Description
Residential childcare is not just a job – something you clock in and out of and leave behind at the door. For any residential support worker, this guide offers valuable insight into the realities of the role.
It’s a vocation – a deeply human, emotional and demanding role that asks those who choose it to show up, every single day, and give of themselves for the sake of vulnerable young people who may never have known stability, trust or unconditional care. Making that commitment is hard for anyone, but it is harder still without a guide.
An Essential Guide for Every Residential Childcare Worker aims to be that guide. Written by an expert with more than twenty-five years’ experience in a range of frontline roles, it is a practical, jargon-free handbook that interweaves policy and core concepts with practical examples of daily practice.
Paying tribute to the resilience and dedication of residential childcare workers, and emphasizing their profound role in shaping young lives, it explores the skills, principles and practices that create safe, nurturing environments for children who have experienced trauma.
See a sample below
Audience
An Essential Guide for Every Residential Childcare Worker will be useful to residential childcare workers; support staff and care home managers; social workers; foster carers; trainers and students of these professions; students studying social care or child development; local authorities and care providers offering training materials.
Content
Prologue
Introduction
1. Relationships
2. The Power of One
3. How to Cultivate Positive Culture
4. Belonging
5. The Journey
6. Cultivating Safety
7. Trauma Informed Care & Therapeutic Practise
8. What We See, What They Feel
9. Safe enough to Learn and Transition
10. Dreams
Author
Jane Dalgleish is an experienced Senior Residential Practitioner, who has worked in residential childcare for various local authorities for more than twenty-five years. She recently left the sector to focus on her experience as a writer and trainer and she is also a Practice Educator.
Jane’s experience ranges from team leader to house manager in a range of settings that include children’s houses, field social work, secure accommodation care and residential schools. She has experience supporting young people through complex trauma, behavioural challenges, and transitions.
Having joined the profession as a mum without formal qualifications, she now holds a post graduate diploma in Advanced Residential Child Care, with a focus on play.
Details
Publisher: Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd
ISBN: 9781803884974
Page numbers: 255
Publication date: March 2026
Helen, ex residential staff who currently works within a disabilities team –
Well Jane, I’ve read your book!! Amazing!! To every person thinking of going to work in Children’s Residential it’s a must! Thank goodnessI didn’t wait to read it on holiday as I was bubbling at parts. I’m 100% positive the book will definitely help workers work better. Amazing ❤️
Andrew Burns –
An Essential Guide to Surviving and Thriving in Residential Childcare is explicitly aimed at residential childcare workers. As I am a researcher, not a residential childcare worker, it is legitimate to ask why I am reviewing this book. In my role I have been involved in numerous research projects that relate in one way or another to care experience, including two specifically focused on residential childcare. One of these was an ethnography, where I spent a lot of time in one particular setting over the course of a year. I genuinely felt changed by relationships that I developed during that project, leaving with a deep respect for the young people and adults there and in residential childcare more broadly. So, when I read the title and summary of the book, I was intrigued to learn about the insights of a very experienced worker and to see where my own, more limited, understanding sat in relation to that.
The title indicates two things about working in residential childcare: that it can be challenging (survival) and rewarding (thriving). The book does a good job at addressing these two aspects of the work, with much more
Alexis McGlone, Mentor and psychotherapist –
This book manages to be incredibly accessible yet captures a broad spectrum of need-to-know wisdom. The fact I could dip into it after a 13-hour shift in my residential home and get something from it says a lot!
I’m also a child psychotherapist and really appreciated the clarity and how it presents just what is helpful to understand and engaging with our young people. There were so many sections that I could instantly apply to my situation, and not only could I see the author has lived and loved the work, but that belief and hope added to my confidence, resilience, and self-belief.
Tracey Jarvis, Residential Childcare Worker –
This book provides unique insights into residential childcare as a vocation, not just a job. It shares direct lived experience and the genuine connections, conversations, laughs and tears that get us through the best and worst times. A must read for anyone who is starting off or in need of some inspiration.
Joe Gibb, Lecturer Health and Social Care, Glasgow Clyde College –
This book offers a unique insight for people at all levels connected to residential childcare. In particular it is especially useful for students and new entrants to the field. A worthwhile read and a publication I would recommend to anyone who wants to enhance their knowledge.
Clare Holden, Community House Residential Childcare Manager –
I found this book exceptionally well written. It offers a genuine and honest reflection of life as a residential childcare worker regardless of position within the setting. I would highly recommend it to my team, and I believe it would be especially beneficial for those considering entering the sector, as it provides valuable insight into what the role truly involves.
Gary Greenshields, Deputy CEO, Residential School –
In a sector often clouded by jargon and process, Jane Dalgleish reminds us that the heartbeat of residential childcare is and always will be —the relationship. This book is an essential, deeply human companion for anyone brave enough to do this work.