Children who come to live with us, often after multiple placement breakdowns and varied care experiences, need thoughtful and insightful adults around them to break the historical pattern of adults letting them down. Each child comes with their own life story, their own experiences and their own challenges. The effects of adverse life experiences are unique to each child therefore our working model reflects this, by considering the individual needs of each child and holding their wellbeing as central to everything we strive for.
Our living spaces have a maximum of two children living together at one time. Each child has a team of three adults responsible for looking after them, and thinking about their therapeutic needs. This is called their Helping Team. The care and intervention is determined by the needs of the child and not the set-up of the provision. We also work closely with important adults in the child’s life outwith A Life Explored (Care) Ltd creating a wider Helping Team approach to ensure that all involved in the care of the child work seamlessly together.
The children who are referred to A Life Explored (Care) Ltd come with challenging reputations; they have had wide and varied experiences of family life and the majority come with an extensive care system history. We see the cumulative influences of their experiences in their behaviour. Some presenting behaviours include emotional dysregulation, poor empathy, violence, self-harm, sexually problematic behaviours, substance misuse, impulsivity, dissociation, lack of empathy and attachment difficulties. At A Life Explored (Care) Ltd our model of intervention envelops attachment theory, trauma informed care and a positive behaviour approach around the central task of considering a re-parenting perspective in all our interactions. By adopting this approach it places the emphasis on the interactions and interventions of the adults with a robust system in place to offer support and guidance from the management team.
So what does this approach mean in everyday terms?
Our living spaces have a maximum of two children living together at one time. Each child has a team of three adults responsible for looking after them, and thinking about their therapeutic needs. This is called their Helping Team. The care and intervention is determined by the needs of the child and not the set-up of the provision. We also work closely with important adults in the child’s life outwith A Life Explored (Care) Ltd creating a wider Helping Team approach to ensure that all involved in the care of the child work seamlessly together.
The children who are referred to A Life Explored (Care) Ltd come with challenging reputations; they have had wide and varied experiences of family life and the majority come with an extensive care system history. We see the cumulative influences of their experiences in their behaviour. Some presenting behaviours include emotional dysregulation, poor empathy, violence, self-harm, sexually problematic behaviours, substance misuse, impulsivity, dissociation, lack of empathy and attachment difficulties. At A Life Explored (Care) Ltd our model of intervention envelops attachment theory, trauma informed care and a positive behaviour approach around the central task of considering a re-parenting perspective in all our interactions. By adopting this approach it places the emphasis on the interactions and interventions of the adults with a robust system in place to offer support and guidance from the management team.
So what does this approach mean in everyday terms?
Approaching our daily interactions from a Re-parenting Perspective
A Life Explored (Care) Ltd employs the term ‘re-parenting perspective’ to explain the approach that is taken by all adults who are caring for our children. In working from a re-parenting perspective adults are not attempting to replace parents nor are they unrealistic in their understanding of the significant difficulties our children face in forming healthy relationships. The approach is simple; it highlights the need for children to experience relationships that allow them to feel safe to move from surviving in life to living it and enjoying it. Coming from a re-parenting perspective informs that it is more conducive for the substitute family to be smaller in numbers. Increasing time spent with a given adult aids the development of an attachment and thus some form of therapeutic relationship. We therefore approach our structure with small Helping Teams of 3 adults who are responsible for the care and wellbeing of one of our children. The focus on re-parenting for the small Helping Team allows them to become attuned to their role. They are supported to think like a parent but the emphasis is placed on doing it differently; parenting in the way you would your own child is not enough. In order to contribute to enhancing feelings of safety we work hard to ensure that the child experiences their Helping Team within A Life Explored (Care) Ltd as warm, consistent and responsive.
Hughes 2006 describes the essential role of attunement of care givers as follows: In healthy families, a baby forms secure attachment with her parents as naturally as she breathes, eats, smiles and cries. This occurs easily because of her parents’ attuned interactions with her. Her parents notice her physiological/affective states and they respond to her sensitively and fully. Beyond simply meeting her unique needs, however, her parents ‘dance’ with her. Hundreds of times a day, day after day, they dance with her. There are other families where the baby neither dances nor even hears the sound of any music. In these families she does not form such secure attachments. Rather her task – her continuous ordeal – is to learn to live with parents who are little more than strangers. Babies who live with strangers do not live well or grow well. In order for us to re-parent, our children need a Helping Team that is attuned to them, a Helping Team that does not feel like strangers, that over time children know and trust and that ‘dance’ with the children in a way that communicates it is safe to respond. Those special adults must be attuned to the child at all times. Appelstien talks about how imperative it is that every adult starts every day positively, happy to be there and thrilled to have the day to spend with their child. No matter what else is going on, the job is to engage, to allow kids to feel they are special and every moment counts and to ensure that a warm acceptance is portrayed throughout. Children who have experienced trauma often feel as if they live within bodies that feel overwhelmed with few strategies to regulate arousal. In order to recover they need to develop positive expectations of an attachment figure. Their expectations will not change overnight or via once weekly therapy but only gradually and over time through a multitude of interactions in which adults must be calm, reflective, responsive and attuned to the child’s emotional experience. Adults must be patient when the child fails which they inevitably will. The Helping Team within A Life Explored (Care) Ltd meets regularly to consider the therapeutic needs of the child. Adults are supported through regular supervision, training and the use of external consultancy. Our approach facilitates the fluidity required for children establishing relationships with their Helping Team whilst being mindful of the significance of routines and rhythms. Our Helping Team works hand in hand with other professionals to build up a Helping Team around the child that allows for their needs and planning to be systemic in its approach to providing better outcomes.
A Life Explored (Care) Ltd employs the term ‘re-parenting perspective’ to explain the approach that is taken by all adults who are caring for our children. In working from a re-parenting perspective adults are not attempting to replace parents nor are they unrealistic in their understanding of the significant difficulties our children face in forming healthy relationships. The approach is simple; it highlights the need for children to experience relationships that allow them to feel safe to move from surviving in life to living it and enjoying it. Coming from a re-parenting perspective informs that it is more conducive for the substitute family to be smaller in numbers. Increasing time spent with a given adult aids the development of an attachment and thus some form of therapeutic relationship. We therefore approach our structure with small Helping Teams of 3 adults who are responsible for the care and wellbeing of one of our children. The focus on re-parenting for the small Helping Team allows them to become attuned to their role. They are supported to think like a parent but the emphasis is placed on doing it differently; parenting in the way you would your own child is not enough. In order to contribute to enhancing feelings of safety we work hard to ensure that the child experiences their Helping Team within A Life Explored (Care) Ltd as warm, consistent and responsive.
Hughes 2006 describes the essential role of attunement of care givers as follows: In healthy families, a baby forms secure attachment with her parents as naturally as she breathes, eats, smiles and cries. This occurs easily because of her parents’ attuned interactions with her. Her parents notice her physiological/affective states and they respond to her sensitively and fully. Beyond simply meeting her unique needs, however, her parents ‘dance’ with her. Hundreds of times a day, day after day, they dance with her. There are other families where the baby neither dances nor even hears the sound of any music. In these families she does not form such secure attachments. Rather her task – her continuous ordeal – is to learn to live with parents who are little more than strangers. Babies who live with strangers do not live well or grow well. In order for us to re-parent, our children need a Helping Team that is attuned to them, a Helping Team that does not feel like strangers, that over time children know and trust and that ‘dance’ with the children in a way that communicates it is safe to respond. Those special adults must be attuned to the child at all times. Appelstien talks about how imperative it is that every adult starts every day positively, happy to be there and thrilled to have the day to spend with their child. No matter what else is going on, the job is to engage, to allow kids to feel they are special and every moment counts and to ensure that a warm acceptance is portrayed throughout. Children who have experienced trauma often feel as if they live within bodies that feel overwhelmed with few strategies to regulate arousal. In order to recover they need to develop positive expectations of an attachment figure. Their expectations will not change overnight or via once weekly therapy but only gradually and over time through a multitude of interactions in which adults must be calm, reflective, responsive and attuned to the child’s emotional experience. Adults must be patient when the child fails which they inevitably will. The Helping Team within A Life Explored (Care) Ltd meets regularly to consider the therapeutic needs of the child. Adults are supported through regular supervision, training and the use of external consultancy. Our approach facilitates the fluidity required for children establishing relationships with their Helping Team whilst being mindful of the significance of routines and rhythms. Our Helping Team works hand in hand with other professionals to build up a Helping Team around the child that allows for their needs and planning to be systemic in its approach to providing better outcomes.
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Safe and Homely Living Environment Children’s need for a secure base in which they can learn how to meet their needs is of paramount importance. We provide a care experience for children aged 12-18 who come to us with challenging reputations. Our living spaces have a maximum of two children living together at any given time thus providing a specialist opportunity, with each child having the support and attention of an adult at all times, whilst sharing their living environment with their peers. This approach is backed by many researchers with regards to promoting more settled living. Garbarino states “The worst place to put a severely troubled youth is with 12 other severely troubled youths”. We aim to provide a truly child-centred service in which the children are at the heart of our thinking and our planning. Creating a sense of safety is imperative and is underpinned by the commitment to value each individual child. Children often have patterns of behaviour which include running away from where they are living. Such behaviour, presents for a variety of reasons, but regularly puts children at risk from themselves and others. A Life Explored (Care) Ltd works to reduce that risk. If children make the decision to leave, we follow them. Whether that involves actually travelling alongside them as they go via train or bus or spending time in the area we believe them to be. We search, we follow up all contact details for friends and family and we do all that we can to try and locate our children and keep them safe. Planned and Considered Referrals Children learn to live together, tolerate each other in a way that siblings in a birth family would. The first important thing is that any move for any child will be planned, a transition period will elapse, whereby an initial introduction will take place with visits and family visits where possible. A Life Explored (Care) Ltd will try as far as possible to not accept a long term referral on an emergency basis. To change current practice, services such as ourselves must ensure they support the principles of planned placements and in doing so challenge more often than not placements of children because there is a bed and not because it is the correct placement. A Life Explored (Care) Ltd will not accept a referral because they have a ‘empty bed’; it will be assessed and thought through until it is clear that we are a suitable place and that we can make a difference to that child’s life. A Life Explored (Care) Ltd adopts a referral process that focuses on incompatibility being the second most significant driver after safety. If children are brought together as incompatibles they are less likely to engage in each other’s behaviours whilst still gaining the opportunity to live with someone of similar age. Within birth families siblings are not together due to compatibilities; siblings naturally develop different personalities and adopt different behaviours often resulting from the dynamics of group living within the birth family set-up itself. Key skills which can be learned through the journey of living in the birth family home are generally lost in the residential care setting due to the lack of thought in the acceptance of referrals. A Life Explored (Care) Ltd tries to capitalise on the opportunity for children living and learning together to ensure key skills for their future are not lost. Education and Achievement Education and achievement is pro-actively supported through statutory schooling and a variety of educationally rich and stimulating opportunities. Degas quotes “Self-doubt kills ability”. Children need adults around them who will allow them to achieve, if kids are left unprompted, unmotivated then they will not achieve, they will not engage and their lack of self-esteem and self-belief blocks even the vision of what opportunities are out there. Children therefore fail to gain aspirations for the future. Kolb and Fry state “young people learn best by doing,experimentation”. Children need to be given opportunities, over and over again to learn, to make mistakes, to adapt, to reflect and to develop primarily a self of sense. In doing so kids learn to achieve, they feel good about achievement and strive to achieve more. A Life Explored (Care) Ltd offers endless opportunities for learning. With regards to formal learning we support any child as far as possible to stay in their home school. Educational outcomes and levels of social inclusion are far greater for those children that remain in their home school whilst moving into a care placement. Relationships and Keeping in Touch When humans are cared for and nurtured the most unusual next step would be to say goodbye and lose all contact. Many of our children learn to trust adults and take a risk to form an attachment, a risk that often has not been successful. It makes sense then that we continue to keep in touch, offer emotional and at times practical support and ensure each of our children knows we think the world of them. Celebrate birthdays, Christmas and share time and meals together. We all need someone........ Recent research by IRISS - Relationships Matter - highlights why keeping in touch is crucial for our children. |
Mindful Intervention - our views on restraint Children who come from difficult backgrounds have experiences which are wide, varied and complex. Our starting position is that we do not condone or accept violence and that restraint often re-traumatises those who are involved. We therefore aim to provide an environment where restraint is unnecessary. Adults are trained and supported to implement a positive behaviour approach that supports children in crisis. Learning how to help children in crisis requires that we understand what ordinarily goes right in child development in order that we recognise that we are working not with bad or manipulative children whose behaviour is intentional but instead with very damaged children. To further promote anenvironment where restraint is unnecessary we have replaced our restraint policy with a Mindful Intervention Policy. Mindfulness is an approach that requires understanding and commitment both on an individual level and an organisational one. A Life Explored (Care) Ltd is fully committed to promoting mindfulness in all that we do. Mindfulness By incorporating a mindfulness approach we are helping children develop an awareness of their thoughts and feelings in order to help them make positive choices about their lives. Children learn from those around them and people who spend time in their lives. In this respect, using a mindfulness approach enables the Helping Team to provide pro-social role modelling, on-going reflection, teaching and coaching. We teach them about healthy relationships, we model those relationships in their environment. Reframing is used throughout communication with children to allow children to gain awareness of their behaviours as being self-protective. In using reframing adults are able to praise children for their coping strategies which avoids negativity eroding self-esteem further. An example of reframing would be a child swearing at a social worker. The member of the Helping Team may express to the child ‘I hear you are good at letting people know how you are feeling. How about we work out how you can do this without upsetting people. This portrays a positive message to the child whilst allowing them to engage in accepting and altering their behaviours. Strength Based Approach This is achieved through daily life bringing in the safety of rhythms and routines. Adults start everyday believing it is special, that the child feels valued and is wanted, cared for and the centre of the adults’ world. The working pattern in place for adults is deliberate. One adult spends the whole day with the child, the child wakes up with the adult on that day and turns in for the night able to reflect on the whole day with the adult who has shared it with them. This approach allows conflict to be worked through, achievement to be acknowledged and not lost and communication to be clear for the child. The routines of the house are imperative to the message children receive. As part of house routine meal times are organised and special. The routine of house meetings, of story-telling night, expectations about night-time routines all play a large part into both the settledness of the house and the repetitive and not giving up approach that allows children to feel safe and engage in the process. At A Life Explored (Care) Ltd we explore the challenging reputations that children arrive with and with the correct support we enable children to change previously unchallenged behaviours. We actively promote positive behaviour, reward achievements and effort. We work with consequences and incentives building on the day in day out messages given to the children through interactions with their Helping Team. Through the assessment process the Helping Team, supported by the External Consultant, will ensure intervention is responsive to the individual child through a clearer understanding of their individual needs. Resilience and the Future Children who have been involved with the care system more often than not leave care prematurely and with limited skills to support them to live independently and to cope with the challenges that brings. Whilst there is a clear view from A Life Explored (Care) Ltd that children need on-going support after their care experience, it remains imperative that the Helping Team starts to lay the foundations of that support. Building resilience for our children is concerned with ensuring that children learn to cope better and reduce the risks that surround them in daily life. It is important we use our approach to establish and try to maintain their self-esteem while facilitating their feeling of connectedness. Understanding the child’s journey so far allows the Helping Team to develop resilience in a way that will effect change. The interventions and action plans will reflect this communicating each child’s uniqueness and that they are valued. Resilience is built on through the daily interaction with their Helping Team, by using the Strength Based Approach to celebrate their successes and give children a sense of hope for the future, a belief that they can achieve and evidence that they are achieving. |
