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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Buckner Case Study: Transitioning from Residential Care to Family Care in Guatemala

Faith to Action, 12 Apr 2023

The story of Buckner Guatemala’s transition from residential care to family care is told in this recently released Faith to Action case study. The case study details their experience through three stages of transition—learning, preparation and planning, and full transition—with transparency. It addresses common challenges for transitioning organizations, as well as the strategies Buckner took to overcome them.

Orphanage Trafficking and the Sustainable Development Goals

Kathryn E. van Doore, Rebecca Nhep, 01 Apr 2023

This article examines the intersections of orphanage trafficking, a form of child trafficking and modern slavery, and the sale and sexual exploitation of children with reference to the Sustainable Development Goals. It outlines the contextual challenges of these intersections highlighting the special protection needs of children residing in institutions and outlines how orphanage tourism and funding undermine care reform efforts of national authorities.

Fostering Emotional and Mental Health in Residential Youth Care Facilities: A Systematic Review of Programs Targeted to Care Workers

Laura Santos, Rita Ramos Miguel, Maria do Rosário Pinheiro, Daniel Rijo, 01 Apr 2023

This Children and Youth Services Review study performed a systematic review of research on training programs aiming the fostering of emotional and mental health in residential youth care. A systematic search was conducted in nine digital databases and other sources (websites, relevant journals, reference lists of included articles and relevant reviews), for publications from 1980 to 2021.

Insights from Moldova: Closing of a Residential Institution

Changing the Way We Care, 01 Feb 2023

After 60 years of serving as a residential institution for children with disabilities, the Hîncești Auxiliary Boarding school (SIA Hîncești) in Moldova closed its doors to children in May 2022. The closing of Hîncești SIA serves as a harbinger for what is possible for other institutions for children with disabilities in Moldova and around the world.

Perspective din Moldova: Închiderea unei Instituții Rezidențiale

Changing the Way We Care, 01 Feb 2023

După 60 de ani de activitate în calitate de instituție rezidențială pentru copii cu dizabilități, Școala-Internat Auxiliară Hîncești (SIA Hîncești) din Moldova și-a închis, în cele din urmă, ușile în mai 2022. Închiderea SIA Hîncești și reintegrar

Reintegration from Residential to Kinship Care in Uganda

UNICEF, Changing the Way We Care, 31 Jan 2023

This case study details the experience of Attim, a 54-year-old grandmother from Eastern Uganda who provides care for her grandchildren after they left residential care. Social workers in Uganda often find that placement with extended family members is the most appropriate option for children leaving residential care.

Angolan Children’s Experiences in Residential Centers: Displacement, Liminality, and Belonging

Kristina João Nazimova, 11 Jan 2023

This article examines how language, liminality, and social marginalization converge in the institutional lives of two displaced children in Angola. A displaced child is very likely to be placed into institutionalized care, which in Angola exists in the form of centros de acolhimento, residential centers that house minors affected by orphanhood, poverty, displacement, or abandonment. Drawing on one year of ethnographic research in two residential centers, the article argues that despite being sites of care and protection, some children come to desire living on the street as a byproduct of persistent marginalization and forms of liminality in the institutions.

International Journal of the Sociology of Language

Risk Factors of Orphan and Vulnerable Children in a Children’s Home During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Lucia Munongi, Daphney Mawila, 30 Dec 2022

This study aimed to explore the risks facing orphans and vulnerable children in a children’s home in a township setting during COVID-19 in Johannesburg, South Africa.