Evaluating Residential Child Care in England

This article theorises adult-child touch in residential child care as a relational practice, contributing to an emergent literature on residential child care, and conceptualises residential child care as a Lifespace. It responds to an on-going debate surrounding the use of touch in the sector, which has attracted academic attention since the early 1990s as a result of abuse scandals, the ensuing ‘no touch’ policies and a growing body of research identifying touch as an important aspect of child development. The paper draws upon a six-month ethnographic study of residential child care, which was explicitly designed to observe everyday interactions between residential care workers and young people. The findings suggest that touch cannot be discussed in isolation from either relationships or a contextual understanding of relationships in the specific context of residential child care. The study found that touch is unavoidable, relational and that dichotomous understandings of touch continue to present issues for both theory and practice.

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Care Ethics in Residential Child Care: A Different Voice

Ethics and Social Welfare ◽

10.1080/17496535.2011.571068 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 181-195 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Laura Steckley ◽

Mark Smith

Keyword(s):

Child Care ◽

Care Ethics ◽

Residential Child Care

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Commentary on 'Managing the process of change in residential child care: A consultancy approach'

Journal of Social Work Practice ◽

10.1080/02650530120042046 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 103-105 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Stephen Briggs

Keyword(s):

Child Care ◽

Process Of Change ◽

Residential Child Care

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Silencing touch and touching silence? Understanding the complex links between touch and silence in residential child care settings

Childhood ◽

10.1177/09075682211000111 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 090756822110001

Author(s):

Lorraine Green ◽

Lisa Warwick ◽

Lisa Moran

Keyword(s):

Child Care ◽

Qualitative Studies ◽

Academic Literature ◽

Residential Child Care ◽

Children’S Homes ◽

Residential Childcare

Touch and silence are neglected across most disciplines, including within child-specific academic literature, and their interconnections have not been studied before. This article focuses on touch/silence convergences in residential childcare in England, drawing from two qualitative studies. We reveal the fluidity, multidimensionality and intersectionality of touch and silence, illuminating the labyrinthine ways they frequently coalesce in children’s homes, often assuming ambiguous forms and meanings. We therefore offer new understandings of these concepts, as multifaceted, entwined, temporal and malleable.

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