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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Child protection in Italy and Spain: Influence of the family supported society

Jorge F. del Valle, Cinzia Canali, Amaia Bravo, Tiziano Vecchiato, 2013

The article reviews the historical development of out-of-home care in Italy and Spain and compares foster family and residential care, as well as the main research contributions to these topics in both countries.

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A Snapshot of Alternative Care Arrangements in Tanzania

SOS Children’s Villages, 2013

This report and research conducted by SOS Children’s Villages reviews alternative care arrangements in Tanzania.

ChildSafe Traveler Tips: Children Are Not Tourist Attractions

The ChildSafe network, 2013

The ChildSafe network has produced important information for people who might be traveling abroad and can be confronted by situations where children are in distress or at risk of being abused or harmed, including through the practice of "orphan tourism".

A Snapshot of Alternative Care Arrangements in Malawi

SOS Children’s Villages International, 2013

This report from SOS Children’s Villages assesses Malawi’s compliance with, and implementation of, the UN Guidelines on the Alternative Care of Children.

CEE/CIS: Child Care Systems Reforms in Eastern Europe and Central Asia: Why We Need to Focus on Children Below Three years

Jean-Claude Legrand, Senior Regional Advisor Child Protection, UNICEF CEE/CIS, 21 Nov 2012

This presentation to the 2012 Sofia Conference by Jean-Claude Legrand, Senior Regional Advisor Child Protection, UNICEF CEE/CIS, highlights the situation of children in formal care, with particular concern for children with disabilities, and recommends reform and policy initiatives to improve the childcare systems in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Toolkit on the Use of European Union Funds for the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care

European Expert Group on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care, 01 Nov 2012

The purpose of the toolkit is to assist all public authorities in Europe involved in the programming and implementation of EU Structural Funds (and other relevant funds) to make decisions which will help to improve the lives of more than a million European citizens currently living in institutional care. The toolkit aims to explain how EU funds can support national, regional and local authorities in designing and implementing structural reforms to develop quality family-based and community-based alternatives. The toolkit explicitly deals with the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), but it aims to apply also to the programming and implementation of the European Agricultural and Rural Development Fund (EARDF) and the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA).

National Survey of Institutions for Children in Rwanda

Hope and Homes for Children Rwanda, 01 Nov 2012

Hope and Homes for Children, in partnership with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), has conducted a national survey of all institutions for children in Rwanda to obtain an accurate picture of the current institutional system and the children living within it which can be used to inform decision-making regarding the implementation of the reform strategy and provide a baseline against which progress can be measured in the future.

Protecting children from violence in the family and alternative care settings

Working Group on children without parental care – subgroup of NGO group for the CRC, 31 Oct 2012

This briefing note, produced by an Interagency Working Group on children without parental care, is designed to highlight the vulnerability of children to violence in the family and alternative care settings, and to encourage members of the CAT Committee to consider the potential added value of reference to the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children.

A Child of the State

Lemn Sissay, 23 Oct 2012

In this TED Talk, poet and playwright Lemn Sissay tells his story of growing up in foster care in the UK.

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De-institutionalisation and Quality Alternative Care for Children in Europe: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward

Eurochild and Hope and Homes for Children, 10 Oct 2012

This paper aims to raise awareness on the perverse effects of institutionalisation on children and it calls for comprehensive system reforms, starting with a transition towards family and community-based care. It highlights country level lessons learnt in the European context that demonstrate how deinstitutionalisation can be achieved in practice.