Group care in Northern Ireland: A survey of residents problems

Abstract

Despite its troubled history, residential care continues to play a much needed role in the child care continuum. A key issue, however, is the apparent lack of agreement over the practice knowledge required to guide practitioners in their day to day work with young people. This article begins to address this issue by outlining the findings of a small quantitative study of young people's presenting behaviours and problems in children's homes in the greater Belfast area in Northern Ireland. The findings indicate a high prevalence of emotional, social and behavioural difficulties among the young people. The implications of these findings for social work practice are discussed with reference to three areas: perspectives on practice; models of intervention; and the development of explanatory theory