The group homes consisted of 7 resident, 40 childcare institutions, and 34 treatment centers. Child care institutions reported the shortest length of stay of 9 months, whereas the other two types reported a 15 month average stay. Children with mild or moderate emotional disorders and delinquents represented a substantial proportion of the residents in most of the facilities. The disruptive behaviors included verbal abuse, loss of impulse control, absence without leave, and stealing. Use of marijuana, use of other drugs, physical abuse of some and verbal abuse of others increased most often in the last 5 years. Talk, restriction of privileges, and separation of the child from the group, secure confinement, and medications were used to deal with disruptive behavior in usual situations, but discharge was by far the most common response in acute situations. Over 70 percent of the facilities considered the management of problematic behavior at their facility to be at least a moderate problem. Differences of opinion about what works best were well illustrated by the fact that restriction of privileges was a method most frequently reported as both most and least successful. The determinants of successful management appear to depend not only upon types of methodology, but also upon the attitudes and skills of the individuals involved in implementing them.