A NCERCC quick read guide to ‘Becoming evidence informed about residential care’
There is an increasing recognition that children’s homes are more than a ‘last resort’ for children and young people who cannot be placed in kinship or foster care.
Policy documents recognise that children’s homes can serve a range of purposes and may be better suited to the needs of certain young people. The nature of the needs that are best met by children’s homes is, however, unclear and there is little evidence cited in policy texts to support claims about the needs that children’s homes can meet.
Future policy is likely to benefit from new and more detailed evidence which sheds light on what these needs may be and how children’s homes can meet them. This has been stated for decades. What are the factors that inhibits governments?"