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Therapeutic Residential Care for Children and Youth: A Consensus Statement of the International Work Group on Therapeutic Residential Care. In many developed countries around the world residential care interventions for children and adolescents have come under increasing scrutiny. Against this background an international summit was organised in England (spring 2016) with experts from 13 countries to reflect on therapeutic residential care (TRC). The following working definition of TRC was leading: “Therapeutic residential care involves the planful use of a purposefully constructed, multi-dimensional living environment designed to enhance or provide treatment, education, socialization, support, and protection to children and youth with identified mental health or behavioral needs in partnership with their families and in collaboration with a full spectrum of community based formal and informal helping resources”. The meeting was characterised by exchange of information and evidence, and by preparing an international research agenda. In addition, the outlines of a consensus statement on TRC were discussed. This statement, originally published in English and now reproduced in a Spanish translation, comprises inter alia five basic principles of care that according to the Work Group on Therapeutic Residental Care should be guiding for residential youth care provided at any time.

The aim of this research is to identify the severity and type of behavioural problems found in a sample of 181 Spanish adolescents, aged 11 and 18, who have been, or still are in the protective system and to provide give up-to-date figures about behavioural problem situations of children are living under protective measures, and to determine the existence of diverse behavioural problems concerning the kind of care the adolescents are receiving (adoption, residential care, or with grandparent fostering). The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was used in this study. The results show that most of the adolescents scored within the normal range and only a small percentage of them had important behavioural problems and were therefore situated within the clinical range of the trial. The adopted adolescents scored higher than the adolescents who were either fostered by their extended families or in residential care. The main problems identified in each section are discussed, along with the results, in the context of modernising the Spanish protection system.

The present study aims to assess the impact of the Spanish young offenders law (LO/2000). Recidivism and its associated risk factors were used as indicators of impact. Data were collected from young offenders' reports opened after 2001 and closed before 2005. The final sample consisted of 382 young offenders (327 males and 55 females). Results indicated that 70% had not re-offended in an average period of 1.6 years. Most of the youngsters with fewer risk factors, usually start their criminal careers with less serious offences and the interventions seemed to be fairly effective. In the cases of young offenders with a higher number of risk factors, the interventions (custodial and non-custodial) were less effective, as recidivism rates were higher. Interventions must focus on family and community contexts in order to achieve adequate social integration of young delinquents.