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 931 - 940 of 1482

Browse Other Topics

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.

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.

View Article

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.

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

Tuhinul Islam Leon Fulcher (Editors), The CYC-Net Press, 01 Oct 2016

Edited by Tuhinul Islam and Leon Fulcher, Residential Child and Youth Care in a Developing World: Global Perspectives is the first volume of a series of four, bringing together contributions from local practitioners, educators and researchers across all regions 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.

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.

View Link

Children looked after in England including adoption: 2015 to 2016

UK Department for Education, 29 Sep 2016

This statistical release provides information about looked after children in England for the year ending 31 March 2016, including where they are placed, their legal status, the numbers starting and ceasing to be looked after, and the numbers who go missing or are away from their placement without authorisation.

Patterns of Psychotropic Medication at Admission for Youth in Residential Care

Jonathan C. Huefner, Gail L. Smith, Jay L. Ringle, Amy L. Stevens, W. Alex Mason, Gilbert R. Parra - Journal of Child and Family Studies, 19 Sep 2016

High levels of psychotropic medication use and polypharmacy are common for emotionally and behaviorally troubled youth entering residential care.

View Link

Youth Development Models and Indian Youth: A Critical Literature Review, Case Example and Applications to Youth in Alternative Care

Heath, Ryan D.; Das, Adit; Khoury, Nayla M., - Institutionalised Children Explorations and Beyond: An International Journal on Alternative Care, 16 Sep 2016

This article aims to assess the relevance of Western youth development models to adolescents in institutional care in India. The authors review three frameworks for positive youth development.

View Article