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17 June 2009

NO 1449

Family-focused practice

Over the past 25 years or so, streams of theory and practice have evolved that contribute to increasing recognition of the importance of family-focused child and youth work and the role of activity in development, and there have been some efforts to utilize activities in family focused practice. Three basic streams underlie this attempt to formulate an integrated contemporary conception of family-focused Child and Youth Care work: the general concept of family-focused work, the centrality of relationship in development and, increasingly, in Child and Youth Care work activity and activity programming. Because these have been described extensively elsewhere, they will only be highlighted here to establish an initial framework for an extended and contemporary model for family-focused activity centered Child and Youth Care work.

Family-focused Child and Youth Care work
Over the past decade, it has become increasingly recognized that to "treat" a child without including and supporting the family is much less effective without family involvement. To this end, a literature showing how the competency areas associated with the profession of child and youth work can be applied in work with families, for example, Ainsworth (1997), Anglin (1984), Garfat (2002), VanderVen (1987, 1991), and VanderVen and Stuck (1996). Among the major themes are ways that child and youth workers can work with families in their daily lives to gain the support and services that will enable them to better raise children, and how strategies that workers use to encourage positive behavior in children might also be adapted by their families.

Relationship in human development
In recent years, the centrality of relationship building and relationship as developmental support and intervention has been emphasized in the field of human development. Such concepts as attachment dynamics (Maier, 1987), social perspective taking (Selman, Watts and Schultz, 1997), interpersonal communication (Goleman, 1995) and the evolution of self (Harter, 1999) have all been considered in the context of forming and maintaining beneficial relationships. Because many of the children and youth served by child and youth workers have experienced many barriers to the development of attachment, social skills, and a positive self-identity, over the past years child and youth work has increasingly identified relationships as an important concern. VanderVen (1999) described this approach as relational Child and Youth Care using as major sources the formulations of Fewster (1990), Garfat (1998), and Krueger (1998).

Major features of relational Child and Youth Care are:

Because real relationship in the context of daily living is indeed such a fundamental force in human development, and because the structure and content of other human service professions has deemphasized both relationship quality and intervention in the life space, this is a transformational advance showing the uniqueness and significance of "care" work.

Activity and activity programming
As with the formation of real relationships in the daily life space of the client, the role of activity (e.g., play, sports, games, arts and crafts, music, service, dramatics) in development has generally been deemphasized in all professions. Even Child and Youth Care practitioners do not often recognize how important what children and youth are doing is to enhancing their ability to form relationships and to gain benefits from relationships.

While there are some writings on activity and activity programming in Child and Youth Care (e.g., Barnes, 1991; Burns, 1993; Phelan, 2001; VanderVen, 1985; VanderVen, 1999), the daily reality of many children and youth is still fraught with boredom, lack of challenge and engagement, and efforts to overcontrol by adults that fail to take into account the effectiveness of activity involvement in mediating acting-out behavior. In essence, the best care settings may offer therapy and warm, caring, relationship-oriented staff, but not enough to do.

The stereotyped notion of activities is that they can keep children and youth "busy." Indeed they do, but it is a very productive type of busyness, if the activity is designed and conducted well. Among the areas of development encouraged by activities are the ability to plan, to take the perspective of others, to communicate, to develop skills that enable positive interactions, engagement with the wider world, and preparation for adulthood. Werner and Smith (1992) show that activity serves as a mediator for children and youth at risk and that those who are involved in productive activities are more resilient.

I contended (VanderVen, 1999) that the development of self is enhanced by the involvement of children and youth in activities within the context of relationships and showed how activities can help promote the development and maintenance of relationships. This made the point that relationships do not form or evolve in a vacuum. Relationships and the form and content of communication within these relationships are nurtured as people focus on an activity or interest and are shaped and extended by the context of these activities.

KAREN VANDERVEN

VanderVen, K. (2003). Activity-oriented family-focused Child and Youth Care work in group care: Integrating streams of thought into a river of progress. In Garfat, T. (Ed.) A Child and Youth Care approach to working with families. New York. The Haworth Press. pp. 133-135.

REFERENCES

Ainsworth, F. (1997). Family centred group care: model building. Brookfield, USA. Ashgate.

Anglin, J. P. (1984). Counseling a single parent and child: functional and dysfunctional patterns of communication. Journal of Child Care, 2, 2. pp. 33-45.

Barnes, H. (1991). From warehouse to greenhouse. Play, work and the routines of daily living in groups as the core of milieu treatment. In J. Beker and Z. Eisikovits (Eds.), Knowledge utilization in residential Child and Youth Care practice (pp. 123-156). Washington, DC. Child Welfare League of America.

Burns, M. (1993). Time in. Sarnia, Ontario. Burns and Johnston Publishing.

Fewster, G. (1990). Growing together: the personal relationship in Child and Youth Care. In J. Anglin, C. Denholm, R. Ferguson and A. Pence (Eds.). Perspectives in professional child and ' youth care (pp. 25-40). New York. The Haworth Press.

Garfat, T. (1998). The effective Child and Youth Care intervention: a phenomenological inquiry. Journal of Child and Youth Care, 12, I/2.

Garfat, T. (2002). Working with families: using daily life events to facilitate change: A Child and Youth Care approach. Unpublished manuscript.

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York. Bantam Books.

Harter, S. (1999). The construction of self: a developmental perspective. New York. The Guilford Press

Krueger, M. (1998). Interactive youth care work. Washington, DC. Child Welfare League of America.

Maier, H. (1987). Developmental group care of children and youth: concepts and practice. New York. The Haworth Press.

Phelan, J. (2001). Experiential counseling and the practitioner. Journal of Child and Youth Care Work, 15/16, pp. 256-263.

Selman, R., Watts, C. and Schultz, L. (1997). Fostering friendship: pair therapy for treatment and prevention. New York. Aldine de Gruyter.

VanderVen, K. (1985). Activity programming: its developmental and therapeutic role in group care. In L. Fulcher and F. Ainsworth (Eds.), Group care practice with children. London. Tavistock.

VanderVen, K. (1991). Working with families of youths in residential settings. In J. Beker, and Z. Eisikovits (Eds.), Knowledge utilization in residential Child and Youth Care practice. Washington, DC. Child Welfare League of America.

VanderVen, K. and Stuck, E. (1996). Model for agency and child and Child and Youth Care worker preparation for family centered residential programs. In D. Braziel (Ed.), Family-focused practice in out-of-home-care (pp. 117-128). Washington, DC. Child Welfare League of America.

VanderVen, K. (1999). You are what you do and become what you've done: the role of activity in development of self. Journal of Child and Youth Care, 13, 2. pp. 133-147.

Werner, E. and Smith, R. (1992). Overcoming the odds: high risk children from birth to adulthood. Ithaca, NY. Cornell University Press.

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