ABSTRACT
Children and young people may require care and or treatment away from their home environment for a wide range of reasons. In some situations, placement in a residential establishment may be the most practical and perhaps only a temporary option. Promoting contact with parents and perhaps preparing a child or young person for rehabilitation home, is often one of the central aims of a social services' placement. In many ways, the usage of residential provision to some extent, crosses over with the containment and supervision requirements just noted for social services. The practical need for in-patient care, for children and young people, again in some respects, concerns issues about their safety and need for supervision in some circumstances. The value and sophistication of the treatments and care approaches which can be provided by residential units, is widely acknowledged, even though there is little agreement about which approaches are the most effective for certain difficulties, especially in child psychiatry.
