Akamas

WORKING AS PART OF A TEAM IN FOSTER CARE

Written By

Kate Cairns

Learning Outcomes

To achieve this unit a learner must:

1. Describe how carers can work effectively as part of a team to protect children from harm
2. Demonstrate how carers can assess and manage risk and work as part of a team to provide safe caring
3. Explain the role of the fostering provider
4. Discuss the roles and responsibilities of other service providers in ensuring effective team work in foster care

Content and Structure

MODULE 1

Working effectively as part of a team to protect children from harm

Protecting children from harm

• The legal framework for child protection
• What constitutes harm: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect
• Recognising abuse: signs and indicators that a child is being harmed
• Processes and procedures in child protection

Implications for foster care

• Protecting children from being harmed by carers: recruitment, assessment, training, supervision and monitoring
• The experience of living with children who have suffered harm
• Working with abusive families
• Teamwork in foster care: working with all the agencies involved in child protection

What can carers do?

• Providing a therapeutic environment: safety, reassurance, boundaries, openness
• Contributing to child protection procedures: observation, assessment, record keeping, report writing
• Containing strong feelings: working with the child, working with the family, working with supervision

MODULE 2

Assessing and managing risk and working as part of a team to provide safe caring

What is safe caring?: assessing and managing risk in foster care

• What is risk?: understanding the concept of risk; assessing risk; reducing risk; balancing risks and benefits
• Who is at risk?: the child; the adults around the child; other children; key agencies
• Trauma, risk and safety: implications of secondary stress disorders; recognising the distorting effects of secondary stress; factoring secondary stress into the risk assessment and management programme

Assessing and managing risks to the child

• The risks to the child: continued abuse; new abuse; retraumatisation; individual and specific risks
• Assessing the risks: naming the risk; describing the risk; judging the level of risk; different views; recognising distortions; recording the assessment
• Assessing the benefits: naming the benefits; forming a judgment about weighting; obtaining different views; recognising distortions; recording the assessment
• Managing the risk: planning; involving others to work as a team; identifying factors that reduce risks and enhance benefits; identifying protection strategies; recording the plan

Assessing and managing risks to the foster family

• Assessing the risks and benefits: naming the risks and the benefits; recording the assessment
• Managing the risks: planning; involving others to work as a team; identifying factors that reduce risks and enhance benefits; identifying protection strategies; recording the plan
• General risks and specific risks: reducing predictable risks; developing a family protocol; ensuring that specific risks are assessed and managed

MODULE 3

The role of the fostering provider

Responsibilities of the fostering provider

• Providing for the safe care of the children: recruitment, assessment, training and supervision of foster carers; the fostering panel; policies and procedures
• Caring for carers: health and safety; support; supervision; training
• Caring for staff: health and safety; policies and procedures

Assessing and managing risks to the fostering provider

• Assessing the risks and benefits: strategies for reducing vulnerability and providing protection
• Responsibilities of carers to the fostering provider: working as part of the team; using supervision; monitoring good practice
• Monitoring and inspection of providers: resources for encouraging best practice

MODULE 4

The roles and responsibilities of other service providers

Understanding the social context of foster care

• The team around the child: the birth family; the foster family; the fostering provider; the social services department; education services; health services
• Pressures on each of the team members: systems and structures

Systemic effects of caring for traumatised children

• Secondary trauma as a model for understanding problems in communication
• Recognising the signs and indicators of secondary stress disorders in the network around the child
• Preventing and addressing problems in communication as a result of the dynamics of traumatic stress

This material provides a notional 30 hours of learning.

Level: 3

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