Examines seven variables basic to the idea of community in relation to the organization of institutions: status, role definition, mobility, unifying theme, sanction, system, communication, and decision-making. Argues that the unifying theme is the major independent variable which influences the developmemt of an effective institution. (KH)

Examines caretakers' definitions of residents at public institutions for the mentally retarded. While attendants have been the target of institutional reform efforts, at the institutions studied, these efforts have not resulted in significant changes in attendants' condescension toward residents. (Author/LHW)

Introduces special issue on the developmental requirements of children and adolescents in relation to the care they receive while they are in non-familial, group living situations. Provides a brief overview of the issue's contents, and advocates a strong role for the central caregiver in group settings. (KH)

Describes and analyzes changes in career patterns of residential child care workers in Israel during the last 50 years. Argues that present low status of child care work in Israel is related to: (1) changing social mandate of residential care and changing kinds of clients in system: and (2) lack of fit between existing needs and models of…

Argues that child caregivers in group settings are pivotal in providing charges with attention and interpersonal dependence provided to children in familial settings. Explains why group caregivers must understand child development, and how program planners might take development into account. Discusses child and adolescent developmental stages…

Identifies the components of a supportive community environment for older people. Examines alternative residential types, their impacts on the elderly, and the extent to which they provide the optimal functioning conditions of environmental "Challenge" and "support." (Author/MJL)

Discusses children's conceptions of their lives "away from home" while they are in residential settings. Focuses on children's notions about family life, home, neighbors, community, and society, employing a developmental framework. Describes how contextual factors (e.g., the surrounding social services network) influence the planning, operation,…

Minimal service sheltered housing with peripatetic services adjusted to individual need may be more acceptable to the majority of elderly. The key program element in the British model is a resident warden, a housewife whose training and presence assures a proper and consistent flow of peripatetic support services. (Author)

Reviews recent research studies about child development and child care, examining how an understanding of the former can improve the latter. Outlines what is needed for a sense of being personally cared for, focusing on these themes: bodily comfort, sensitivity to personal differences, rhythmatic interactions, predictability, dependability,…

Discusses the interpersonal and organizational underpinnings of group living and residential child care, with group living perceived as an arena for children to practice life's demands. Argues that individual development and change proceed through interpersonal experience and the context in which they occur. (KH)

Reviews recent research showing that child and parent, or caregiver and care receiver in nonfamilial, group settings, need each other reciprocally and need to find mutual fit. Focuses on stress laid on importance of dependence support, attachment behavior, and mutuality of caregiver and care receiver. Discusses effect of day care and significance…

The article discusses issues surrounding child sexual abuse in residential treatment settings, including incidence and reporting, kinds of sexual abuse, profiles of the institutional abuser and of children at risk, as well as administrative styles identified with patterns of institutional sexual abuse. Preventative hiring practices for child…

Provides brief case study of a child care worker in a children's residence and describes the following: (1) the personal ingredients of care giving and care receiving; (2) how spatial arrangements influence daily experience; (3) group living as an everyday life experience; and (4) residential life as a prelude to and extension of a child's home…

Presents a brief overview of the development of Israel's heavy dependency on residential placement for child welfare. Recent trends reflect heavier reliance on community-based servcies for disadvantaged youth, but efforts to coordinate and improve such services are only beginning. (KH)

Examines the historical processes which led to the institutionalization of residential care for children in Israel. The utopian "children's villages" of the 1920's were eventually taken over by a process of mass institutionalization and bureaucratic inflexibility, but the ideological commitment to collective group care has remained…