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Category: Project

Description: Abstract Introduction: Some youth may need to stay in children’s homes during week-ends. The number of youth staying can fluctuate wildly during catastrophes, pandemics or family crises, requiring versatile practices and procedures. Swiss children’s homes have reported difficulties looking after more numerous youth during the Covid-19 pandemic and some reports suggest the number of youth staying on week-ends is increasing over the years. The current study aims to fill the limited number of comparisons of how children’s homes can operate during week-ends. Objectives: To compare and contrast how Swiss children’s homes operate during week-ends Methods: The statements of purposes (SOPs) of all children’s homes from the French part of Switzerland were sought online and manually screened for week-end data. All data was then extracted, narratively described, summarized and compared. Counts were used for quantitative data. Study design: Mixed methods: Qualitative - Documentary analysis + cross-sectional analysis Findings: SOPs for 47 children’s homes out of 128 (37%) were found. Data on week-ends could be found in 40 out of 47 SOPs (85%). Overall it was common to find little to no information specific to week-ends or to not be able to distinguish what may or may not differ during week-ends. Institutions from canton Jura, Valais and Neuchâtel were much more likely to make their SOPs available online. Substantial data for comparisons was provided regarding opening schedules, family involvement, youth living place, home rules (as a broad category), activities, internal communication and staffing. Limitations: Limitations include sparse data on a number of topics or comparisons, challenges distinguishing what occurred on weekends or only during the week and SOPs that may no longer be current given their age. Discussion The limited availability of some SOPs may hinder comparisons between homes and therefore informed placements. Unexplained disparities in services offered were observed alongside practices going against federal guidelines. Reasons for these disparities may be worth exploring through further research alongside practitioners. Children’s homes may benefit from collecting and analyzing quantitative data about their practices for planning purposes, updating their SOPs and looking out for vague and discrepant statements within their documents. Funding: No funding was received for this work. Registration and study protocol: See https://osf.io/46ybt/. Data and materials: TBD Keywords: Children’s homes, residential care, foster care, Switzerland, week-end