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home journals Relational Child & Youth Care Practice
ISSN 0840-982X VOLUME 21 NUMBER 1, SPRING 2008Editorial
Transitional programming for incarcerated youth in Latvia: Abstract: A qualitative case study was conducted of the Riga City Mission, a non-governmental organization in Latvia. The Riga City Mission aims to develop alternatives to incarceration and assist incarcerated young people as they re-enter society. The study provides a point of reference for diverse stakeholders developing programs by helping them to reflect on how societal influences affect programs in other locations. The results suggest that the staff of the program prioritized relationships. The suggestion is put forward that social capital, an emerging and promising subfield, could help inform youth serving programs that seek to apply promising practices in diverse settings.
Book review: Facing the Sunshine
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Fostering the relationship: A theraplay group Abstract: The article describes a theraplay group intended for adoptive and foster families, parents and their children. The article defines theraplay and attachment disorder and provides practical information on how to organize a theraplay group for adoptive and foster families. The goals of the group are outlined. They include enhancement of an attachment between the adoptive parent and the child; creation of a sense of trust, security, and love; facilitation of a feeling of being taken care of; and prevention of emotional and social problems in life. Overall, the article is an overview of how an attachment, and thus a relationship between parent and a child is formed. Breach of history
23 Empathy, authoritarianism, and recalled parental ABSTRACT:To determine the relationship among empathy, authoritarianism, and recalled emotional climate of parenting in first-year Child and Youth Worker students and experienced CYW graduates, 47 students and 58 graduates completed the Right Wing Authoritarian Scale, PAD Parental Attitudes Scale, and Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale. Among students, recalled parental dimension (RPD) pleasure in child-rearing predicted empathy; RPD displeasure predicted authoritarianism. RPD did not predict authoritarianism or empathy in graduates. Authoritarianism did not predict empathy, nor were differences found between students and graduates in authoritarianism or empathy. In the graduate group, RPD pleasure predicted RPD arousal; RPD pleasure predicted RPD dominance, RPD arousal predicted RPD dominance. Between group differences were found for RPD dominance and arousal. Based on the findings of the study, it is recommended that CYW educators should integrate self-awareness of RPD issues into the curriculum Deciding to relax external controls: A child and youth Abstract: The article discusses the creation of developmental stage criteria to evaluate the appropriate balance of external control strategies and the use of freedom to support self-control which should be present in an effective therapeutic environment. Child and Youth Care (CYC) staff teams can adjust both individual case plans and overall program strategies to accurately reflect the need for external control at every point in the treatment process by using developmental information. Banishing goos and taits: The story of narrative therapy Abstract: Narrative therapy was utilized as a classroom management strategy in an educational setting. A narrative was produced to present a reoccurring classroom problem to the students. Students were involved in the process by brainstorming solutions to the problem highlighted in the narrative. The application of potential solutions to minimize and alter problematic behaviour patterns was the goal. Achieving this goal through the use of narrative therapy and its’ associated constructs was effective, beneficial and fun for both the students and the teacher. Students were able to respond in a new manner and were given additional tools and possibilities for new behaviours. Doing good
47 Children of incarcerated parents: The invisible students in Abstract: The research shows that in our schools there are a growing number of children with parents in jail or prison, and these children face exceptional difficulties in school. Many of these children have experienced the trauma of sudden separation from their only parent are often invisible in their schools — when their issues surface they are cloaked by other symptoms such as school failure, absenteeism, social isolation, depression, anxiety or other acting-out behaviors. Since success in school is an important part of a child’s life, this paper examines the plight of children with incarcerated parents. Talking about death
57 "Pulling rank"
59 Reflecting back/Growing as a child and youth counsellor
61 Who's looking after whom?
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Theory, research and praxis The three concepts of theory, research and praxis are understood differently by the academics, practitioners and students in any discipline. For myself, as an academic, theory leads to research (in most cases) and then the implications of theory and research are interpreted or applied to practice in the field. We hope that this means “new” knowledge and “new” practices are devised from the lofty academic work that we do. Practitioners very often consider theory to be something that they learn in “school” with very little application to “the real world.” Research means assessing your program to make sure that the kids are doing well, or reading up on the “disorder of the day” so that your interventions are more effective. Students do “research” when they go to the library and read up on a topic to complete a paper (which of course won’t apply to the real world). What I enjoyed about this issue is how these understandings come together in different ways for each authour and how researchers, teachers, practitioners, and students blend the concepts together in a conscious manner that starts to break some stereotypes. Most clearly and importantly “praxis,” the self-reflective and circular process of reflecting on what one does and improving one's practice as a result is ever present no matter who the writer is. Dan Leitch, as many of us do, has moved from practice to academia and taken with him a solid grounding in applying practice to theory and research. His cross-cultural research examines a program for incarcerated youth in Latvia, operated by the Riga Mission. His research indicated that “program personnel had rich social networks, relevant life experiences, and a shared vision for the future. They shared beliefs in the possibility of change, the power of relationships, the need for societal change, and the importance of long-term commitments.” In short, the staff values and beliefs were fundamental to the program and are consistent with those we find in North American field of Child and Youth Care. He frames the interpretation of the research findings in the “theory” of social capital. Karen Marr and Anthony Ezeife in another research article reinforce the importance of values and beliefs in training for child and youth care practitioners. In their research, Karen’s strong practice background and Anthony’s experienced academic understanding of research both shine through. Their research examines the influence of parental child-rearing practices in child and youth care practitioners and they note that students are most influenced in their interactions by their recollections of how they were raised by their parents. With training and experience this influence is minimized. They also note that those that believe in the importance of control and power (authoritarianism) are more likely to create conflict leading to a paradoxical lack of control. Perhaps with training and education, one learns to control these responses and to respond on the basis of the child’s needs. Self-awareness and education around the influence of family and parental values is paramount to taking the next step toward conscious change. Their paper gives instructors and supervisors in child and youth care some practical recommendations for working with novice practitioners, taking research into applied practice. Jim Vacca in his review of the literature on “Children of Incarcerated Parents” raises some interesting questions about how schools can take some responsibility for improving the academic success of children whose parent(s) are in jail. He uses the gold standard for beginning a line of research; review the literature and identify the questions. He also illustrates how programs and practitioners can demonstrate their ideas are effective and yet not quite meet an academic standard for research. On the other hand, such research should not be dismissed since it tackles difficult populations and questions which are sometimes hard to access through traditional academic research. There is a balance between identifying children whose parents are in jail so one can help them and the surfacing of emotions of shame when someone knows that your parents are in jail. The programs that Dr. Vacca reviews must address this difficult balance. Jack Phelan appears regularly as our book reviewer, letting us know about new ideas, techniques, and difficult problems in our field. However, in this issue he also contributes an article that applies developmental theory to residential care, challenging workers to engage in praxis that includes theory. He reminds us that so often residential care is about control and the imposition of control. We need to shift to inspiring children to have internal control, rather than relying on external control imposed by child and youth care workers but only as children are developmentally ready. This of course will challenge the residential mantra of “consistency,” if it means that everyone must follow the same rules and be treated identically. Jack provides a rationale for the use of those lofty theories to deal with this challenge. Aleksandra Przybylo and Shelagh Adams are two practitioners who offer us their perspective on applying theory in practice. They describe applications of play therapy and narrative therapy, including enough background on the theory behind the technique for readers to understand why the various strategies are effective in these circumstances. For this is the importance and the purpose of theory — to help us understand why. Understanding why a particular technique works, the conditions under which it can be used and the probable outcomes of the intervention, are the purposes of theory. Theory describes for us how a, b, and c are connected. If condition(s) a occur, and I do b, then I can reasonably expect that the outcome will be c. I sometimes feel, as the editor, a weighty responsibility to issue
one of those warnings that you see on T.V.: “These are dangerous
techniques and should not be attempted at home or by someone without
extensive training in child and youth care.” That is what theory and
research do, they help us provide the training and the background to
novice (and experienced) practitioners to distinguish when they can “try
these techniques.” I was reminded of this in our “On-the-line”
submission where Breanna Beischer as a relatively new practitioner
focuses on the “teachable moment”; hers and the child’s. She captures
the struggle of practice to focus on the needs of the client, be
flexible and let go of our expectations that b (that wonderful
intervention or activity that we learned in School) will come out just
the way it was supposed to. With experience comes the realization that
one must always be thinking, shifting, changing based on a good
understanding of the conditions of the moment and what they mean
theoretically for our interventions. Nowhere is this more true than in the field. Carol Stuart
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