For the Few Not the Many: An Australian Perspective on the Use of Therapeutic Residential Care for Children and Young People

ABSTRACT

This article provides data about the national usage of residential care services for children and young people in Australia. A number of definitions of therapeutic residential care are then considered. Next details of the debate in New South Wales and elsewhere in Australia are reviewed. The focus then moves to the identification of the characteristics of those children and young people who may need 24/7 therapeutic residential care. The final section is about the difficulty of transitioning standard or generic residential care programs into therapeutic residential care.

KEYWORDS:

• therapeutic residential care
• definitions
• population
• cost comparisons
• transition