Abstract
BACKGROUND
Children leaving care have notably poorer outcomes than comparable children in the general population, and children in residential care are among the most vulnerable. In 2007 the Children Matter Taskforce in Northern Ireland commissioned a regional review of residential childcare (RRRCC). Following the recommendations in the RRRCC, children’s homes across the region are piloting six ‘therapeutic approaches’ to work with children and young people:
•Belfast Trust – Social Pedagogy
•Northern Trust – Children and Residential Experiences (CARE) model
•South Eastern Trust – Sanctuary model
•Southern Trust – Resilience model and Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC) model
•Western Trust – Model of attachment practice
AIMS OF THE REVIEW
To date, information about the therapeutic approaches has not been collated in one document. Furthermore, whilst it seemed that the approaches shared a number of underlying features, this had not been explored systematically. As part of an evaluation of the six therapeutic approaches, the Institute of Child Care Research was asked to undertake a scoping review of the approaches. The aims of the review were to:
•Describe the origins, content and evidence base of the models, and
•Analyse the similarities and differences between them.
The review also considered the extent to which each model makes clear its ‘theory of change’. At its core, a theory of change spells out how the core components of an intervention (inputs) bring about changes in staff behaviour and organisational processes or culture (outputs) and why or how these changes are thought to benefit children and young people (outcomes).
KEY FINDINGS
There are underlying similarities between the approaches. All the approaches provide a way of thinking about the challenges of working with children with a range of social, emotional and intellectual difficulties. Each provides a framework whose constituent theories are intended to help staff to understand:
•How trauma impacts on children and young people,
•How and why their ways of coping might be maladaptive,
•How and why agencies and staff respond in ways that are not always helpful, and
•How they might change.
Each emphasises the importance of helping staff develop the knowledge and skills necessary to help those they care for.
The approaches share similar underpinning concepts. With the exception of Social Pedagogy, the significance of trauma and attachment in the lives of children are features of all the models in use within the Trusts, although each has a more prominent place in some models than others (e.g. the theory of attachment is particularly strong in Sanctuary, CARE, ARC and MAP models. Both theories are used to help staff better understand why children (and staff) behave and relate in the ways they do and provide a conceptual scaffold that can help them think how best to intervene or support children and young people.
Children leaving care have notably poorer outcomes than comparable children in the general population, and children in residential care are among the most vulnerable. In 2007 the Children Matter Taskforce in Northern Ireland commissioned a regional review of residential childcare (RRRCC). Following the recommendations in the RRRCC, children’s homes across the region are piloting six ‘therapeutic approaches’ to work with children and young people:
•Belfast Trust – Social Pedagogy
•Northern Trust – Children and Residential Experiences (CARE) model
•South Eastern Trust – Sanctuary model
•Southern Trust – Resilience model and Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC) model
•Western Trust – Model of attachment practice
AIMS OF THE REVIEW
To date, information about the therapeutic approaches has not been collated in one document. Furthermore, whilst it seemed that the approaches shared a number of underlying features, this had not been explored systematically. As part of an evaluation of the six therapeutic approaches, the Institute of Child Care Research was asked to undertake a scoping review of the approaches. The aims of the review were to:
•Describe the origins, content and evidence base of the models, and
•Analyse the similarities and differences between them.
The review also considered the extent to which each model makes clear its ‘theory of change’. At its core, a theory of change spells out how the core components of an intervention (inputs) bring about changes in staff behaviour and organisational processes or culture (outputs) and why or how these changes are thought to benefit children and young people (outcomes).
KEY FINDINGS
There are underlying similarities between the approaches. All the approaches provide a way of thinking about the challenges of working with children with a range of social, emotional and intellectual difficulties. Each provides a framework whose constituent theories are intended to help staff to understand:
•How trauma impacts on children and young people,
•How and why their ways of coping might be maladaptive,
•How and why agencies and staff respond in ways that are not always helpful, and
•How they might change.
Each emphasises the importance of helping staff develop the knowledge and skills necessary to help those they care for.
The approaches share similar underpinning concepts. With the exception of Social Pedagogy, the significance of trauma and attachment in the lives of children are features of all the models in use within the Trusts, although each has a more prominent place in some models than others (e.g. the theory of attachment is particularly strong in Sanctuary, CARE, ARC and MAP models. Both theories are used to help staff better understand why children (and staff) behave and relate in the ways they do and provide a conceptual scaffold that can help them think how best to intervene or support children and young people.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 10 Mar 2011 |