Residential Group Care Facilities for Children and Youth in the United States, 1965 and 1981: An Analysis of Change Over Time

• NCJ Number: 134680
• Author(s): M M Dore; T M Young; D M Pappenfort
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 50 pages
• Corporate Author: University of Chicago
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Report No. 1

Annotation

This document examines changes that have taken place between 1965 and 1981 in residential facilities for children and youth with special problems or needs.

Abstract

In the field of residential care of pregnant adolescents, it appears that, despite an increase in the number of births to adolescent mothers in the past 16 years, the preferred mode of serving this population is no longer residential group care. With regard to child welfare, the most notable change was the relative decrease in the proportion of residential group care facilities for dependent, neglected, or abused children and youth. In the juvenile justice stream, the overall increase of plus 154 percent in numbers of residential facilities since 1965 is due in part to the notable increase in the number of private facilities in this stream of care. There were almost four times as many residential mental health facilities listed in 1981 as in 1965. The emergence of specialized residential facilities for the treatment of drug and alcohol abuse among children and youth is one of the major changes in residential care. The most striking overall change is that of the reduction in facility size. 11 tables, 2 maps, and appendix