Adopted April, 2020

“This is the sixteenth in a series of papers by the Association of Children’s Residential Centers (ACRC) addressing critical issues facing the field of residential interventions. The purpose of these papers is to stimulate dialogue and self-examination among organizations, stakeholders, policymakers, and the field. ACRC is the longest standing association focused exclusively on the needs of young people who require therapeutic residential interventions, and their families.

There is increasing national concern about the difficulties organizations, schools and communities are encountering in responding effectively to young people struggling with severe behavioral challenges. Residential providers specifically are experiencing extreme and severe behaviors in the youth they serve, with a significant impact on safety, turnover, costs, and ability to implement and sustain trauma-informed practice.

This paper examines the importance of cultivating predictability, an essential element of healthy neurobiological development, to address these challenges within the residential program as well as with family and community. It will describe the scope and nature of the challenges being encountered in residential interventions discuss the importance of creating relational and programmatic predictability, and offer specific frameworks and strategies to consider.”

Source: Microsoft Word – Paper #16 final – Paper-16-final.pdf