ABSTRACT

This is a small-scale case study set out to explore a unique role within children’s residential care in England, that of the Placement Family Support Worker and the family support work they conduct for the children in placement. This subject was explored through semi-structured interviews with seven Keyworkers and two Placement Family Support Workers in a children’s therapeutic residential care service consisting of four children’s homes. It was found that not every home had a Placement Family Support Worker, often due to staff resources and funding, and so often the children’s Keyworker would manage the family support work themselves. In either case, family support work was seen to be highly valuable and significant for the children’s development and relationships. It was found, however, that it would be more beneficial to have an independent Placement Family Support Worker managing family support work for each child in the home rather than Keyworkers for objectivity, healthy relationship management, organization, workload, multi-agency manageability, and the specific skills required. In addition to this, it was felt that emotional and practical support from the other staff in the home and management improved the quality of this work.

Practice Implications

• Children’s residential care homes are recommended to employ a dedicated placement family support worker to manage family support work and contacts for children in placement.

• Independent placement family support workers will be a resource in developing, maintaining and strengthening relationships between children in placement and their family, alternatively, through objective observations of contact they can advise on continued contact as beneficial or detrimental or even reunification.

• There needs to be a drive toward consistent practice (initially through standardised data collection methods) and appropriate training for those conducting family support work (including social work skills or prior experience in social work).

• Due to the complexity of the role and relationship management involved, dedicated spaces for reflection are needed for those conducting family support work.

摘要

这是一项小规模案例研究，旨在探索英格兰儿童寄宿家庭护理中的独特作用，即安置家庭支持工作者的角色以及他们为安置儿童开展的家庭支持工作。通过对由四个儿童之家组成的儿童治疗性住宿护理服务中的七名关键工作者和两名安置家庭支持工作者进行半结构化访谈，探讨了该主题。结果发现，由于人力资源和资金的原因，并非每个家庭都有安置家庭支持工作者，因此孩子们的关键工作者通常会自己管理家庭支持工作。在任何一种情况下，家庭支持工作都被认为对儿童的发展和人际关系具有很高的价值和意义。然而却发现，在客观性、健康的关系管理、组织、工作量、多机构可管理性和所需的特定技能方面，让独立的安置家庭支持工作者管理每个孩子的家庭支持工作比关键工作者更有好处。除此之外，家庭中其他员工和管理层的情感和实际支持提高了这项工作的质量。

实践意义

• 建议儿童安老院聘请专门的安置家庭支持人员，负责管理安置儿童的家庭支持工作和联系方式。

• 独立安置家庭支持工作者将成为发展、维持和加强安置儿童与其家庭之间关系的资源，或者，通过对接触的客观观察，他们可以就继续接触有益或有害甚至团聚提出建议。

• 需要推动一致的实践（最初通过标准化的数据收集方法）和对从事家庭支持工作的人员进行适当的培训（包括社会工作技能或先前的社会工作经验）。

• 由于所涉及角色和关系管理的复杂性，开展家庭支持工作的人员需要专门的反思空间。