Strive's Standards of Care
Youth and OOHC
Strive's Position Statement
Through the process of understanding the cumulative effects of trauma and its devastating impacts on all areas of development and functioning, Strive stands firm in the commitment to the following position statement:
No child deserves to be punished for thinking, feeling and behaving in ways that are shaped directly by the abuse they should have never endured. The enhanced vulnerability their developmental pathways carry in relation to emotional distress, interpersonal maladaptation and psychopathology demands a community response that promotes healing.
To be trauma-effective you have to be the opposite of trauma. From this perspective we believe that healing can only exist within experiences of safety, relationships and evidence-based interventions.
We will not support and will stand against punitive measures that react to presentations of trauma with judgement.
We will not support and will stand against decisions and practices that exclude our children from a right to an education and stable housing.
We will rely on every child’s right to an education to build capacity.
We will use the ‘home’ to build a secure base- a place where a child’s welcome is not dependent on behaviour but is in fact unconditional.
We will create opportunities for relationships and these will be at the centre of all interventions as it will be through the continuity and consistency of our support that children at Strive will learn that:
You See Me
You Hear Me
I Matter
I Am Important
Strive's Standards of Care
At Strive we appreciate that the success of any theoretical model of practice is of course dependent on its ability to deliver the objectives defined at the onset of intervention. However, the outcomes we achieve require the understanding and agreement that:
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The focus and primary beneficiary of all delivered supports whose interests will be paramount over other parties through will be that of the child in the care of Strive.
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Intervention and support is not done to a child, it is done with their input, awareness, consent and whose outcomes can be quantified and measured and relating to: improved access to health, education, family, stability of home, inclusion in all decisions that relate to them and that they have a say in every aspect of their lives.
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Strive will aim to work in partnership and in direct support of any agency or party that provides any aspect of support to the child.
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Any areas of disagreement where decisions on the best interests of the child are not aligned will be worked through from a place off respect, genuine curiosity for the position of all stakeholders and will include the child and family’s input to ensure that all positions are considered.
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At Strive our priority is to ensure that our services are guided by the highest calibre of standards and are founded in principles of ethics, integrity and responsibility.
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Dr. Bruce Perry in his work with the Child Trauma Academy has identified six core strengths that are essential for healthy emotional development. Strive has used the wisdom and relevance of each of these core strengths as the standards of practice that each of our services must demonstrate prior to moving to the phase of service delivery.
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These standards of Strive care will hold to account each and every one of our interactions, discussions, interventions and supports; from the moment a referral is received through to the other end of the spectrum when that child transitions out of our service.
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This commitment is made to each child, their family, community, support networks and the referring agency who each at any point can question how the below stands are manifested in our practice.
Attachment
The most important component to a child’s development and capacity to heal is the presence of relationships, the psychological bonds that are essential to all areas of successful functioning.
In recognition of the importance of attachment for development, feeling safe and in appreciation of the devastating impacts of disrupted attachment we are committed to a practice where from the moment we receive a referral through to the moment that a child transitions out of our service, considerations of key attachments will be at the centre of all decision-making. The question when meeting a child will be whether he or she is relationally wealthy or impoverished and those who are lacking the significant relationships inn their lives will at all points be provided with the opportunities to develop these.
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Examples of our commitment in practice:
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Our referral process including the first meeting with the child will include three core components: - The choice of that child to choose a person or persons of their choosing to attend the initial meeting (and following) so that they feel supported, protected and safe.
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The choice of a safe and suitable venue to hold that initial meeting.
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The opportunity to describe the qualities of the home in which they would feel proud to call their own and use these to include in their living environment as part of the ecological supports that will support placement.
The core focus of each stage of Strive's model of Care (CREATE- introduced below) will have at its core the need to spend time with the child so that through repetitive, patterned and rhythmic exposure to time together, the neural pathway associating time together as comfortable, safe and joyous will strengthen and with that, position the child to take cautious risks in the decision to invest in new relationships.
All practitioners and wider Strive staff coming to provide support for children will first undergo a process if induction and introduction so that children know who is in their home at all times.
Special occasions as well as difficult occasions throughout the year will be honoured and treated with the respect that they deserve.
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Relationships with family and family contact will be a core focus and priority at all stages of CREATE. Risks associated with important relationships will be risk assessed and a risk management plan out in pace to facilitate that contact or advocate to the delegate with parental responsibility on how the benefits of those relationships can be enhanced and the risks mitigated.
Self-Regulation
The ability to self-soothe is developed through the primary caregivers’ degree of responsiveness to a baby and developing infant when they are helpless to fend for their own needs.
At Strive we understand that children who are in statutory care and have suffered disrupted attachments, repetitive exposure to abuse and/or neglect will have difficulty in regulating their emotions. We will expect that this dysregulation will come in the form of verbal and physical aggression, property damage and behaviours that society has labelled as criminal and therefore respond to the with punishment and punitive measures. At Strive we understand this behaviour, when existing in the context of trauma background, is a manifestation of a fight or flight response. Based on this understanding we will not engage in the implementation of any punitive measures. We will exercise all of our powers to maintain our children away from the juvenile Justice system and toward systems of support including therapy, support groups and one-on-one activities key practitioners and figures in their lives.
Examples of our commitment in practice:
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Remove any punishments imposed by staff and our agency. Instead we will assist the reparative measures. This may include the opportunity to repair a wall or together getting a quote to repair damage and creating a sensible payment plan that can include contributions from pocket money or doing extra chores around the house. Other occasions may require supports including Family Group Conferencing so that as a community of loving and caring adults, guidance can be provided through thoughtful and considered discussion.
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Police will never be called as a behaviour management strategy or to impose a consequence. Police are in place in our community to improve public safety and so will only be called with manager approval and in circumstances where the safety of the child, and others in the home cannot be mitigated to a degree that I suitable.
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All children in Strive homes will have a Positive Behaviour Support Plan developed and shared with the local police station so that when police are called, their role can be to restore safety and the support following the incident can be provided by the partitioners of care.
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All children at Strive will have a positive Behaviour Support Plan developed and in place that will develop strategies to replace problem behaviours with other behaviours that are safer and prosocial. Promotion of strengths, health and wellbeing will also be present so that as vulnerabilities are supported so too are strengths.
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Inherent in the daily support provided, activities of soft, mild stress will be implemented to create contained situations where children will feel stress (e.g. game of soccer where they may miss a kick) but practitioners will be there to act as an external soothing figure and help them back to baseline. These activities through time help children to become more self-attuned and better able to regulate.
Affiliation
The strength that allows us to join with others to create something stronger, more adaptive, and more creative than any individual: the group.
Strive practitioners and all levels of staff understand that a family is a child's first and most important group, held together by strong emotional bonds and that it is this connection to this group of primary importance that has broken down requiring a service of care to take on this role. We will expect that children in our homes will struggle to form relationships with other residents and other staff. We will also expect and be prepared for behaviour and words that look and sound like bullying but we will refrain from such judgments. We understand that the ability to be part of a group successfully requires practice and intervention when unhealthy dynamics are being formed. Instances of this nature will not form the basis for a child to be exited from a home, even temporarily. Instead it will be an invitation for our staff to intervene and adjust the living environment and ecological supports to mitigate risk and enhance the opportunity to learn.
Examples of our commitment in practice:
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Children learn through play. Practitioners will develop games that have same principles as games that younger children play but will be modified to motivate their engagement, It was the teaching and lessons in games that were missed during childhood that impact abilities in the present to form maintain successful relationships including with friends, teachers or a manager at work. Games will increase in skill and will begin as dyadic (one-one-one) and move to multi-peer where more aspects of negotiation are required to be successful.
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Practicing mock interviews to allow kids to have practice, make mistakes and create a mind map of the type of questions, responses and overall communication they will need to be successful.
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Introducing children to all members of the Strive team. Our children will have experiences speaking with men, women, children, lawyers, youth workers and will use the Strive community as a means to expand social experiences.
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Family contact and re-connecting with previous key attachment figures including friends from previous schools, neighbours, previous careers.
Attunement
The “ability to read and respond to the communicated needs of another”
At Strive we will expect that children will struggle to be aware of how their words and actions will impact on others. We will refrain from using language that labels children as selfish and use each example where awareness has been absent as a teaching opportunity as some of the most complex forms of sensory information come from other interactions with other humans and these were the very experiences that most often were missed for children in statutory care.
Equally, staff practitioners will be trained to enhance rewire own sense of attunement so that they are always positioned to be aware of these limitations and therefore be responsive and not reactive to when these situations arise.
Examples of our commitment in practice:
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Adults in the child or young person’s life can model awareness by talking through their actions and words in relation to people and events. When a child or young person is confronted with stereotype, encouraging positive thoughts that challenge the stereotype over time can assist with increasing their awareness. Adults should talk through the origins of the stereotype and whether the stereotype is a fair representation (Perry, 2002b, p. 25).
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A child or young person’s ‘relational catalogue’ can also be broadened by introducing them to different cultures, people, religions and languages. By encouraging better knowledge of other cultures and people, adults can assist the child or young person develop positive relational memories (Perry, 2002b, p. 25).
Tolerance
The capability of someone to accept differences in others. This strength emerges when a child has the security arising from the development of the previous four strengths (attachment, self- regulation, affiliation and awareness) and when they themselves feel safe through their own experiences of feeling special, valued and accepted.
The standard of tolerance demands that at each aspect of service delivery, Strive be aware that the introduction of a new child into the home is going to have varying degrees of impact on children already living in the home and that this will depend on their own experience of safety, identity and belonging. We recognise that when a child who feels safe is introduced to a new person, idea or culture they will be more likely feel excitement by these events because inherent in their introduction is the possibility of new experiences and opportunities. A child who does not feel safe will in turn experience these same things as threatening. Instances when a child in Strive care is unable to find joy in the introduction of a new child or unable to celebrate differences but instead rejects them; we will honour their pain and respond with empathy and identify the areas of insecurity and support those with validation time and care.
Examples of our commitment in practice:
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In order for a child to develop tolerance it is important for adults to actively model tolerance to different people and situations and repeatedly expose children to these things in a safe environment.
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Staff from different parts of Australia, other countries and religion will be encouraged and in fact asked to recall how they have introduced and shared their differences with others team members and the children in the home (i.e stories, google maps, pictures on the internet).
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Cooking different meals with children from other countries and going to different restaurants.
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Attending Cultural festivals
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Celebrating NAIDOC week
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Watching international films
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Discussing different sexual orientations and gender identities.
Respect
Respect is the “ability to see and celebrate the value of ourselves and others”. The sixth and last core strength is also the most complex according to Perry (2002d). Respect requires emotional, social and cognitive maturity that only comes to a child once they have developed the previous five strengths.
Respect is of paramount importance and inherent in every aspect of Strive- our services, the way we discuss children, their families, our staff, other agencies and the way we work through differences in opinions. Our respect will shine in the manner we embrace diversity. We will celebrate the diversity of cultures that enrich us and will stand against any act or form of discrimination.
At Strive we will expect that children will find it difficult to show respect but that our staff at every level of the organisation will remain respectful, even in the face of what some may label as disrespect. The belief or practice that respect is earned is not a practice that has a place in our services as it will be evident in all that we do.
Examples of our commitment in practice:
Because children begin to respect the traits of the adults in their life, adults should:
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show respect for all people
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lead by example and act by the value you promote: patience, consistency, being caring, honesty and attentiveness
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give a child who is struggling opportunities to build respect for themselves
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use positive comments and rewards to shape and reinforce behaviour.
