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Living and Learning in Groups

Children and adolescents want to be special and they want to be just like their peers. All children want to be normal. Major tasks of care workers and everyone who works with children in residential care are to meet each child's special needs, help them feel included, and assist them in developing a sense of normality (Anglin, 2002; Maier, 1981; Ward, 2004; Wolfensberger, 1972). Group care provides the setting where this can happen by enhancing children's interactions with their peers and structuring activities that match their abilities. By providing an "ordinary environment" with normal routines, schedules, activities, school, sports, a comfortable physical environment, interactions with the community, and the measured support each child needs to manage these events, children can develop a sense of normality.

What could be more normal than being in a group? Groups are everywhere. There are family groups, school groups, social groups, and task-oriented groups. There are groups of children on playgrounds, on sport teams, in shopping centers, in the neighborhoods, and in gangs. Human beings are social beings and naturally congregate in groups. It is through these various groups that people meet a variety of needs, including the need to belong, to build competencies, and to develop a sense of self­worth. For adolescents, being part of a peer group is essential to their development. Being able to be a contributing member of a group and community is essential for a healthy adult life.

In residential care, the group setting is the context for providing care. This group setting offers a myriad of life experiences through a variety of peer groupings and contacts, encounters with a multitude of adults, and participation in diverse and rich program activities. All of these facets of group care contribute to the growth and development of the children and youth who live there. Children are strongly influenced by their relationships within their peer group and between the peer group and the group of staff (Emond, 2003; Ward, 2004). The formal and informal groups that form and reform throughout the day, all have the potential of influencing children in growth-enhancing ways. The experience of not only belonging to a group but also of helping others in a group can itself be positive and rewarding for children and youth (Bettleheim, 1950, 1974; Emond, 2003; Redl & Wineman, 1957; Vorrath & Brendtro, 1974; Ward, 2004). All of this does not happen by chance. The care worker must carefully structure, monitor, shape and guide the group process and interaction throughout the day.

Group work is to a great extent the ability to meet individual needs within a group setting. Care workers influence the overall group dynamics and emotional climate of the group and help children learn from being part of a group, using the group to develop problem-solving skills, gaining insight into how their behavior effects others, and learning interpersonal skills. By being aware of the dynamics of the group and the overall ecology of the setting (how the children are interacting in the environment), care workers can provide a structure that will keep the children active and developing within the milieu.

MARTHA HOLDEN

Holden, Martha (2009). Children and Residential Experiences: Creating Conditions for Change.
Arlington: CWLA Press, pp. 175-177

References

Anglin, J. (2002). Pain, normalty, and the struggle for congruence. New York: The Haworth Press
Bettelheim, B. (1950), Love is not enough. New York: Free Press.
Bettelheim, B. (1974). A home for the heart. New York: Knopf,
Emond, . (2003). Putting the care into residential care: The role of young people. Journal of Social Work, 3(3), 321-377
Maier, H. (1981). Group living: A unique feature in residential treatment (New perspectives on sevices to groups: Theory, organization and practice). New York: National Association of Social Workers
Redl,F. and Wineman, D. (1952). Controls from within: Techniques for the treatment of the aggressive child. New York: The Free Press.
Vorrath, H. and Brendtro, L. (1985). Positive peer culture. New York: Aldine Publishing Company.
Ward, A. (2004). Towards a theory of the everyday: The ordinary and the special in daily living in residential care. Child and Youth Care Forum, 33(3), 209-225.
Wolfensberger, W. (1972). The principle of normalization in human services. Toronto: National Institute on Mental Retardation.