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Home > Substitute Care Providers: Helping Abused and Neglected Children > Substitute Care Providers: Helping Abused and Neglected Children: Systems, Networks, And Teams
Substitute Care Providers: Helping Abused and Neglected Children
User Manual Series (1994)
Systems, Networks, And TeamsIn their efforts to help children and their families, people interact with one another as members of systems, networks, and teams. Often these terms are used interchangeably, but it may be useful if the following distinctions are made. A system is a group of similar items, ideas, or people that are interrelated so that they form a new entity that is greater than the sum of the component parts. This new entity has a "life of its own." Systems are identified by their boundaries. What lies within those boundaries is part of a particular system; what is outside the boundaries is the larger universe within which that system functions. The boundaries of a system are determined by its objectives and components and by the ways in which those components are related to each other. A component may be a part of more than one system simultaneously, and a system can be a part of yet a larger system. For example, the human body is a system. Clearly, it is more than the sum of its component parts, has a life separate from those parts, and functions as it does because of the way those parts are related to each other. A human body as a system is a person, and this person also functions as a component of other larger systems, for instance, a family. Systems function according to the following interrelated principles:
Networks and teams can be viewed as systems. A more discrete definition of each enables the members to be more aware of the particular function that each serves in helping children in substitute care. In this context, networks can be defined as a number of individuals or organizations that are interconnected to accomplish a goal that each feels is worthwhile. Networks can be established formally with the members working together all the time (in this case, the network can be viewed more clearly as a system) or can be an ad hoc arrangement that functions as a network only to achieve a particular goal. Membership in such networks is informal, and members may come and go according to their commitment to the goal and their capacity to make a contribution. A team can be defined as two or more people who have identified a common goal and have agreed to work together to achieve that goal. The success of the team is predicated on the concept that each member has individual strengths and talents and that people working together can achieve a common goal more easily and effectively than they could by working separately. The team concept is very popular among many professional disciplines. It can be utilized when several different groups work together closely on behalf of someone receiving service (e.g., social workers, lawyers, foster parents, therapists, school officials, and parents working on a team to achieve greater permanency for a child) or when individuals sharing the same discipline work together (e.g., several child welfare caseworkers make a team decision about plans for a child's adoption). It is often helpful to perceive a family as a system of individuals. Usually, families do not recognize that they are systems and are unaware that, as in all systems, they are subject to the principles discussed above. Family systems are structured according to the roles that various members play to keep a particular family system functioning smoothly and by numerous tacit rules that govern how that particular system operates. Often, professionals talk about a family as being "functional" or "dysfunctional." This is an attempt to describe whether a family system is effectively meeting the individual needs of its members as well as maintaining its own homeostasis. When a family system can maintain itself as well as meet the individual needs of the family members, it is considered to be functional. A dysfunctional family is one that may function successfully as a system, but fails to meet the developmental needs of individual members. The Impact of Placement on Family Systems In our society, children grow up as members of families. The placement of a child affects the system of the family that the child leaves as well as that of the family that the child enters. Placement also creates a new family system that incorporates both families. Any decision to subtract or add a child to a family always impacts that family system. Members of families usually do not perceive themselves as part of a system, and they are not consciously aware of family system dynamics that influence their actions. If child welfare caseworkers or others do not understand and consciously work within the conceptual context of family systems, these dynamics also can be overlooked in planning for and helping children in substitute care. Often, it is useful to help the families involved gain greater awareness of their family system dynamics. Family-oriented professionals make use of several techniques, such as having family members write down the rules that govern their particular system, identifying the roles that each family member plays, engaging families in family sculpture, or charting the decision-making process within the family. Whenever a member enters or leaves, family systems become temporarily unbalanced. When a child enters substitute care, the family system that the child leaves becomes askew. The family boundaries are changed, its function is probably modified, roles of the family members must be renegotiated, and the old rules no longer apply. The reason for the placement and the expectation that the placed child will or will not be returning also impacts the way that the family system reacts. The family must struggle to regain its equilibrium. For instance, a family in which a child is being abused has established a balance that is predicated upon that abusive behavior. If the abused child is placed, the family system becomes unbalanced. The family's boundaries are changed by the child's absence, as is the relationship of the members of the system to each other. The function of the family is altered by the loss of the child. The roles that family members had played to help hold the system in balance before the placement are no longer valid, and each member of the family must find a new role. The abuse of the placed child fulfilled some function within the family. If that function is still important to the family system, it must now be fulfilled in some other way—perhaps by shifting the rules by which the system is maintained or perhaps by assigning the role of the abused person to another family member. A child enters a new family system with expectations based on his/her previous experiences. If a child is accustomed to being the abused person in the family, it is likely that the child will seek to fulfil this role in his/her new surroundings. The new family system, however, has a different set of dynamics; it already has a role for the child that is based on the way that family functions. Foster Families and Family Systems By being aware that systems tend to react to new elements as intrusive, a foster family can try to accommodate the newly arrived child into its existing system by redefining every family member's role in ways that will reestablish the family balance yet meet each family member's individual needs. If foster care fulfills its function, those new members that the foster family worked so hard to incorporate will be able to leave, and the family system will once again have to readjust its balance. These families must constantly work to maintain themselves as functional units as each foster child arrives or leaves. Because their boundaries are usually more fixed, family system changes may be more difficult for adoptive families than for foster families. Although the adopted family plans to incorporate the child on a permanent basis, its family system is more resistant to change. The role that is assigned the new child is often more clearly defined, while at the same time the tie between the adopted child and the family remains tentative. An adoption of an older child may fail because the child coming into the family has no awareness of the role he/she is expected to play in that family or because the child repeats a role that had been assigned and practiced in another family. That role may already belong to another member of the adoptive family; this may be a role that is not syntonic with the new family; or it may be a role the child played in a previous placement in a dysfunctional family as a means of protection or control but which is inappropriate in a more functional family system. A fairly common example of this dynamic is the preteen girl who joins an adoptive family after having suffered sexual abuse. Within the former family system, parental attention, pleasurable intimacy, and perhaps survival depended on her sexualized relationship with an adult male in the household. She will practice what she has learned and can be expected to sexualize her responses to her new father and perhaps act inappropriately. If the adoptive family consists of a childless couple who are experiencing sexual tensions, the child may be supported in an unhealthy role she knows all too well. A different scenario involves an adoptive family that wants the preteen to be the community "showpiece" and may focus efforts on correcting the child's "seductive" behavior. The family's actions may create unrealistic expectations leading to rejection of the child as not "fitting in." The integration of the child into the new family is easier when the adoptive family is aware of its own dynamics as a system and of the role that the child played in other families or placements. An adopted infant has a very special status. That child usually represents the "prize" at the end of what may have been a long and arduous journey for an infertile couple. Some agencies have traditionally supported the fantasy expectation that the parents may have for such a child by labeling him/her the "chosen child." Even though that terminology is no longer encouraged, both the adoptive family and the child may sense the special role the child is to play. The placement into foster care or adoption plunges the child and the various families into a network of community services. Although all of the parts of this network may be committed to providing service, each unit has a different vantage point, and each part of the network tends to view its contribution as the most critical. Both the child and the families are best served, of course, when the various components of the network are clearly identified, the function of each component is understood and respected, all parties have communicated effectively, and the responsibility for coordinating the various parts of the network has been delineated. The service network can be defined by the organizations or individuals who are a part of that network. For most children in substitute care, the network includes the following:
Children are the focus of child welfare services, and it is for them that substitute care plans are necessary. Every child comes to placement with a family already attached. The focal point of the network in support of a child is that family. A child comes into care because his/her family is not able to protect the child and meet his/her needs; however, the family still remains a critical element in the network of services. The specific role that each family will play depends on the permanency goal for the child. That goal and the particular needs of the child shape the selection of the child care resource most suitable for the child, thus making a difference in how the family fits into the network. If a child is placed in a foster home, and the goal is eventual return to the birth parents, frequent and spontaneous visits by the parents can be critical. If the child is placed at a treatment institution, visits are arranged to suit the therapeutic plan and the policies of the institution. If the child is in adoption, contact with the birth family may be negotiated as part of the development of the extended kinship network. Increasingly, infant adoptions are being arranged independent of agencies. However, most foster parents work with a child welfare agency, and most special needs children are adopted through agencies. The responsibilities of child placement agencies are usually defined by various statutes, legislative rules, and licensing requirements. The role of the agency is further shaped by other legal boundaries and by the policies of the agency itself. Generally, some authority for the care and planning of the child has been delegated to the particular child welfare agency that exercises control over what happens to the children in their program. To successfully care for a child, the agency structure must delegate most of the responsibility for the daily care of the child to direct care providers. The agency assumes the role of case manager, a role that is discussed later in this manual. The direct care providers are the substitute foster and adoptive parents (or child care staff in group homes or institutional programs). These individuals play the most significant role in anchoring the child while the network of available services are brought to bear. They function both as a part of the agency program and as entities apart from the agency program. Because its role is to protect the child and use its authority to enforce a plan that is deemed in the child's best interests, the court plays a crucial role for any child in substitute care. For most individuals, courts are formidable places. Appearing in court may be associated with being charged with or punished for wrongful behavior or with attempting to resolve some bitter dispute. The case manager, usually the child welfare caseworker, is responsible for presenting the child's needs to the court, interpreting the court's role, and mitigating the negative feelings that the court may engender in other team members. Recently, courts have tended to go beyond traditional judicial roles through involvement in administrative casework issues. Schools play a vital role in the development of children. Not only are they charged with the cognitive development of children between the ages of 5 and 18, but schools also function as an extension of the family in meeting the broader nurturing and developmental needs for many children. Schools are also the primary source of peer contact and provide the first alternative arena for the child to explore values other than those learned at home. Almost without exception, a child coming into care exhibits the impact of placement through performance in school. The child may also reflect the impact of his/her life history, including previous placements, neglect, abuse, and most likely, an irregular school experience in which the child has invested little. As a result of these experiences, the child's cognitive development may lag behind his/her chronological age. The child may be emotionally unable to commit to learning; he/she may suffer from diagnosed or undiagnosed learning disabilities; or the child may choose school to act out more general concerns. A young child may have so much of his/her emotional energy drained by dealing with the loss of the birth family that by the time he/she is old enough to start school he/she is unable to perform well scholastically. Thus, the cooperation and involvement of the school system is usually critical to the success of substitute care. In an Illinois survey of 395 randomly chosen families who had adopted special needs children, the adoptive families identified special education as the service they needed most.27 A child in either foster care or adoption is sometimes in educational jeopardy. School personnel may feel that the child in foster care does not really belong to that community and is an extra burden on school staff and the taxpayers. As a result, some educational systems may be reluctant to provide or develop special services for foster children. An adoptive child, of course, legally "belongs" to the community, but educators may subscribe to the myth of the "adoption syndrome." This syndrome hypothesizes that all adopted children are likely to manifest a certain cluster of problems. The danger of such a perception within the school is that an adoptive child may be stigmatized, become the victim of self-fulfilling prophecies, or have individual needs that are unidentified or unmet. Therefore, the child welfare agency responsible for the placement of the child, as well as the foster and adoptive parents, must maintain regular contact with the school. The purpose of this contact is to improve the communication and the understanding of both parties about the impact of substitute care on the child's school performance and behavior. The goal is to maintain the school as an ally in identifying and helping meet the needs of the child. Additional resources in the service network for a child in substitute care depend on the communities involved and the needs of the child. Many children bring into placement educational handicaps, emotional problems, developmental deficits or delays, or other concerns that can be addressed by community resources. If a child's specific needs are identified, resources to help meet those needs can then be included in the service network. For example, the child who has educational difficulties may require tutoring; the child who is exhibiting emotional distress may need counseling; a family overwhelmed by the caretaking demands of a severely disabled child may need to join a support group focused on that particular difficulty; and a family troubled by the complexities of managing the care of a special needs child may require respite care. A needed resource may not always be available. It is then the responsibility of the parents and the agency to advocate for the development of such a resource. One example is that of respite care for substitute parents who are caring for special needs children. In the previously mentioned Illinois survey, 26 percent of the families indicated they had a need for respite care but only 6 percent had actually used this service.28 The survey did not document the reasons for families not using services but in this particular case, respite care was not yet available in many parts of the State. Recently, respite care has become more readily available as foster parents have identified it as a critical need, and agencies have come to recognize how useful it can be in helping preserve foster care placements that may be in jeopardy. Most children in substitute care do not require a broad array of services, and the amount of any given service that a child needs varies. Often, families feel that the children get too much or too little access to services. The case manager is responsible for guiding the family and child through the network of service providers as well as matching the needs of a particular child or family with the appropriate services. Thus, sound case management is more than merely coordinating resources. It also involves identifying the appropriate resources, knowing how to access those resources, and making those resources available in a way that empowers, not demeans, those needing service. Substitute parents need community services to do their job, but they are also essential to the coordination of such services, determining the fit between their schedule and the services. Often, the substitute caregivers must exercise parental prerogative to ensure that the child gets the appropriate services. At times, foster and adoptive parents may be somewhat reluctant to make full use of the network of services. Two characteristics demonstrated by successful foster or adoptive parents are their problem-solving skills and their sense of being able to adapt to the demands and accomplish the tasks that substitute parenting requires. Such individuals, however, may have difficulty in recognizing their own shortcomings and in calling upon others for assistance. Substitute parents may feel that any attempt to involve the community in helping them may portray them as inadequate as parents. Although both adoptive and foster parents must "prove" their competency to be approved as substitute care providers, adoptive parents have tended to feel more vulnerable. Until recently, the relationship they had with the agency was terminated when the adoption was consummated. Many agencies discouraged adoptive parents from returning if they were experiencing difficulties. Rather, the agencies would recommend that the parents use some other community resource. Thus, the message was both that the adoptive family was now like any other family (which it can never be), and that the agency had no interest in assisting the adoptive family in dealing with its problems. However, the current emphasis on postlegal adoption services has fostered an allied role for agencies in helping adoptive families at every developmental stage of the child. Many agencies have found that when new families are introduced to the concept of the resource network during their orientation, they are more comfortable in accessing resources, if necessary. Some agencies ask community resource personnel to discuss with groups of potential parents the typical developmental difficulties they may encounter with their children as well as provide information on available services. This approach has proved helpful for the parents; they not only learn about community resources, they also become acquainted with community service providers. Currently, many agencies also make use of experienced foster and adoptive parents during their orientation or preservice training. These families can provide first-hand information about the community network and the various services they may have used. Often, new parents team with experienced parents in what is called a "buddy system" to provide additional support and information. Most professionals recognize that the needs of the child in substitute care can best be met by an intra-agency team. The team consists of the child's parents, the foster or adoptive parents, agency personnel, and possibly the child him/herself. As with any successful team, a team working on behalf of meeting the needs of an abused or neglected child must include the following five critical components:
If the team is to succeed, a common goal must be identified, clearly articulated, and accepted by all members. In athletics, usually the foremost team goal is to win games. Everyone on the team recognizes that goal, and each member must consider achieving that goal as the first priority. If any player has a different goal, not shared and accepted by the other players, the team's effectiveness is diminished. If one player's goal is to break the individual scoring record, and another player's is to retaliate against someone on the other team for some past offense, the team will likely fail to achieve its overall goal of winning the game. To help abused and neglected children, the initial stage of a successful team effort is the statement and agreement on the goal or goals. This is not as easy, or as common, as it appears. The foster care system is based on outmoded premises. Traditionally, foster parents have been recruited by emphasizing three related, but fallacious, ideas:
Until quite recently, birth parents have had little input in the planning for their child in foster care. When the child came into care, it was often the case that the birth parents were treated as though they had no further rights or responsibilities regarding the child. Agencies either worked hard to maintain the child in foster care (as if that were the primary goal) or tried to get the child out of foster care in order to provide placement for another child. The result has been a fragmented approach to foster care. Some potential team members have become uneasy with other members. Too often, foster parents are focused on meeting the immediate nurturing needs of the child in their care. Agencies are struggling to work out case plans toward permanent placement for the child and provide the supplementary therapeutic services. Birth parents are striving to overcome a number of personal problems as well as deal with the foster care system, and the child is expending his/her energy to manage his/her anxiety about the future. The goals for a particular birth family should be clearly articulated in the initial case plan; it may be appropriate for these goals to be discussed in collaboration with the foster parents. Regardless, the goals must always be shared with the foster parents, and the birth family must be told about this sharing process. The inclusion of the foster family in the goal setting (or when that is not possible, the sharing of the goals with the foster family) underscores the foster family's role as a team member. This approach also has implications for the recruitment and training of foster parents by forming the basis for open, ongoing communication among all team members. Developing Emotional Connections An agreed-upon cognitive goal has little meaning unless there is an emotional alliance among the team members. This concept has long been recognized in athletics. A successful coach will readily acknowledge that whether a team wins or loses a game depends more on each member's commitment and enthusiasm than on individual talents. Athletic teams work hard to develop this emotional tie. They use team names, uniforms, mascots, cheers and songs, and rituals. This dynamic is also present in the foster care team. However, because of the different perspectives of the principals involved, the child welfare agency must take responsibility for developing this emotional alliance. Each person lives in a different cognitive world, and his/her viewpoint is a product of individual perceptions. It is often hard to understand those whose backgrounds differ from one's own. For people to work together on a team, they must "feel" related to the others involved. Such an alliance is not possible if the team members rely only on the cognitive agreement on goals. Commitment is an emotional experience. Although everyone lives in different cognitive worlds, they share the same emotional world. It is through making an emotional bridge that people can really come together. In substitute care, the feeling of loss is common to all team members. Loss is a universal experience, and each person has a reservoir of feelings related to personal losses upon which he or she can draw. In addition, substitute care by definition provides a loss experience for those involved. The birth parents lose their child, the child loses the birth family, foster parents lose a child who has become a part of their family, adoptive parents have "lost" a child not born to them, and the caseworker loses a child and the families as they move out of agency care. By acknowledging and discussing these losses, and by tapping into the feelings that the loss represents to each of those involved, participants in substitute care can find a common emotional language and a way to feel related to one another. To work effectively, the members must have mutual respect for the special contribution that each can make. Each team member must acknowledge and respect the others on the team for who they are and for what they can contribute. This may not always be easy. Parents who have abused their child or who behave in antisocial, irresponsible, or unpredictable ways are not always respected by those who are caring for their child or by the social services agency. It is easy to lose sight of the common base of humanity that each person shares with those parents, the circumstances that bring about their behavior, the pain that behavior may have caused them, and what they may mean to their child. To generate respect is to work to understand those parents, to keep establishing the common ground that enables individuals to make connections with each other, and to recognize any positive experiences or values that the parents have given and have yet to give to their child. Often, it is also difficult for birth parents to respect the other team members. Foster parents may see themselves as helping the birth parents by providing good care for their child. The birth parents may view the foster parents as rivals for the child's affection. Caseworkers may see themselves as "doing good" and "helping" the child and the families. For birth parents, the caseworker may represent an intrusive, hostile system that has possibly forced the placement of their child. It is also likely that foster parents may perceive agency staff quite differently than staff perceive themselves. It is the agency that licenses the foster parents and decides which child will be placed in foster care. When there are disagreements about planning, the agency falls back on policies or procedures to resolve the issues. Until quite recently, child welfare caseworkers have been somewhat unsure about how to categorize foster parents. They have been called "caregivers," "resources," "clients," "employees," "cotherapists," and "team members." Unfortunately, in many situations, foster parents have been treated with condescension as often as with respect. Mutual respect depends on not only recognizing the contribution that each member may have made in the past, but also on clearly defining the role that each is to currently play. How roles are fulfilled depends on the following:
In foster care, there is a tremendous potential for role confusion. It is not unusual for birth parents and foster parents to compete to see who the child will view as parents; the agency and the foster parents may struggle over the issues of control and responsibility; birth parents and their child may disagree with the agency around matters of planning; and the child may exploit the shared parenting situation either consciously or unconsciously. Substitute care involves shared parenting. It is important to remember that the child is initially rooted in the birth family; any substitute care plan is an attempt to extend family boundaries to meet the child's developmental needs. The fact that a child is being cared for by foster parents does not negate the birth parents' rights or responsibilities. Whenever possible, birth parents should be involved in making decisions about their child in all but routine family matters or in situations requiring immediate action. For instance, changes in a young child's hairstyle ought not be arbitrarily decided by the foster parents without input from the birth parents. Although a team cannot function successfully if it lacks any one of the five critical components mentioned earlier, probably the one component most crucial for ongoing success is communication. If communication is frequent, open, and clear, most difficulties in other areas can be addressed and solutions achieved. If communication is unclear or nonexistent, almost certainly team members will drift apart, and the team approach will break down. Effective team communication develops when rules are clearly delineated and team members consistently adhere to those rules. Good communication develops with practice. The following five rules lead to effective communication, regardless of the situation:
This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit Child Welfare Information Gateway. |
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