Group homes

A group home is a private residence for children or young people who cannot live with their families, people with chronic disabilities who may be adults or seniors, or people with dementia. 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 4 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 in 2015 as 100 individuals, which is no longer the case in field 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.

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 L'Arche, the local chapters of the Arc of the United States (then Association for Retarded Children), United Cerebral Palsy local agencies, agencies belonging to state associations such as ACLAIMH (Association of Community Living Administrators in Mental Health), and NYSACRA (New York State Association of Community Residence Administrators) in New York, and new, non-profit organizations in the field of mental health. Group homes are one category in a broader array, spectrum, continuum, or services systems plan for residential community services or Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS).

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 mental retardation 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, typologies of residential services in intellectual disabilities include new categories of supported living, personal assistance services, individual and family support, and supported employment.

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