NO 1830
Working with Families of Children
and Youths
in Residential Settings
John and Elaine, 1985
It's the end of a busy shift, and John and Elaine, child-care workers in a
residential treatment center, breathing sighs and rolling their eyes
heavenward, reflect on the events of the day as they sip coffee in the staff
room.
"Well, can you believe it?" says John. "Jimmy wants to go home! Have you
ever seen his mother? Always complaining about how hard everything is, and
looking like a tired old dishrag. I'm glad my mother doesn't look like that.
Weird! Knowing how lousy these kids' parents are at least gives me energy to
put up with some of their tricks — certainly Jimmy's. And, I'll tell you —
if it weren't for those parents, I could really make progress with that kid!
After all — I'm just like a parent to him myself."
"Oh, listen, John," chimes in Elaine, "you're going to love this! It was
announced at that staff meeting when you were out sick. We child-care
workers are going to be expected to start making home visits to our kids.
And not only that, the muzzle's off! We're going to be allowed to talk to
the parents about their kid's behavior now when they come here to Edgehaven.
No more of that 'refer it to the case worker' jazz."
"Good grief!" exclaims John. "What's the world — and this agency —
coming to? Next thing you know, I'll be on my way back to school the way you
are — learning more not just about kids but families as well."
__
John and Elaine, 1988
"You know, Elaine, all that business we learned in
graduate school about the child and the family being part of a system, and
about not sending kids back to homes that are the same as they were when
they began treatment, doesn't seem to apply here at Stonecrest. We should
have asked more about it when we were interviewed here. This place is still
rooted in the past. They make all this noise about child-care workers being
part of the treatment team, but they don't even let us use what we know. If
we had a chance to bring parents in, find out what they're like, and work
with them on the ways we use to manage the kids and involve them in
activities, we'd really be using our skills."
"Well, John, why don't you quit complaining about it and do something?
Don't be one of those child-care workers who spends all his time telling war
stories without going into battle!"
"OK, I'll plan something but I can't do it alone. Will you help?"
__
John and Elaine, 1991
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Moore. I'm John Cohane, the child-care family worker
here at Stonecrest. You and I, and Gary, will be working together as part of
his program here. We know how hard it is to be a parent of a difficult
child, and we find that if we work together, it's easier all around.
Sometimes we'll be joined by Elaine Regis, a child and family specialist who
leads our parent groups. Let me tell you a little about what we do, and then
we can see what concerns you have."
"I know that you've already been told about our parent involvement program
and the activities that the kids and their families share together on our
units. Before Gary is admitted, I'll be visiting you at home so we can find
out a bit more about Gary and his interests and concerns and get more of a
picture from you about what it's been like to live with him. Since his main
problem seems to be his refusal to stay in school, I'll be working with his
school to coordinate what we'll be doing with him here. After he's been with
us a few weeks, you'll be coming in, and we'll all meet to set goals
together. There's more, but why don't we see what your questions are at this
point?"
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These vignettes encompass an array of issues representative of the current emergence of concern with the families of children in care as a major focus in Child and Youth Care practice. In this approach, the focus of child-care practitioners is still primarily on meeting the needs of the children, but in a way that enhances the practitioners' effectiveness by bringing families, both directly and indirectly, within their scope of activity. This approach has been referred to as "family-oriented" or "community" child-care practice [Seidl 1974].
KAREN VANDER VEN
Karen vander Ven. Working wih Families of Children
and Youth in Residential Settings,
in Beker, J. and Eisikovitz, Z. (Eds.) (1991). Knowledge Utilization in
Residential Child and Youth Care Practice.
Washington: Child Welfare League of America. pp. 171-173
