Bruce Henderson - The Question of Residential Care for Children

The Eddy Network Podcast Episode 124

For twenty years, I’ve been involved in the work of a children’s home in Western North Carolina. The Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth, and Families provides a remarkable environment for children from difficult circumstances to find strength and stability for their development.

Through my involvement there, I met Bruce Henderson, then a professor of psychology at a local university, who was serving on the board of directors. Along with a talented team of staff and executive leaders and a deeply committed board of directors, the Home has become the standard for the residential care of children that other homes should emulate.

Bruce Henderson joins me today to discuss a perception about residential care for children that will negatively affect the children who need stable situations for their lives. Our conversation will provide a depth of understanding about the context of the care of children that is needed in this time of the exploitation of children. I know you will find it interesting.

Background from Bruce Henderson

My book: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Residential Care for Children

https://www.routledge.com/Challenging-the-Conventional-Wisdom-about-Residential-Care-for-Children/Henderson/p/book/9781032564739 

When I first started doing research back in late 2020, I contacted one of the big names in the field. He preferred Zoom calls to long emails, so we visited many times. His name is Jim Anglin. He is at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. He knows everyone in the field. He has consulted in dozens of countries. One of our most interesting Zoom calls concerned his visit to Malta last year. He has been incredibly supportive throughout the 3 years of my research work. All the endorsers of my book are good friends of Jim Anglin.

Martha Holden at the Cornell Bronfenbrenner Center has also been very supportive of my research. Jim wanted to share the message of the book in an accessible form to people in the countries where he works. Our collaboration, A Critical Dialogue on Residential Care for Children and Youth: What We Really Know and Questions of Quality, is available through any academic library or you can get a free reprint while they last at this site: 

https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/KRQPRXEQFGIQ7TMQHHUS/full?target=10.1080/0886571X.2023.2284693  

Jim Anglin also wrote a review for an open-access journal, the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care (Vol 22 No 2) that is now available online and accessible at: 

https://www.celcis.org/knowledge-bank/search-bank/journal/scottish-journal-residential-child-care-vol-22-no-2

This is a video description of the mission of Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth, and Families in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

The president of the Black Mountain Home for Children, Jimmy Harmon, was a guest on The Eddy Network podcast, episode 23, April 24, 2023.