The Impact of Residential Placement on Child Development: Research and Policy Implications – For all types of residential settings, Dansokho et. al. (2003) estimate that fewer than one in 120 children in the United States will sleep in a residential placement each night, a ratio that increases to about one in 85 in England. Out of this group, on any single night in the school year, around 200,000 U.S. and 80,000 U.K. children (about half of one per cent of the school age children in the U.S. and one per cent in the U.K.) are placed in various forms of boarding schools (Dansokho, Little, & Thomas, 2003; Department of Health, 1998). It is also estimated that each night around 100,000 U.S. children (about one-fifth of the state care population) and 10,000 U.K. children are in the variety of residential settings purchased or provided by child welfare agencies (Department of Health, 1998; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families Administration on Children Youth and Families Children’s Bureau, 2001). In the U.S., it seems reasonable to assume that between 20,000 and 40,000 children will be placed in various types of residence that cater to mental health problems, and that about 140,000 to 210,000 children will pass through these settings each year (Center for Mental Health Services, 2000; The National Advisory Mental Health Council’s Workgroup on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Intervention Development and Deployment, 2001). These latter rates are much higher than for the U.K. (Department of Health, 1998). In the juvenile justice sector there are approximately 100,000 in the U.S. (Sickmund, Sladky, & Kang, 2004) and 3,000 in the U.K (Hagell, Hazel, & Shaw, 2000). There are also children in hospitals for physical health needs but national data is unable to provide a good estimate of their numbers.