Placing Children in Residential Care: A Scoping Review of Decision-Making and Matching Criteria

Placement decisions in residential care (RC) represent one of the most challenging aspects of child protection services. Whileoften framed as a last-resort solution, RC aims to serve children whose needs are not met through family-based interventionsand is used differently across countries. This scoping review explores: (I) the factors influencing social workers' decisions toplace children in RC and (II) the criteria considered to determine the most appropriate facility. A systematic search across sevendatabases yielded 10 relevant studies—seven focused on the first question and three on the second—analysed through thematicanalysis and presented using the Decision-Making Ecology framework. Findings highlight the centrality of the child's age andclinical characteristics, with national differences, and confirm the discretionary nature of the decision-making process, shapedby professionals' prior experience, emotions and social support. Matching processes often rely on informal knowledge ratherthan structured, up-to-date assessments of RC units. Recurrent issues include cost considerations and limited information onresidential facilities, while children's involvement is not always considered. The review identifies key CPS practices to guide theplacement and matching process and calls for stronger inter-professional collaboration and investment in applied research tosupport more coherent, child-centred decision-making.