Towards national standards of care in residential child care

Abstract

The aim of this research was to explore whether the draft National Standards for Residential Child Care meet the needs of quality care for children. The study is carried out through a qualitative approach. The study was carried out with eight children residing in two residential care homes, with two key individual professionals in the field and nine people who used to live in residential care. The study was carried out between August 2006 and April 2007. The interviews with children and adults show the importance of such standards. The interviews and focus group provide data about whether these draft standards meet the needs of children living in residential care. The results of this study imply that everyone agrees that the standards are important because they address the needs of children in care. Compliance with these standards will improve the quality of care. This suggests that everybody involved in residential care provision such as the care providers, social workers, care workers and those receiving care can benefit from compliance with the standards. In line with the contents of the standards, all the participants of the focus groups showed their desire to be involved in the process of entering care, because they feel that in that way they can express themselves and would be more comfortable with the knowledge of what is going on. In addition, results reveal that all the participants felt the need that sisters and brothers should be allowed to live together. Otherwise, they should be allowed to meet more frequently, at least once every week. Furthermore, from the results we can see that the participants attached the same importance to contact with their parents as is found in the standards. Also, the findings show that the participants also felt the need that they should be prepared and involved in the process of leaving care as is found in the third section of the standards. They showed that the transition process is really important for them. They feel that at that age they are more responsible and mature; therefore they think that at this point in time it is important to discuss this process with them so that together they can discuss what is best for their future. All in all, the results show that standards are needed for the provision of quality care so that the children would have a better family environment and they would have a better quality of life. Also, these standards can serve as guidelines for care providers and can offer protection to children in residential care.