Since it's founding in 1997, the CYC-Net discussion group has been asked thousands of questions. These questions often generate many replies from people in all spheres of the Child and Youth Care profession and contain personal experiences, viewpoints, as well as recommended resources.
Below are some of the threads of discussions on varying Child and Youth Care related topics.
Questions and Responses have been reproduced verbatim.
Listen to thisIs it ethical having a client or youth in care
over in your home?
Verna Kowaski
...
Dear Verna,
This is a very interesting question that I have grappled with many times. In
the earlier days of my training I worked in the city with fairly
stereotypical (in so far as there is such thing) children in residential
care. I always believed that part of my role was to help the kids to broaden
their world view, and general life experiences (from that which had usually
been disadvantaged and involving some form of abuse or other). As part
ofapproach, I would bring the small children to my farm in Spring to feed
the baby lambs, collect eggs etc. As a result I was recently at a wedding of
one of those children who is now aged 25 and spoke very warmly and
confidently of his experiences in care, including visiting my farm. It is
important to note that any visits to my home were always sanctioned by
management, there were always two staff present and the children's mobility
within my home was restricted (without them knowing) to the kitchen and yard
as there was no NEED for them to be anywhere else. On one occasion I
provided a camping holiday in my field for a boy (and staff) who would
otherwise have had no summer holiday as staff refused to take him away due
to his behavioural difficulties.
Unfortunately in the last 10 years, the clinical sanitisation of care
practice in Ireland in the name of 'professionalism' has made it almost
impossible for care staff to offer such gestures of what I would consider to
be ordinary human kindness. The irony is that while I cannot bring a child
to my farm with other staff, I can bring one off on my ownfor several hours
in a car without anybody blinking an eye, what sense does that make?
In summary I guess you should ask yourself why you wish to bring a child to
you home? Whose needs is it meeting? and can you cope if the personal
information that you are bringing to your relationship is used against you
at a later stage? after that if you can implement appropriate child and
staff protection measures and make the experience as NORMAL as possible I
would say go for it!!!
I wish you well and respect the fact that you are even asking the question
in the first place, there is hope!!!
John Byrne
Ireland
...
Hi Verna,
This can be a controversial topic but I will share an amusing story. A
colleague locked herself out of her home but noticed that a small bathroom
window was open. She returned to the unit and enlisted the services of a
small adolescent male to accompany her to the house where he climbed through
the window and assisted her entry. This experience built their relationship.
Cheers
Jeremy Millar
...
No.
Peter Hoag
...
Issue 1. Agency protocols... Check with the Policies of your agency and/or
management/supervisor.... Case manager/ social worker/ guardian approval
would help too.
Issue 2. Allegations.... This can be a realm for false accusations --
esp if this is a youth of the opposite gender. Document you time.. have
others'
eyes there. (Sorry but I'm old school on this issue). Beware of the
perception of favoritism toward the youth you are bringing into your
home...or the expectation of it.
Issue 3. Self care. In my opinion, and in the way I work ... work life and
private life are separate... My home is my refuge away from the youth I work
with.
Kent Harmacy
...
This is difficult to answer this without knowing what the context is.
Without knowing the context, I would have to say that one must err on the
side of caution, and then it is a no-no.
Werner Van Westhuizen
Port Elizabeth, South Africa
...
When I was a relatively new Child and Youth Care I was told that taking
children/youth to your home risked being a taunt to them, as in: "See
where you could be living if I chose to adopt you, but you only get a peek
and then we have to go back to.....because in fact I'm not going to adopt
you". That made sense to me and I always encouraged staff to keep
their live away from work separate from their caretaking of the children.
On the other hand, one night when I was an overnight worker the floor below
us had a fire started by one of the residents. It was the middle of
the night, I called my supervisor for advice and was told that we should
consider taking the kids to our houses until other arrangements could be
made. I bundled up the lot of them, they slept on my floor, and it did
no damage to our relationship.
There's always more than one way to look at things.
Lorraine Fox
...
I would in foster care where I am a support staff for a high needs
adolescent female home. I have had a few youth over to my home, some to stay
and some to visit. Some to help me paint and other times because they needed
to place to get away and think.
All of these youth I have had a very positive, strong and caring
relationship with. I ensured that these youth were aware of my expectations
beforehand. I would never allow a youth into my home that I did not have a
good relationship and good boundaries with. I would never take a youth over
who i didn't know well, and never take over a youth who was in crisis. I
think it depends on what need it is meeting, how its facilitated and the
amount of trust you have in your relationship with the youth.
All the best!
Tabitha Woodall
Toronto Ontario
...
The two most important words in the English language to use before you make
a decision are: So that... e.g. I'm going to take a youth home with
me, so that ........ finish the sentence with what your intentions are and
see if the statement makes sense.
Clayton Ellis
...
It is in the nature of ethical questions that there is no definitive answer.
I can remember when I lived close to the place where I worked and the
children just loved coming into the family space and exploring our bits and
pieces. Sometimes things went missing, but they were always little things,
newspapers, bars of soap [always used] and so on. On balance I agree that
taking children home is not a good idea. But where I work now we have highly
personalised rooms, with valuable and personal items on open display. The
doors are open and we have never had anything taken or deliberately broken
even though we have the usual angry and destructive events. In ethical
issues don't fixate on the answer and don't let go of the question.
Yours,
David Pithers
...
This is an interesting discussion. I really like
Lorraine's response, and it makes perfect sense to me. I remember however a
really bad incident with lots of negative outcomes for lots of people in the
experience of a colleague. The first red flag was that the youth was a young
strapping male and the colleague a 30 something female, married for 15+ to
her high school sweetheart who she was less than sweet on at the time.
Despite lots of effort on the part of colleagues/treatment team, the boy's
parents, her husband, the youth went to live with her and her family after
leaving the program prematurely and against our advice. The outcomes were
disastrous for all; the marriage ended badly, her children felt displaced,
and began acting out, a lot; the youth's parents were very angry at her, and
the program, and her role as a team mate was negatively affected for the
rest of her time with the program.
I think all CYC's meet at least one or two children or youths who we think
we could help by taking them home with us. Sometimes I think maybe we could;
that said, I've never done it, and don't think I would. I'd further state
that I'm a big believer in long, (really long) term foster placement where
the foster parents are CYC's.
Mike Wattie
...
Re taking kids home: I'm thinking it depends on the setting and
relationships. I'm more worried about the effects on the kids who do not get
taken home by anyone.
John Stein
New Orleans
...
Taking kids home: I think that this should be
avoided because of the position it puts the child care worker, child and
organization in. This of course would depend on your organizational
policy. In either case it is cause for concern due to boundaries that should
be established between the child and childcare worker may not be so easily
maintained after the child is allowed to visit in the home.
Darren Facen
Missouri
...
I think every agency should have a policy and procedure in place to deal
with this issue. Staff need to know how to approach considering such
outings/visits, and management needs to monitor it through their own
procedures. Discuss and clear it ahead of time, get the appropriate
approval (may need the client/family/ guardian approval), etc.
Supervision re 'why is the staff person wanting to do this' and is it in the
best interest of the child/youth/client? Use a cycle of review,
assessment and planning on an ongoing basis.
Yana Maltais
...
There is some useful guidance on the national centre for
excellence in residential child care (http://www.ncb.org.uk/ncercc/a-z_of_rcc/residential_child_care_-_o.aspx).
Have a look at the a-z of residential child care and then the section on
leaving care. I know the guidance is geared towards young people who
have left care and professionals keeping in contact but the advice is good
and worth keeping in mind. There are many good resources on this
website that a lot of professionals would find useful not just those
involved in residential care.
Gareth Wall
...
David, I couldn't agree more with your comments regarding ethical questions.
I too believe there is no definitive answer to most ethical issues and I
think that's why we refer to them as ethical dilemmas. I think the stronger
issue is to consider each opportunity where you are faced with an ethical
dilemma and honor it as a learning experience, and take the time to pause
for reflection and further enquiry into your own beliefs and values, while
always considering the children, youth, and families we serve.
Danielle Jimeno
