ABSTRACT
This introduction chapter presents an overview of key concepts that are discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. As the need for residential group care programs for children and youth programs increases, given overburdened family foster care resources, growing numbers of 'zero-parent' families and homeless youth, and rising demands for youth incarceration, this quest grows as a moral as well as a practical imperative. It examines on residential programs in Israel, draws comparisons with their European counterparts, and suggests practical approaches to the enhancement of such programs in the United States. The first article reports on a 1993 study seminar on 'residential education' in Israel, in which the editors of this volume participated together with other American specialists in youth services and related areas. The authors have been closely involved with American residential programs for many years and have been instrumental through the ILEX program in bringing European youthworkers and thinking to the situation here.
