Stick with the plan
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In a recent Practice Hint we talked about responding vs. reacting. Not only are individual child and youth care workers tempted to react rather than respond – our whole program (that means all of us acting as teams and groups) is often similarly persuaded.

A new youngster arrives in the program. We make a sober assessment and set out what we consider to be sensible treatment plans – with realistic time scales attached. Then one day the school (or the neighbours or the family or the police) arrive with some serious complaint and we forget the plan: we react! We drop the carefully thought out intervention with its time scales -- and clap the kid in irons. We add curfews and consequences, time-outs and threats. Like those who complained, we demand instant compliance, leap-frog developmental progress, and, as if by magic, an end to all problems.

In our more grounded moments we know that there is often a long road to travel to bring kids through their current difficulties to more mature development and function. For some we recognise that we must rebuild painstakingly on long-ago attachment issues; for others we know that there is a process of teaching and learning to get through. We are right to map out a course of intervention, to prioritise interim goals and staging posts, with expected time scales – yet abruptly we expect ‘performance’.

We are reminded of the parents who claim to have "tried everything" with their troubled child – implying inconsistency and indecision in their upbringing. We are often no better. If we have worked out a treatment plan, we must all work within the context and time constraints of this plan. Give the plan a chance. Give staff colleagues a change to implement it. Give the kid a chance to catch up.

Stick with the plan.