Residential Child Care Research Articles

Where can I mourn? Psychodynamic contributions to working in residential child care

ABSTRACTLoss permeates the experience of being placed in residential child care, yet residential workers are rarely trained to work with young people who are grieving the loss of family and home. This article will provide an overview of psychodynamic theories of mourning, and will discuss how grief work can be facilitated for children and youth in residential child care.

Editorial

Welcome to this special issue on psychodynamic and systems theories perspectives on residential child care. Psychodynamic in fluences have been waning over the last several decades, both generally (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2005) and in residential child care settings (Mann, 2003; Sharpe, 2006). Sigmund Freud, founder of psychoanalysis, has gone from being equated with Copernicus and Darwin in popular magazines of the 1950s (Menand, 2017) to currently being depicted as a cocaine-addicted charlatan who falsified his case studies in a current, popular biography (Crews, 2017). Behaviourism and social learning theory have become more prominent (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2005 ), both of which offer a more positivist interpretation of human nature (Moyn, 2016). Yet there is a strong, international consensus regarding the centrality of relationships in providing good residential child care (Kendrick, Steckley, & McPheat, 2011), and neither behavioural nor social learning theories offer much illumination for making sense of how mind-bogglingly difficult these relationships can be. Practitioners need support to ask and tentatively answer two, fundamental questions: ‘what is happening for the young person in order to make this relationship work and what is happening for me, the carer in order that this relationship works?’ (Sharpe, Daniel, & Degregorio, 2007). Psychodynamic and systems theories offer such support.

Are children's home arrests a problem?

The Howard League for Penal Reform is concerned that children in residential care are being criminalised unfairly, despite a report showing a fall in arrests. Experts debate if enough is being done to tackle the issue

‘Who do I turn to if something really bad happens?’ Key working and relationship-based practice in residential child care

ABSTRACTThis article explores the psychodynamics of relationship-based practice from the perspective of young people in residential care. This research involved qualitative semi-structured interviews with 10 care leavers, aged 18–24 years, who had been in residential care in Ireland. Drawing selectively from that research, this article reports their views and experiences of key-working and how relationship-based practice acted as a reparative method within their experiences of care and aftercare. Similar to previous research, this study underscores the necessity to ensure that children in care are cared for and supported by a trusted adult. In addition, based on this study, the role of a key worker appears capable of providing this ideal type of supportive relationship. It also highlights the importance of the care system working to provide consistency and support for the young people and confirms the importance of relationships with trusted adults, such as key workers.

From group analytic to systems-centered consulting: a comparison of experience

ABSTRACTThis article provides a personal account of experiences of consultation to staff working in residential child care. The paper starts with experiences of receiving consultation while working in a therapeutic community, then of providing consultation to children’s homes, firstly from a group-analytic perspective and subsequently using a systems-centred approach. The author considers the goal of consulting to staff teams who care for traumatised children and draws conclusions about the different approaches regarding which are most likely to achieve the stated goal. Functional subgrouping – the central method of systems-centred approach – is described in action.

Reclaiming complexity: beneath the surface in residential child care

ABSTRACTResidential child care is an inherently distressing and multi-layered endeavour undertaken by staff who are often poorly trained and supported. In addition, the children, and the adults who care for them, can provide a convenient receptacle for the split off negative feelings of professionals, politicians and the public. The complexity and difficulty of this work is often unrecognised and a simplistic response based on a programmatic, behavioural framework, reinforced by performance-based management and an audit culture, is common. This paper argues for the usefulness of a different approach, drawing on psychoanalytic and open systems thinking, to provide a more nuanced understanding of what is happening in these volatile settings that can guide interventions which match the complexity of the work. Alongside advocating the use of key psychoanalytic and systems concepts to improve understanding, it argues for the importance of providing a containing and reflective environment for staff.

Initial reflections and learning from the development and delivery of staff consultations in an innovative residential childcare pathway

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the development of staff consultation in the context of an innovative residential childcare pathway within a local authority in the United Kingdom. A preceding attempt to develop group consultations in residential homes has been expanded upon and enhanced as part of implementing a broader therapeutic residential service model. A wide-ranging training programme and consultations have been developed for residential childcare workers to introduce and embed therapeutic ideas. Systemic therapy and attachment theory ideas have been used explicitly through exploring with staff how these approaches can inform practice, and implicitly by providing a framework of consultation to inform and expand individual and team thinking. Promoting reflective practice through group consultations has highlighted complex challenges, stimulating opportunities as well as a need to consider multiple levels of context. Recommendations from this learning are discussed to help inform practice in new and existing residential services.

Between love and behaviour management: the psychodynamic reflective milieu at the Mulberry Bush School

ABSTRACTThis article presents findings from a qualitative research study of the Mulberry Bush School (MBS), a therapeutic residential primary school caring for children with severe social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. The article notes the challenges of working with children who have experienced traumatic relationship breakdown, and reviews ideas and practices developed at MBS to support the children’s development. There is a discussion of the research study’s methodology and main findings. The researchers argue that the therapeutic milieu at MBS maintains a creative tension between a secure, playful context and one where emotional disorder and disturbance are not suppressed. The study describes how a particular psychodynamic model of reflective practice has been successfully instituted at MBS to create a ‘staff therapeutic milieu’ supporting the group living and group learning through which therapy principally occurs. The article closes with comments on the applicability of this model to residential child care practice generally.

The Estonian way of deinstitutionalisation. Experiences from an ethnographic research in SOS Children’s Village

This study provides insight into change processes of child residential care as depicted by ethnographic research on Estonian SOS Children’s Villages (SOS CV). Through the analysis of daily life in substitute homes, this study aimed to gain an in-depth and contextualised understanding of this deinstitutionalisation process. The changing approach of SOS CVs from institutional village-life-based to community-based approaches where nonbiological children are raised is discussed. The interpretation of said changes as deinstitutionalisation and their complicated nature is outlined. The latter is attributed to the divergent effects of activities. The findings ultimately lead to the conclusion that such change processes result in both challenges and difficulties to the Estonian substitute care system.

Children and young people with intellectual disability in residential childcare: Prevalence of mental health disorders and therapeutic interventions

Children with intellectual disability are more likely to suffer abuse and neglect. Therefore, they are over‐represented among children in childcare interventions, particularly in residential childcare. The main goal of this article was to explore the correlates of mental health diseases in a sample of 169 children (6–18 years old) in residential care with intellectual disability compared with a group of 625 children, also in residential care but without disability. Results show that the prevalence of intellectual disability in residential childcare in Spain is about 19%, which is significant due to their special needs. In addition to this disability, they have a higher frequency of clinical problems in the scales of withdrawal‐depression, thought problems, attention problems and, above all, social problems than do their peers in residential care. They are also referred more frequently to therapeutic services, in particular to psychiatric intervention and they receive more pharmacological treatments.

Adverse Childhood Experiences in Children with Intellectual Disabilities: An Exploratory Case-File Study in Dutch Residential Care

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are negative childhood events occurring in a child’s family or social environment, that may cause harm or distress. Children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and their families are underrepresented in international ACEs research, while current insights can also contribute to the improvement of their health and well-being. Deficiencies in intellectual and adaptive functioning and living circumstances can increase their vulnerability to adversities. In the present exploratory study 69 case-files of children referred to a Dutch national center for residential youth care for children with ID were analyzed to assess the prevalence and associations of ACEs. It was found that almost half (49.3%) of the children experienced 2 ACEs from the original ACEs framework or more (M (mean) = 2.1; SD (standard deviation) = 1.8) and that the number of ACEs in children was related to the presence of ACEs in parents. Both child and parental ACEs were also related to attachment- and trauma- and stressor-related disorders. Finally, living circumstances and multiple ACEs from the expanded ACEs framework, especially related to parental characteristics, were found to be related to ACEs in children with ID. This implicates the importance of a transgenerational approach when further investigating the impact of ACEs on mental and physical health in children with ID (intellectual disabilities).

Residential Child and Youth Care in a Developing World: Volume 2: Asian and Middle East Perspectives by Tuhinul islam and Leon Fulcher

Residential Child and Youth Care in a Developing World: Volume 2: Asian and Middle East Perspectives by Tuhinul islam and Leon Fulcher

O brincar na vivência de rua de crianças: retratos e narrativas a partir de Desenhos-Estórias

Brincar é uma atividade que promove o desenvolvimento das crianças, pois é a partir da brincadeira que as mesmas irão experimentar o mundo e se comunicar com ele. No entanto, há muitas crianças que não dispõe de condições ambientais satisfatórias para o brincar, como aquelas que possuem vivência de rua. A partir disso, este estudo objetivou compreender a experiência do brincar para crianças com vivência de rua. Para isso, realizou-se uma pesquisa de caráter qualitativo, que utilizou o método de Desenhos-Estórias. A coleta de dados foi realizada em uma instituição de acolhimento, sendo que participaram do estudo três crianças que têm e/ou tiveram vivência de rua, de ambos os sexos, que lá residiam. Os dados foram analisados a partir da análise de conteúdo temática. Com base nos resultados, pode-se considerar que o brincar pode ocorrer mesmo meio ao risco e à vulnerabilidade da rua, ainda que ele contenha algumas especificidades. Ainda, identificou-se que, para os participantes, o brincar prevalece sobre o perigo, uma vez que este ganhou pouco destaque se comparado àquele. Portanto, a pesquisa possibilitou uma maior compreensão acerca do fenômeno estudado, além de promover encontros nos quais as crianças puderam dialogar sobre suas experiências e expressar sentimentos.

児童養護施設における子どもの権利擁護に関する一考察 : 『子どもの権利ノート』の全国的実態とテキスト分析を中心に

児童養護施設における子どもの権利擁護に関する一考察 : 『子どもの権利ノート』の全国的実態とテキスト分析を中心に

Children’s Personal Data: Discursive Legitimation Strategies of Private Residential Care Institutions on the Kenyan Coast

This article looks at how charity organizations running private residential child care institutions on the Kenyan coast make use of the personal data of children in their care, as a means of securing and maintaining the support of donors from the global North. The strategy involves the online showcasing of children’s profiles—individual children’s photos, accompanied by their names, birth dates, annual development, and their emotion-inducing personal and/or family histories are posted on the respective organizations’ websites, making them accessible to the global public. I analyze and problematize this practice, positing that while it explicitly serves fund-raising purposes and is motivated by the search for cost-effective fund-raising-oriented communication, at a more implicit level, it is equally a strategy used to discursively legitimize the organizations and their child ‘rescue’ activities, within the contemporary climate of deinstitutionalization. This strategy results in a violation of children’s rights; has ethical implications; and is not without consequences for the concerned children’s well-being.

Sind Strafen pädagogisch legitimierbar?

Is Punishment in Education Justified? The Case of Excessive Exercise If punishment is defined narrowly as authoritative deprivations for failures by retribution and reprobation, punishment and education are irreconcilable. However, punishment in this sense is rarely endorsed by teachers or youth workers. An exception is the use of excessive exercise, especially push-ups, common in competitive sports, the classroom, some sports oriented residential child care facilities and in combat training of the army. It is shown, that these are not examples of punishment in the narrow sense, but penalties, which follow a different logic and require different strategies of justification.

아동양육시설 보호대상아동에 대한 양육 상황 점검 계획의 문제 및 개선방안

아동양육시설 보호대상아동에 대한 양육 상황 점검 계획의 문제 및 개선방안

‘I’m not getting out of bed!’ The criminalisation of young people in residential care

Evidence from both Australian and international jurisdictions show that children in residential care are over-represented in the criminal justice system. In the current study, we interviewed 46 professionals who had contact with young people in residential care settings in New South Wales, Australia. Our sample included police officers, residential care service providers, legal aid lawyers and juvenile justice workers, about their perceptions of the link between residential care and contact with the criminal justice system. Factors identified by the participants included the care environment itself, use of police as a behavioural management tool, deficient staff training and inadequate policies and funding to address the over-representation. These factors, combined with the legacy of Australia’s colonial past, were a particularly potent source of criminalisation for Aboriginal children in care.

Securing the floor but not raising the ceiling? Operationalising care quality in the inspection of residential care for children in Sweden

ABSTRACTIn many countries, inspections are employed as a central instrument to promote good social work practice, but how inspections should operationally achieve this is not evident. By utilising data from guidelines, interviews and observations, the aim of the article is to analyse how the Swedish inspectorate operationalises care quality within the residential care services for children. Analytically, the inspectorate is regarded as an open system that is receptive to different ideas of how to operationalise care quality. The results show that: (a) the standards display a marked variation, change annually and are similar across all homes, (b) there is a limited link to good quality care as it is defined in empirical research, (c) there are several driving forces for care aspects to inspect and, in general, the distinct standards pertain to formal requirements, while how the care is provided is associated with more indistinct standards and (d) if there is no obvious malpractice in care provided, the inspections appear to have rather unclear formative effects. The results are inter alia discussed regarding whether inspections foster the idea that the ‘floor’ of the care is raised (i.e. securing a basic level of care) but not the ‘ceiling’ (i.e. maximising care).

Ending the criminalisation of children in residential care

Ending the criminalisation of children in residential care