Peer-reviewed article
Rethinking Well-being in Residential Child Care: A Critical Synthesis of Risk, Protection, and Relational Ecologies
Colin Calleja, Colin Calleja, Ugo Pace ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This peer-reviewed review synthesises research on the psychological well-being of children and adolescents living in residential care settings. It argues that well-being cannot be understood through isolated risk factors alone, but rather emerges from the interaction between children's internal resources and the quality of their relationships with caregivers, peers, and the broader care environment. The review identifies stable, emotionally attuned caregiver relationships, positive peer dynamics, and trauma-sensitive care practices as key protective conditions. The paper highlights significant gaps in the field, including weak longitudinal evidence and limited cross-cultural research, and calls for a shift from deficit-focused models to a more integrated, relational understanding of care.
Key points
- Children in residential care experience heightened developmental vulnerability from both pre-placement adversity and the relational and institutional conditions of care
- Well-being is shaped by interactions between children's internal resources (resilience, self-esteem, emotional intelligence, coping) and external relational-ecological factors (caregiver attachment, peer relationships, sibling co-placement, family contact, placement duration, organisational quality)
- Stable and emotionally attuned caregiver-child relationships, positive peer climates, and trauma-sensitive, developmentally responsive care practices are central protective conditions
- Current evidence is fragmented across individual, relational, and contextual domains with limited attention to how these dimensions interact
- Major field limitations include conceptual inconsistency, methodological heterogeneity, weak longitudinal evidence, and insufficient cross-cultural analysis
Limitations
This is a narrative review that synthesises existing literature rather than conducting primary research, so it cannot provide new empirical data or test interventions directly. The review identifies significant gaps in existing knowledge, particularly the absence of robust longitudinal and cross-cultural studies, which limits its capacity to draw definitive causal conclusions about what drives well-being in residential care.
Abstract
Children and adolescents living in residential child care often experience heightened developmental vulnerability arising not only from pre-placement adversity, but also from the relational and institutional conditions that shape everyday care (Barone et al., 2016; Beinum, 2008; Engel de Abreu et al., 2023). Although a substantial body of literature has examined risk and protective factors associated with psychological well-being in residential settings, this evidence remains fragmented across individual, relational, and contextual domains, with limited attention to how these dimensions interact (Giraldi et al., 2022). This paper offers a critical synthesis of the literature on well-being in residential child care, with the aim of rethinking prevailing variable-based approaches and advancing a more relational and ecologically grounded understanding of children’s developmental trajectories. Adopting a systematised narrative review design, the paper draws on studies published between 2000 and 2025 that address the psychological well-being of children and adolescents in residential care. The review examines key intrapersonal factors, including resilience, self-esteem, self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, coping, and cognitive functioning (Luthar et al., 2000; Cha & Nock, 2009; Bandura, 1997; Goleman, 1995), alongside contextual and relational dimensions such as caregiver-child attachment, peer relationships, sibling co-placement, family contact, placement duration, and the organisational quality of care settings (Costa et al., 2020; Perry & Price, 2018; McWey et al., 2010). Rather than treating these as discrete predictors, the paper analyses how they operate dynamically within systems of care, support, and institutional constraint. The review argues that well-being in residential child care cannot be adequately understood through isolated risk/protection frameworks alone. Instead, developmental outcomes are shaped by the interaction between children’s internal resources and the quality of the relational and ecological environments in which they live (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). In particular, stable and emotionally attuned relationships with caregivers, positive peer climates, and care environments informed by trauma-sensitive and developmentally responsive practices emerge as central protective conditions (Bath & Seita, 2018; Brunzell et al., 2019). At the same time, the review highlights major limitations in the field, including conceptual inconsistency, methodological heterogeneity, weak longitudinal evidence, and insufficient cross-cultural analysis (Ainsworth & Thoburn, 2014). The paper contributes to the literature by advancing a relational-ecological framework for understanding well-being in residential child care and by identifying priorities for future research, policy, and practice. It argues for a shift from deficit-oriented and static models towards a more integrated understanding of care as a developmental, relational, and ethically significant environment.