Children's Homes: A Study in Diversity (Living Away From Home - Studies in Residential Care)

Children s homes have cultures which vary from the benign to themalignant. Using a distinctive cross-institutional design, thisstudy of 48 children s homes shows how some were characterised bywidespread bullying, delinquency and low morale among both staffand residents whilst others were relatively peaceful and friendly.These differences are explained by the way these homes wereresourced, managed and run, thus providing lessons for the future.This accessible text provides* a much-needed insight into the management of children s homes andthe impact on their residents* perspectives from a large sample of children, parents, staff andsocial workers* an examination of the effect on staff and residents of featuressuch as the size of the home, staff ratios, the proportion oftrained staff and the approach of the headCommissioned by the Department of Health, this study is essentialreading for practitioners in the social and welfare services andothers with an interest in the well-being of deprived, troubled ordelinquent young people.