Back to the Future: Archiving Residential Children's Homes (ARCH) in Scotland and Germany

Abstract

Back to the Future: Archiving Residential Children’s Homes (ARCH) was a three year project undertaken by researchers at the University of Stirling and the University of Osnabrück. The research was supported by the Arts and Humanities Council and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft DFG) and aimed to explore and improve how the everyday group care experiences of children and young people in residential care were captured and preserved. The team worked in partnership with children, young people, care experienced adults, as well as with Aberlour Children’s Charity, Birthlink, The National Records of Scotland, and The Residential Childcare Project at Cornell University. This data was gathered between 2022 and 2024 as part of Phase Two of the ARCH Project (Phase One was an analysis of an historical archive, details of which can be found on the project website https://archproject.stir.ac.uk). This data set includes transcripts of 22 interviews with young people, care experienced adults, and adults working in residential childcare. There are also three transcripts of photo elicitation exercises with young people and residential staff and one set of notes for a photo elicitation exercise where the young person did not wish to be recorded.