NO 1829

Encouraging Developmental Processes

Better than most writers, Bronfenbrenner and Maier help group care workers to see how to engage in the task of encouraging developmental processes with children. Bronfenbrenner did this by clarifying the type of interpersonal relations that must develop, while Maier provided a detailed understanding of the events which facilitate such relations. In so doing, both writers also highlight how dysfunctional institutions need not exist provided that they are restructured to allow practices outlined above. Wolins and Wozner (1982) echoed this view, highlighting the extent to which "theoretical, philosophical, and ideological determinants" influence the culture of a group care centre (Fulcher & Ainsworth, 1981, p. 83).

In this respect, it may be helpful to pose a number or questions which workers might wish to ask about their own group care centres.

To what extent are all three types of interpersonal relations in your centre actively considered, including observational relations, shared activity relations, and emotional attachments?
How does your centre acknowledge the importance of and facilitate opportunities for children or young people to experience dependency? Or is dependency frowned upon and seen only as a negative feature of practice and relationships that develop between workers and young people?
In what ways can it be said that your centre accepts the need for workers and young people to develop attachment relationships or is attachment and personal relationships viewed with suspicion?
To what extent does your centre allow for differences in the temperament of children and the different patterns of interaction that are required as a consequence?

FRANK AINSWORTH and LEON FULCHER

Ainsworth, F. and Fulcher, L.C. (2006). Creatiung and sustaining a culture of group care. In Fulcher, L.C. and Ainsworth, F. Group Care Practice with Children and Young People Revisited. Haworth, page 157.