Zvi Levy
Although many eminent thinkers, including Bettelheim (1950), Bronfenbrenner (1979), Erikson (1950), Feuerstein (Feuerstein, Klein, & Tannenbaum, 1991), Maier (1987), Postman (1979; Postman & Weingarten, 1969), and Redl (1966) have emphasized the need for programs to focus on the developmental requirements of their clientele, children and youth needing alternative homes are still being placed in group care environments that are organized so as to provide an efficient combination of services at the expense of supporting youth development. Among the components typically organized in this way are:
Little thought is given to the overall way of life created by such a
combination of services, or to the fact that the way of life, or lifestyle,
is what determines the child’s developmental and identity-formation
processes. At least in part, this is the product of the demands of the task
as defined in the setting. For example, is it all right for the staff to
show feelings or is that "not professional"? Are they habitually tense and
brusque in their interactions, or are they usually calm and relaxed? What
annoys them and what makes them happy? What is forgivable and what is not?
What is regarded as important and what as trivial? If the lifestyle does not
suit the child’s or adolescent’s developmental needs, the entire enterprise
will not work, just as any human framework that does not match its
participant’s identity needs will not work (Cushman, 1990).
What is
needed, therefore, is to replace the thinking that guides the organization
and direction of residential settings on the basis of the most efficient
organization of services with an emphasis on organizing such settings as
environments supportive of development, using the needed services as means
to an end rather than as the goal of the residential setting. The
organization of the right mode of life must be the focus, and every other
activity of the residential setting should be subordinated to this
consideration.
Levy, Z. (1996). Conceptual Foundations of Developmental
Oriented Residential Education: a Holistic Framework for Group Care that
Works.
Residential Treatment for Children & Youth. Vol. 13 No.
3. pp. 70-71
References
Bettelheim, B. (1950). Love is not
enough. New York: The Free Press.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The
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Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
Cushman, P. (1990). Why the self is
empty: Toward a historically situated psychology. American Psychologist,
45(5), 599-611.
Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society.
(2nd ed.). New York: Norton.
Feuerstein. R., Klein, P. S., &
Tannenbaum, A. J. (1991). Mediated learning experience (MLE):
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Publishing Group.
Maier, H. W. (1987). Developmental group care of
children and youth: Concepts and practice. New York: The Haworth Press,
Inc. (Also published as Child & Youth Services, 1987,9(2).)
Postman, N.
(1979). Teaching as a conserving activity. New York: Delacorte
Press.
Postman, Postman, N., & Weingarten, C. (1969). Teaching as a
subversive activity. New York: Delacorte Press.
Redl, F. (1966).
When we deal with children. New York: The Free Press.