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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Summary advisory report ‘Reflection on Intercountry Adoption’ of the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles

Raad Voor Strafrechtstoepassing en Jeugbescherming, 02 Nov 2016

This document discusses the means by which the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Youth Protection in the Netherlands (the Council) can provide the highest level of protection for children placed in the intercountry adoption focus group.

Alternative Child Care and Deinstitutionalisation: A case study of Uganda

Dr. Ian Milligan - European Union, CELCIS, SOS Children's Villages , 01 Nov 2016

This report is a case study on alternative care arrangements and deinstitutionalisation in Uganda.

“Children in Charge” Imagining systemic reform and redesign in care commissioning for children: A Discussion Paper

Children England, 01 Nov 2016

This paper is an attempt at rethinking the systemic problems facing the funding and commissioning of care services and placements for children in need of care and adoption, across ALL types and specialisms of placement, from kinship care, through foster care, to residential care and adoption.

Alternative Child Care and Deinstitutionalisation: A Case Study of Ecuador

Dr Chrissie Gale and Mg Patricia Calero Teran - CELCIS & SOS Children's Villages, 01 Nov 2016

The European Commission Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) commissioned SOS Children’s Villages International to undertake case studies of arrangements for ‘alternative child care’ in six non-European countries across three continents to help inform the EU’s future strategy for provision of support for children in countries outside Europe. This report is a case study of one of the six countries, Ecuador.

Alternative Child Care and Deinstitutionalisation in Sub Saharan Africa

Dr Ian Milligan, Mr Richard Withington, Dr Graham Connelly, Dr Chrissie Gale - European Union, CELCIS, SOS Children's Villages, 01 Nov 2016

This desk review provides a brief mapping and summary of existing knowledge on alternative care and deinstitutionalisation in Africa.

UAFA: Deinstitutionalization

UAFA, 31 Oct 2016

In this video from United Aid for Azerbaijan, several experts and public officials discuss the importance of deinstitutionalization.

Restoring and Empowering Traumatized Girls in a Philippines-Based Independent Living Program: An Exploratory Study

Laura A. Voith, Joan Marie Blakey - Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 27 Oct 2016

Employing focus groups and participant-observation, this exploratory study examined areas of personal development, knowledge, and skills of young women who were formally in residential care in the Philippines to determine success factors for young women with traumatic histories.

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Country Care Review: United Arab Emirates

Better Care Network, 03 Oct 2016

This country care review includes the care-related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities during the sixteenth session (15 Aug 2016 – 2 Sept 2016) of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Ethiopia Child Protection Factsheet

UNHCR, 01 Oct 2016

In this Ethiopia Child Protection Fact Sheet, UNHCR provides the main child protection highlights, issues, and trends for 2014 to 2016.

The development of children placed into different types of Russian families following an institutional intervention

McCall, Robert B.; Muhamedrahimov, Rifkat J.; Groark, Christina J.; Palmov, Oleg I.; Nikiforova, Natalia V.; Salaway, Jennifer L.; Julian, Megan M., 01 Oct 2016

This study examined whether interventions in Russian Baby Homes promoting warm, sensitive, and responsive caregiver-child interactions and relationships would be associated with advantages in those children’s behavior years after they transitioned to family care.

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