Adolescents adjusting to a group home environment: A residential care model of re-organizing attachment behavior and building resiliency

While many residential care models focus on the environment that existed within group homes, there is a need for these programs to concentrate on how some adolescents begin to adjust to life in a unique new environment. Nurturance and consistent care cannot be underestimated for displaced adolescents who have experienced a disruption in their attachment organization. This model includes two components: one that supports a stable and secure environment which is essential in re-organizing attachment behavior and another component of care and treatment that builds resilient adolescents through effective therapeutic teaching. This residential model has been designed to supplant unstable family models that many of the adolescents have experienced and to ultimately enhance the adolescent's resiliency in managing life after the group home. Case samples are included to illustrate the implementation of the model.