Social Work Now, Issue 35, pages 22-27.
Internationally there has been a decline in the use of residential care as a placement option for children in need of care and protection, resulting primarily from beliefs that children are best left in the care of their own families where possible. In New Zealand this is reflected in The Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989, which is based on the principle that ‘whānau and families should be strengthened and maintained, should participate in decisions affecting the child, and (that) decisions made should encompass both the welfare of the child and the stability of the whānau/family’ (Connolly, 2001). Recently debates have resurfaced about the use of residential care as a positive placement option rather than as a last resort for children’s care and protection needs (Milligan, Hunter & Kendrick, 2006; Crimmens & Milligan, 2005). Irrespective of opinion about such debates, the fact remains that in New Zealand children are frequently placed into residential care settings, even if only for short periods of time, meaning there is a need for safe and high quality residential care to be made available in the care and protection sector.
As far back as 1977, concerns have been voiced in New Zealand about the lack of research in the area of residential care. A recent research project undertaken to collect information from the perspective of children about their experiences in a residential care setting was an attempt to fill this gap. This article will report on the results of this project against the background of international studies and existing literature on children’s perspectives of residential care.