Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Residential Care for Children and Youth: A Good Place to Grow

Is residential care ’inherently harmful’? This book argues that this conventional wisdom is wrong and is, itself, harmful to a significant number of children and youth.

The presumptive view is based largely on overgeneralizations from research with infants and very young children raised in extremely deprived environments. A careful analysis of the available research supports the use of high-quality residential care as a treatment of choice with certain groups of needy children and youth, not a last resort intervention. The nature of high-quality care is explored through child development theory and research and two empirically supported models of care are described in detail.

It will be of interest to all scholars and students of child development, child welfare, youth work, social work and education as well as professionals working within these fields.

Bruce B. Henderson is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Western Carolina University. He received his doctorate from the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development and is a member of the Society for Research in Child Development. He has published widely on children’s curiosity, memory development, and higher education.