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18 SEPTEMBER 2009

NO 1489

Resilience

The findings from the UK suggested that, for many practitioners, the concept of resilience denotes a number of principles for practice. The first of these is that practice should be respectful and involve service users. This is a principle that is congruent with most, if not all, current practice frameworks and is not uniquely relevant to resilience. However, it could be argued, that for vulnerable children this kind of approach to practice could contribute to the development of self-efficacy. Many vulnerable, abused and neglected children have few opportunities to make choices about their lives or to impact upon the decisions made on their behalf. Neglect, in particular, can render children vulnerable to developing the internal, stable and global pattern of attributions associated with learned helplessness (Seligman and Peterson, 1986; Zimmerman, 1988). By engaging with children in a way that involves them in assessment and planning, that encourages them to contribute to decisions about their lives and that provides them with positive choices practitioners could help to shift such attributions and create the conditions for the development of better self-efficacy.

Concepts of solution-focused work and strengths-based practice are often linked in discourses about resilience. The research on resilience does not, of necessity, directly imply that such approaches are key although there is an optimistic discourse in the resilience literature. It may be that all these terms are being used as shorthand to denote more positive approaches to practice that counteract the preoccupation with risk and problems that can characterise child protection and safeguarding bureaucratic systems (Daniel, 2006). Further research could explore this in more detail, and in particular, examine whether the adoption of optimistic discourses can lead to better outcomes for children over and above the specific model for intervention that is used.

The importance given to attachment in our study is highly congruent with the literature on resilience. In all the research the existence of a secure attachment relationship emerges as a key protective factor in the face of adversity (Luthar and Zelazo, 2003). The practitioners in the UK survey and case studies could identify the impact of insecure attachments upon children's development; evidently attachment theory informs assessments. The Australian case practitioners also aimed to improve attachment relationships. However, because we did not ask the question directly, we cannot draw strong conclusions about the extent to which interventions are directly aimed at improving or repairing attachment relationships. Further, there is a need for more research about the extent to which a focus on other factors associated with resilience may be compensatory in circumstances where attachment problems are intractable.

Our respondents also spoke of the importance of intervention that targets different ecological levels and is multi-disciplinary. The extent to which they were able to put these principles into practice appeared to be more restricted in reality. However, the research showing factors at different ecological levels to be associated with resilience supports this approach (Werner and Smith, 1992). As Newman and Blackburn (2002) indicate, interventions that build on naturally occurring resources in the child's network are likely to be more effective and enduring. The role of schools is also crucially important and therefore it is important that strategies are developed with consistent and complementary approaches across the professional network (Gilligan, 1998).

BRIGID DANIEL, SHARON VINCENT, EDWINA FARRLL AND FIONA ARNEY

Daniel, B.; Vincent, S.; Farrall, E. and Arney, F. (2009). How is the concept of resilience operationalised in practice with vulnerable children? International Journal of Child and Family Welfare, 12, 1. pp. 17-18.

REFERENCES

Daniel, B. (2006). Operationalising the concept of resilience in child neglect: Case study research. Child Care Health Development, 32, 3. pp. 303-309.

Gilligan, R. (1998). The importance of schools and teachers in child welfare. Child and Family Social Work, 3, 1. pp. 13-26.

Luthar, S.S. and Zelazo, L.B. (2003). Resilience and Vulnerability: Adaptation in the Context of Childhood Adversities. In S. Luthar (Ed.), Resilience and Vulnerability. New York: Cambridge University Place.

Newman, T. and Blackburn, S. (2002). Transitions in the Lives of Children and Young People: Resilience Factors. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive Education Department.

Seligman, M.E.P. and Peterson, C. (1986). A learned helplessness perspective on childhood depression: theory and research. In M. Rutter, C. Tizard and R. Reads (Eds.), Depression and Young People: Developmental and Clinical Perspectives. New York: Guildford Press.

Werner, E.E. and SMITH, R.S. (1992). Overcoming the Odds: High Risk Children from Birth to Adulthood. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

Zimmerman, R.B. (1988). Childhood depression: New theoretical formulations and implications for foster care services. Child Welfare, 67. pp. 37-47.

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