Beyond Control: Staff Perceptions of Accountability for Children and Youth in Residential Group Care

This article explores the perceptions of residential staff teams regarding the concept of accountability for children and youth living in group care situations. Using a qualitative research approach, the authors held focus groups with residential staff teams in children's mental health and private group care facilities and then interviewed the supervisors separately in an effort to explore how these teams conceive of their responsibility to teach children and youth about accountability, as well as in order to determine the specific tools used and approaches taken for this purpose. The authors found that a strong reliance on control-based approaches persists and that, furthermore, very little conceptual or theoretical thinking informs team discussions or approaches to holding children and youth accountable for their actions. It is argued here that there is an urgent need to seriously engage with residential care providers about the lived experiences of children and youth under conditions. The use of control and vigilance around the enforcement of program expectations are rarely focused on the individual needs of the clients and typically reflect the intuition or “common sense” of residential staff teams instead.