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12 November
NO 1242
Life in group care
Let us consider children coming to treatment settings as children who want alternate modes of living rather than as children with problems for the caring persons to solve. These children require central persons in their lives who will nurture, support and guide them as they try to hurdle the problems of daily living. Vital everyday experiences provide the most promising opportunities for working effectively with these children. It is the child caring person's continuous interaction with the child that counts.
Human development is nourished by interpersonal experience (White, 1972). The worker's effectiveness seems to be directly correlated with the degree of personal struggle child and adult allow themselves to engage in with each other (Bettelheim, 1967; Craig, 1973; Dennison, 1970). In the example of "calling in the children" the degree of mutual involvement might have a more pervasive impact upon a child's (as well as the worker's) personal development than the behavior per se. I submit that children develop neither by conditioned behavior nor by their reflection and insight into their fears and anger; they develop by, interpersonal engagements with each other and with adults. Some preliminary data support the view that it is: neither the caring message nor the system of reward or punishment that constitutes the essence of child care work; rather, it is the experience of the caring person's involvement in the issues facing children and caring adults that really counts (Browning & Stover, 1971; Phillips, Phillips, Fixsen & Wolf, 1971).
This perspective places the stress on what worker and children do with each other, rather than on the outcome of each other's separate actions,' An accent upon the experience people have with each other also challenges a current trend toward the depersonalization of institutional life and bureaucratization of therapy.' The latter stands as a particularly stark factor where standardization and predictability are perceived as the measures of group care and living; in these situations the rules rule the practice. My stress upon interpersonal intervention is based upon the observation that a vast number of the children in our services of today experience an unresponsive rather than an overinvolved environment. They have encountered a faceless society, and long for experiences in which they come face to face with others (Maier, 1971b, pp. 123-126). They need involvement. Yet many of the traditional treatment approaches stress noninvolvement, objectivity, and keeping one's nose out.
To illustrate, John, while entering the living room, slams the door. Worker; "John, I don't like your slamming the door. It makes me jump each time:" Note, the experience is between worker and child, which is quite different from such alternate approaches as: "Doors should be closed carefully," "You know the rules," or "Stay in the room for 5 minutes:" These latter approaches, at times most appropriate interventive techniques, imply the pronouncement of a third party on being "good," being "bad," or "sticking to the rules." Conceptually, these approaches rely upon a homeostatic outlook, with an emphasis upon maintenance management, upholding order, tension reduction, and problem removal in order to bring an episode to a close. In contrast, the former approach, with the worker's more personal involvement, would more likely remain a link in the continuous chain of mutual encounters as the search goes on for finding ways of living together effectively. Such an approach is within the heterostatic perspective (Maier, 1971b, pp. 123-126) with an emphasis upon mastery of ongoing events as precursors and stimulations for the new experiences to come.
HENRY W. MAIER
Maier, H.W. (1987). Developmental Group
Care of Children and Youth: Concepts and Practice. New York.
Haworth Press. pp.130-131.
References
Bettelheim, B. (1967). The Empty Fortress. New York. Free Press.
Browning, M. and Stover, O. (1971). Behavior Modification in Child Treatment. Chicago. Aldine-Atherton.
Craig, E. (1973). P.S. – You're Not Listening. New York. Signet Books.
Dennison, G. (1970). The Lives of Children. New York. Random House.
Maier, H.W. (1971). A Sidewards Look at Change. Social Service Review, 45, 2. pp.123-136.
Phillips, E.L., Phillips, E.A., Fixen, D.L. and Wolf, M.M. (1971). Achievement Place: Modification of the Behaviors of Pre-delinquent Boys within a Token Economy. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 4, 1. pp.45-59.
White, R.W. (1972). The Enterprise of Living: Growth and Organization of Personality. New York. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
