disabilities and children with psychosocial disabilities live on a permanent or semi-permanent basis, through the development of tools and guidance aligned with international human rights law and policy.

Residential Child and Youth Care in a Developing World: European Perspectives

Tuhinul Islam & Leon Fulcher (Editors) - The CYC-Net Press, 01 May 2017

Edited by Tuhinul Islam and Leon Fulcher, Residential Child and Youth Care in a Developing World: European Perspectives is the second volume in a series of four, bringing together contributions from local practitioners, educators and researchers throughout Europe on their countries' residential child and youth care traditions, policies and practices, as well as knowledge about children's needs, rights and personal upbringing there.

Connecting the Dots: Supporting the Recovery and Reintegration of Children Affected by Sexual Exploitation

Claire Cody - ECPAT International, 01 May 2017

This report starts to collate evidence on what appears to be important to children who have experienced sexual exploitation.

“You Can't Run Into a Burning Building Without Getting Burned Yourself”: An Ecological Systems Perspective of Parents Choosing Out-of-Home Care for an Intercountry Adopted Child

JaeRan Kim - Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 01 May 2017

This study explored the experiences of adoptive parents who chose to place their intercountry adopted child in out-of-home care due to the child's disability.

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