Abstract

The current review considers articles and volumes published on residential care systems for children and adolescents. The aim of the paper is to focus on the most crucial aspects that scholars are debating, to analyze the critical elements and to examine interventions and actions that have been developed in order to enhance the efficacy and efficiency of the programs. The considered literature was extracted from a research on the database of Scopus and PsychINFO, as well as from a research on the material published at a national level. Based on the analysis of the literature, the review addresses three topics: the state of the art of residential care systems in Europe, the characteristics of youths in residential care, and the evaluation criteria that can help to improve the efficacy of the service.