In Residence

This special edition of the TCJ offers an extended variety of papers on ‘perspectives on residential care’ and part one of a major longitudinal research project. It is also a celebration of the importance of reflective writing and research, to meet the needs of children and young people, their families and communities. Unfortunately last spring, … Read more

A personal statement I believe that a significant number of troubled children and young people are best helped by the provision of  residential child care  Amongst these I would include those who, though they may for the time being not be able to live with their families, but who nonetheless have such a strong feeling … Read more

Years ago, someone made a gift to Mill Grove with the intention that we should buy some pictures for the newly refurbished building.  The children and young people were keen to be involved in the selection, and because it was in the years before the internet, I obtained some catalogues from a local art shop.  … Read more

Craig Fees writes – The following biography by Charles Sharpe was written for the 2013 Child Care History Network  (CCHN) ‘Radical then, radical now’ conference held at the site of Homer Lane’s ‘Little Commonwealth’: ‘”Charles Sharpe, Former CCHN Board member, editor of the online Good Enough Caring Journal, a qualified psychodynamic counsellor and psychotherapist with … Read more

Lockdown at the Planned Environment Therapy Archives has meant that we are mostly working from home. This has given us the time to focus on the digital collections, primarily the oral history collections. I am currently cataloguing the oral history recordings of ex-Wenningtonians who were interviewed as part of a wider project in 2010-2011. The … Read more

One of the features of life under the shadow of the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has been the discovery of which things carry on pretty much as before, which things have been in suspension, which things work well as substitutes, and which things don’t.  Though most unwelcome, it has provided an opportunity for a controlled … Read more

Full title: Some observations on the life and work of Isabel Menzies- Lyth, and the struggle with primitive anxieties.  Her life and work                                                                       Isabel Menzies-Lyth was a psychoanalyst and a pioneer of the psychoanalytic study of organisations. Born in 1917 in Dysart, Fife, in Scotland, she was the fourth child of the minister of … Read more

The effects of traumas associated with separation and loss on individual children and young people are well-known, and those seeking to help, whether social workers, residential carers, or counsellors and therapists, usually have strategies that they employ when they come alongside. A notable example is Building the Bonds of Attachment, by Dan Hughes. I wonder … Read more

As a former residential child care worker of 35 continuous years and the  Principal of a previous Approved School in the East Midlands region, I found the recent papers on Approved Schools and CHE’s interesting. I have been retired for 14years, but I have kept myself up to date with current practice and philosophies through … Read more

Reminiscing back to my time as an agency worker working in children’s homes, emotions were mixed. The excitement of a new job, meeting new people, the desire to help looked-after children and young people, and a feeling of accomplishment in getting the work experience needed. Yet day-to-day, shift-to-shift, my emotions were on the other end … Read more

James Havey, Glenn Miles, Lim Vanntheary, Nhanh Chantha, Ou Sopheara, Sreang Phaly and Eliza Piano Preface The next four journals will be exploring lessons learned from the Butterfly Longitudinal Research Project (BLRP). This 10-year research project followed the lives of 128 survivors of human trafficking, exploitation and abuse in Cambodia as they received aftercare services … Read more

The purpose of this paper is to identify and clarify sectors of Residential Care and Education provision for children and young people under the age of 18. The Children Act (1989) provided vital legislation across the field of residential care and education. It followed early work by the Dartington Social Research Unit beginning in 1960 … Read more