Peer-reviewed article
Social Adaptation and Resilience of Children in Care Institutions: A Systematic Review of Effective Strategies and Practices
Irfan Ahmad Hajam, Shabnum Jan ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review examines how care institutions can help children develop social skills and resilience. The review identifies three key areas that matter: enrichment activities that build social and emotional competence; structured programmes that support mental strength and life skills; and the quality of relationships between children and their caregivers. The findings suggest that well-designed care institutions can effectively support children's development, though the review emphasizes the importance of caregiver training and wellbeing.
Key points
- Enrichment activities enhance children's social and emotional competence, identity formation, and cultural expression
- Programmes and practices can support rites of passage, mental strength, socio-emotional resilience, and life skills
- Quality of care-giving relationships influences both children's outcomes and caregivers' own mental health and wellbeing
- Care facilities can help institutionalised children develop social skills and resilience when structured appropriately
- Caregiver training and education are critical components of effective care institution functioning
Limitations
This is a systematic review of existing literature rather than a primary study, so it cannot provide new empirical data or measure outcomes in a specific population. The review does not specify which interventions have the strongest evidence base or distinguish between evidence tiers across different strategies.
Abstract
This systematic review aims to explore the effective strategies and practices that can foster social adaptation and resilience in children residing in care institutions. The review analyses three main aspects of the care institutions: Enrichment activities, programmes and practices and care-giving relationship. The findings suggest that enrichment activities can enhance the children’s social and emotional competence, socialisation and identity formation, life skills and purpose, teamwork and communication, and cultural relevance and expression. The programmes and practices can facilitate the children’s rites of passage and mental strength, socio-emotional behaviour and resilience, life skills and adjustment, participatory socialisation and inclusion, and educational space and family values. The care-giving relationship can influence the caregivers’ mental health and wellbeing, and their training and education. The evaluation comes to the conclusion that care facilities can be quite helpful in helping institutionalised children develop social skills and resilience. It also offers suggestions for further study and clinical applications.