Custodial Care describes a model that was historically used on many people with intellectual disabilities or mental illness. In a custodial care model, a person was not given any treatment to help them improve from their condition at admission. Many children with intellectual disabilities in psychiatric hospitals up to the 1960s suffered as a result of custodial care.
Children with intellectual disabilities who were admitted to psychiatric hospitals were thought to be incurable so the responsibility of the institution was to keep them in custody for their own protection and the protection of society.