Listen to thisThe voice of the residential child care practitioner in Scotland has traditionally been elusive. This lack of voice has not served well either the interests of children or childcare staff and reflects the perceived poor status of the residential task. However over the last 18 months a project has been underway which is starting to address the apparent lack of voice and to refocus practice direction towards a far more relational style of intervention with vulnerable children.
The Carberry Project, as it is becoming known, has since it’s inception sought to bring to the attention of a Scottish audience a “Child and Youth Care” approach to working with children in residence and with families in the community. The Child and Youth Care approach originated in Canada and North America, and features notions of relational childcare based on the creation and utilisation of therapeutic opportunity in the life-space of children. The project has utilised the training methods of Dr. Thom Garfat from Quebec who has facilitated these conferences, and has brought together residential Child and Youth Care staff, from three local authorities, two childcare advocacy charities and three universities.
Several training events have taken place since 2004, with the most recent a conference focusing on the “therapeutic use of daily life events” which took place in February 2006. Responses have been highly enthusiastic about Child and Youth Care as an approach and in particular as these events have apparently struck a chord with residential practitioners as a clear articulation of what they are trying to do in their work with children.
The Carberry Project is being viewed as quite unique as it has been conceived and delivered at a “grass-roots” level across authority boundaries, and is attracting interest and attention within both the practice field and with those involved in the strategy and planning of residential services throughout Scotland. It is hoped that through the development of this project the practitioner voice can be more coherently heard and that outcomes for children may improve as a result.
* * *
ANOTHER VIEW
Hanging out and hanging in
I have just returned from a life affirming experience spent in the
company of residential workers from Edinburgh, East Lothian and the
Highlands and the guru of relational Child and Youth Care approaches,
namely Dr. Thom Garfat.
This two day conference entitled, “the therapeutic use of daily life events” followed on from a similar event that took place 18 months which had the focus on “meaning making”. Those involved are on a journey to consolidate good practice that recognises the importance of the therapeutic relationship.
What residential child care workers do best can be summed up in many ways but here I am using the Child and Youth Care terms “hanging out and hanging in”. Hanging out recognises the importance of maximising our time spent in the company of the residents doing everyday things. These interactions are consciously undertaken to promote growth and healing.
Being busy in our work is about being with people where they live their lives. That can include playing pool, watching TV and sitting quietly listening to the significance of the silence. We struggle with external demands to appear busy in a manner that satisfies misplaced cultural and operational demands which fail to recognise the true value of our work.
There are no easy solutions but this conference offered solid practice-based examples that can be utilised to challenge the misinterpretation of the RCC task.
In terms of “hanging in” we were invited to recognise that through therapeutic intervention the conflict can be channelled to achieve understanding and growth. It is counter-productive to give up and move on the children who are most damaged. To maintain a focus based on the needs of the child is about hanging in through thick and thin.
I would like to thank Max Smart for his role in promoting the Child and Youth Care approach in Scotland and urge readers to check out www.cyc-net.org for further info.
