This text sets residential life and work in the context of wider social systems, focusing on the function homes serve in looking after young people and adults who would struggle to live elsewhere. Roger Clough highlights what residential workers need to know and do in order that, together with residents, they organise systems and lifestyle to provide the best service. Good residential practice develops from theory and understanding: of people, structures, residential practice, research methods and findings, organisational and management theory, and, critically, ethics and values.