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.

Displaying 1071 - 1080 of 1482

Browse Other Topics

Country Care Review: Netherlands

Better Care Network, 08 Jun 2015

This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Institutionalization of children in Kenya: A child rights Perspective - Does institutionalization of children in Kenya neglect a child rights based approach?

Stephen Ucembe - International Institute of Social Studies, 06 Jun 2015

This essay examines institutional care not as a structure or facility, but as a model of care and protection for orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya.

Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 01 Jun 2015

In this executive summary, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada provides an introduction to the use of residential schools for aboriginal children in Canada, presents an overview of the Commission’s activities, describes the history and legacy of these residential schools, and outlines the challenges of reconciliation, including 94 recommendations, or “calls to action” for reconciliation in the field of Child Welfare among many others.

View Report

Transitional Support Programmes for the Child and Youth Care Sector

Mamelani Projects, 01 Jun 2015

This booklet was developed by Mamelani Projects, a community development organisation in South Africa. The booklet outlines Mamelani’s approach to Youth Development and providing transitional support to young people as they transition out of Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs).

Occurrence and Consequences of Violence among Orphaned Institutionalized Children in Menoufia Governorate

Nabila El-sayed Saboula, Amal Attia Hussien, and Eman Mohamed El-Refaee - IOSR Journal of Nursing and Health Science, 01 Jun 2015

The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of violence among orphaned children in institutions in Egypt and its consequences on their physical and psychological health status.

The place of residential care in the English child welfare system: Research report

Di Hart and Ivana La Valle (University of East London) with Lisa Holmes (CCfR, Loughborough University) - Department for Education, 01 Jun 2015

This rapid review of the literature on residential care for looked-after children in the UK aims to describe the use of residential care for children within the child welfare systems of England and other relevant countries; review the evidence on children’s outcomes from residential care; and review the quality of the evidence and identify gaps in the evidence base in order to inform future research priorities.

Our Home, Safe Home

Save the Children in Bangladesh , 01 Jun 2015

Our Home, Safe Home captures the moving stories of girls who have lived or are still living in the Save the Children supported Safe Home at Daulatdia, Bangladesh.

Every Kid Needs a Family: Giving Children in the Child Welfare System the Best Chance for Success

Annie E. Casey Foundation, 19 May 2015

This KIDS COUNT policy report underscores the importance of family-based care and calls for limiting the role of residential treatment care for children in the US

Every Kid Needs a Family: Giving Children in the Child Welfare System the Best Chance for Success

Annie E. Casey Foundation, 19 May 2015

This KIDS COUNT policy report highlights the benefits of family care for children and the need to prioritize family settings for all children in the child welfare system in the United States.

Family Support and Alternative Care Tallinn Expert Meeting Report 2015

Council of the Baltic Sea States, Estonian Presidency 2014-2015, Sotsiaalministeerium, 06 May 2015

This report provides an overview of the two-day expert meeting on alternative care and family support in the Baltic Sea Region that took place in Tallinn, Estonia in May 2015.