Children and youth in out-of-home care can live in residential facilities for as little as a few days or for as long as several years. However, there has been little research and writing on the impact of the physical environment on children in residential care. This article reviews literature on this topic and pulls from several disciplines to examine how the design of the physical environment can address such problems as the effects of crowding and the lack of physical and psychological privacy for children in residential facilities. The roles of symbolism and program culture in facility design and usage are discussed as well.
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