Residential Group Care as a Last Resort: Challenging the Rhetoric

ABSTRACT

There is a prevalent view in England that family-based care is the preferred placement option for children placed in out-of-home care. Nonetheless, it is acknowledged that for some young people residential group care can offer the best chance of positive outcomes, transition, and in some cases a route to permanence. With an emphasis on innovation, there has been a recent governmental focus on the role and purpose of these placements. This conceptual paper explores how the political and legislative context has influenced the current opinion and use of residential care, as well as examining the importance of factors such as attachment and relationships, parenting/intervention, the notion of home, a sense of belonging, and adolescent development. Evidence exploring associated risk and resilience factors is also discussed. We question whether adopting a child development perspective and moving the discourse away from placement type to placement purpose would better support children and young people to fulfill their life chances. Residential care undoubtedly offers a different experience to that of family-based care, although, further research assessing a wider range of attributable outcomes is necessary to understand how policy and practice can intervene to best support development and opportunity for children placed in out-of-home care.

KEYWORDS:

• children’s residential care
• out-of-home care
• belonging
• placement purpose

Notes

1. Clinically significant mental health difficulties as defined by a “clinically significant score” on the Goodman Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire.