History of Residential Education in the United States
Residential education, in its various forms, has undergone numerous permutations in the U.S. over the past 350 years. Traditional “preparatory schools,” geared primarily toward children from well-to-do families with a focus on preparation for college, have flourished since the 1700s. The first “orphanage” was established in 1729 by Ursuline nuns to care for children whose parents were killed in an Indian massacre. Large congregate-care settings for economically and socially disadvantaged youth have changed over time from primarily custodial orphanages to primarily residential treatment, shelter, or correctional facilities, with the exception of only a few residential programs whose stated primary focus is on education.
Until the early 1930s, there was more concern for law and order than for child development. It was a widely held belief that placing these children in institutions made the streets safer and contributed to the country’s economic development. Gradually, a system evolved wherein children caught committing crimes are usually placed in facilities under public auspices (state or county juvenile correctional systems), while dependent children are more often in facilities under voluntary auspices.
Residential boarding schools for Native American children were opened in the late 1800s. The stated aim of these schools was to provide teachers and education for these children. However, the schools were used as instruments of assimilation, with little appreciation or consideration for Native American culture. While these schools were unsuccessful in completely assimilating the Native American children, they had significant impacts in many areas. Other ethnic minorities, such as African Americans, began their own boarding schools in the early 1900s, since they often lacked access to public schools.
Foster care began to expand in the mid to late 1800s. Not long afterward, the move toward “deinstitutionalization” began. Most people associate deinstitutionalization with the mid-1970s; the historical peak of the “foster care versus institution” debate actually occurred in 1909. At the 1909 and 1919 White House Conferences on Children, participants agreed that the child’s best place was in the home and that foster care was the best substitute. The 1935 Social Security Act, which created Aid to Dependent Children (ADC), provided federal funds for the first time to needy children and their families. Although it was not designed as a deinstitutionalization program, ADC accelerated removal of children from large group care settings, since the size of the family payments were left to the discretion of individual states and were available to families only if children lived with them. In July 1996, this program was legislated to be closed.
The deinstitutionalization movement peaked again in the mid-1970s. There were protests against the “warehousing” of children, which is how large congregate settings were viewed. The Civil Rights movement also gave birth to an increased consciousness about discriminatory policies, including policies toward the disabled and socially and economically disadvantaged members of society. Most orphanages were either closed down or converted to short-term, intensive, and expensive residential treatment programs.
“Family preservation” has been the most strongly preferred method of dealing with parents who abuse and/or neglect their children. Most at-risk children and youth in need of out-of-home placements enter the foster care system, residential treatment centers, group homes, or juvenile detention facilities. A handful of private and public residential education programs for at-risk children and youth have survived. The century-long debate over the value of residential education for economically and socially disadvantaged children and youth in large settings continues to this day.
Today, communities and individuals across the U.S. who refuse to relegate so many young people to hopeless futures have been spurred to act. They are creating residential charter schools, boarding schools, residential academies, children and youth villages, and children’s homes to provide safe, nurturing, educative, 24-hour environments for these young people. Individuals, state legislatures, private universities, school districts, large corporations, and nonprofit organizations are committing energy and precious resources to designing new residential education programs which best meet the needs of their local young people. Additionally, existing residential education programs are updating their approaches and practices in the 21st Century.