Group home
A group home, congregate living facility, care home, adult family home, etc., is a structured and supervised residence model that provides assisted living as well as medical care for those with complex health needs. Traditionally, the model has been used for children or young people who cannot live with their families or afford their own homes, people with chronic disabilities who may be adults or seniors, or people with dementia and related aged illnesses. Typically, there are no more than six residents, and there is at least one trained caregiver there 24 hours a day. In some early "model programs", a house manager, night manager, weekend activity coordinator, and four part-time skill teachers were reported. Originally, the term group home referred to homes of 8 to 16 individuals, which was a state-mandated size during deinstitutionalization. Residential nursing facilities, also included in this article, may be as large as 100 individuals in 2015, which is no longer the case in fields such as intellectual and developmental disabilities. Depending on the severity of the condition requiring one to need to live in a group home, some clients are able to attend day programs and most clients are able to live normal lifestyles.
Facilities
Because group homes are usually ordinary suburban houses, often tract housing, modified for handicap access and care, the bathrooms in homes are typically shared. In bigger houses, there is typically a group therapy room.The group homes highlighted in news articles in the late 1970s and 1980s, and by the late 2000s, have been cited internationally as a symbol or emblem of the community movement. Group homes were opened in local communities, often with site selection hearings, by state government and non-profit organizations including the international
in a broader array, spectrum, continuum, or services systems plan for residential community services or Long-Term Services and Supports.
Another context in which the expression "group home" is used is referring to residential child care communities and similar organizations, providing residential services as part of the foster care system. There is a considerable variety of different models, sizes and kinds of organizations caring for children and youth who cannot stay with their birth families. Residents of group homes are responsible for their own conduct and are bound by an agreement to follow an expected list of house rules. Any disorderly conduct by group home residents, including fighting with other residents, damaging group home property, or another resident's personal property, or an inability to follow house rules or follow instructions from group home staff members can lead to a resident being kicked out of the group home.
Types and models
A group home in a local community is what the government and universities term a "small group home". Group homes always have trained personnel, and administration located both for the home and outside the home at office locations. Larger homes often are termed residential facilities, as are campuses with homes located throughout a campus structure.K.C. Lakin of the University of Minnesota, a deinstitutionalization researcher, has indicated that a taxonomy of residential facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities includes program model, size and operator, and facilities also then vary by disability and age, among other primary characteristics. Prior residential facility classifications were described by Scheerenberger until the modern day classification by David Braddock on a state-by-state basis which includes individuals in residential settings of six or fewer, one categorical group. In 2014, models of residential services in intellectual disabilities include new categories of supported living, personal assistance services, individual and family support, and supported employment.
Residents and services
Residents of group homes usually have a disability, such as autism, intellectual disability, chronic or long-term mental/psychiatric disorder, or physical or multiple disabilities because those are the non-profit and state-regional organizations which began and operated the homes. Some group homes were funded as transitional homes to prepare for independent living, and others were viewed as permanent community homes. Society may prevent people with significant needs from living in local communities with social acceptance key to community development. The residents sometimes need continual or supported assistance in order to complete daily tasks, such as taking medication or bathing, making dinners, having conversations, making appointments, and getting to work or an adult daycare service.Group homes were revolutionary in that they offered individuals life opportunities to learn to cook and prepare meals, budget their personal allowance, select photos for their room or album, meet neighbors and "carry out civic duties", go grocery shopping, eat in restaurants, make emergency calls or inquiries, and exercise regularly.
Some residents may also have behavioral problems that require a better daily routine, medical assessment for possible health care needs, environmental changes, mental health counseling, specialist or physician consultation, or supervision; government may require a finding of involuntary care which is a hotly contested and disputed arena. Individuals who move from psychiatric hospitals also may need medications reduced, with psychiatric symptoms often only moderately addressed in this manner with known side effects of long-term use. The community living movement has been very successful in the United States and other countries, and is supported in 2015 by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Prior to the 1970s, this function was served by institutions, asylums, poorhouses, and orphanages until long-term services and supports, including group homes were developed in the United States. The primary frameworks in the United States underlying group homes are often termed social and functional competency-based and another, positive behavioral supports. Positive behavioral supports were developed, in part, to assist with "management problems" of the residential facilities. Group home residents may be found in workplaces, day services, parks and recreation programs, schools, shopping centers, travel locations, and with family, neighbors, community workers, co-workers, schoolmates and friends.
In addition, new laws required that schools serve disabled children adapting school and afterschool programs to meet the needs of the previously excluded population groups. Douglas Biklen in his award-winning "Regular Lives" highlighted 3 schools in Syracuse, New York integrating severely disabled children in conjunction with his new book, Achieving the Complete School: Strategies for Effective Mainstreaming.
Residential treatment facilities
People who live in a group home offering support services may be developmentally disabled, recovering from alcohol or drug addiction, abused or neglected youths, youths with behavioral or emotional problems, and/or youths with criminal records. Group homes or group facilities may also provide residential treatment for youth for a time-limited period, and then involve return of the youth to the family environment. Similarly, drug, addictions and alcohol programs may be time-limited, and involve residential treatment.Residential treatment for children with mental health needs
Residential treatment centers and other organized mental health care for children with emotional needs, among our highest health and human service efforts, was reported at 440 organizations nationally in 1988, representing 9% of mental health organizations. Residential treatment centers were considered largely inappropriate for many of the children who needed better community support services. Restructuring of these systems was proposed to promote better prevention and family support for children in mental health systems similar to international initiatives in "individualized family support program". Residential treatment is one part of an array of community services which include therapeutic foster care, family support, case management, crisis-emergency services, outpatient and day services, and home-based services. During this period, residential treatment was also compared to supported housing, also called supportive housing for its role in comprehensive service system developments, though often for adults who may need or desire services.Community resources and neighborhoods
Group homes have a good community image, and were developed in the intellectual disability and mental health fields as a desirable middle class option located in good neighborhoods after a faulty start in poorer neighborhoods in the United States. Group homes were often built in accordance with principle of normalization, to blend into neighborhoods, to have access to shopping, banks, and transportation, and sometimes, universal access and design. Group homes may be part of residential services "models" offered by a service provider together with apartment programs, and other types of "followalong" services. However, in 2015, the homes and personnel continue to meet the challenges of a changing multicultural society, and changing and norms in areas such as gender expectations.Halfway houses and intermediate care facilities
A group home differs from a halfway house, the latter which is one of the most common terms describing community living opportunities in mental health in the 1970s' medical and psychiatric literatures. Specialized halfway houses, as halfway between the institution and a regular home, may serve individuals with addictions or who may now be convicted of crimes, though very uncommon in the 1970s. Residents are usually encouraged or required to take an active role in the maintenance of the household, such as performing chores or helping to manage a budget. In 1984, New York's state office in intellectual and developmental disabilities described its service provision in 338 group homes serving 3,249 individuals. Some of these homes were certified as intermediate care facilities and must respond to stricter facility-based standards.Residents may have their own room or share rooms, and share facilities such as laundry, bathroom, kitchen, and common living areas. The opening of group homes in neighborhoods is occasionally opposed by residents due to ableist fears that it will lead to a rise in crime and/or a drop in property values. However, repeated reviews since the 1970s indicate such views are unfounded, and the homes contribute to the neighborhoods. In the late 1970s, local hearings were conducted in states such as New York, and parents of children with disabilities, research experts, agency directors and community-disability planners spoke with community members to respond to their inquiries. The late Josephine Scro later became a director of a new family support agency in Syracuse, New York, to assist other families with children with disabilities with family supports in their own homes and local communities, too.