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10 NOVEMBER 2008

NO 1371

Termination

Termination is not just an ending, it is a critical, distinct phase of any treatment process (Wolberg, 1977). This phase begins when a young person and the staff working with them begin to anticipate the end of placement. For some, this lasts months or years, while others may only become aware of an impending discharge within days or even hours. This last phase should not be taken for granted, but has unique challenges and requirements of it's own. Under ideal circumstances, placement ends when the young person, their workers, and the family can acknowledge the progress that has been made and feel ready to end treatment. Often, however, termination does not take place under these optimal conditions. In either case, termination elicits a range of responses from youth in placement. While a common tendency on the part of Child and Youth Care Workers is to frame a discharge as a positive graduation, most clients experience leaving residential placement with mixed feelings.

While no young person wants to stay in placement, leaving a residential setting provokes powerful and unpleasant feelings. The end of placement stimulates a rethinking of the reasons for coming into care in the first place and forces a young person to relive the past (Wolberg, 1977). For many young people, this is a painful and angry experience. Gordy-Levine (1990) explains that the four greatest calamities of childhood are: loss of love, loss of loved ones, and loss of power and loss of self-esteem. All these losses typically accompany the transition into placement. Young children tend to idealize parents and blame themselves, while adolescents experience rage at what they perceive as betrayal by family. Shaefer and Swanson (1988) state that the experience of placement is extremely difficult to master psychologically, and that the anticipation of discharge is disorganizing for this reason.

At the same time, young people often fear giving up the protection of a residential setting. They may feel extremely apprehensive about their capacity to function on the outside, especially in light of past failures. The longer a young person has been in care, the more severe this anxiety will be (Escoll, 1996). Leaving care also inflicts multiple, new losses. Discharge represents the giving up of valued relationships with staff and peers. It may also result in the loss of improved living conditions and access to enriched schooling and activities. Swanson and Schaefer (1988) see these as psychosocial, physical and socio-cultural losses. Not only is this painful in the present, these losses further contribute to the rekindling of "residual feelings that flow from past losses" (Malekoff; 1997: 166). The result of all this is an uncomfortable mixture of sadness, fear, anger, and excitement.

VARDA MANN-FEDER

Mann-Feder, Varda. (2003). Termination issues in residential placement. Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies, 4, 2. p. 36.

REFERENCES

Escoll, L.S. (1996). The termination phase: how it bears on the patient's view of the therapy and the therapeutic relationship. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B. Sciences and Engineering, 57,(5B), 3407.

Gordy-Levine. T. (1990). Time to mourn again. In Maluccio, AX, Krieger. R., and Pine, B.A. (Eds.) Preparing Adolescents for Life After Foster Care. Washington, D.C.: Child Welfare League of America.

Malekoff, A. (1997). Group Work with Adolescents: Principles and Practice. New York: Guilford.

Swanson, A.J. and Schaefer, C.E. (1988). Helping children deal with separation and loss in residential placement. In Schaefer, C. E. and Swanson, A.J. (Eds.) Children in Residential Care: Critical Issues in Treatment. New York: Van Norstrand Reinhold.

Wolberg, L. R. (1977). The Technique of Psychotherapy. New York: Grune and Stratton.


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