Session 15/15

 Topic A: Evaluating your competency development

To support your reflections on the questions asked in this session you can use this document: REFLECTION FORM.

Please spend five minutes on reflecting upon and discussing each of the questions below. Take notes. Then spend another five minutes discussing what general competences this gave you as foster parents.

THE FOSTER CHILD’S DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICAL AND RELATIONAL SKILLS 

When you answer the following questions, please consider:

• The child’s age
• The circumstances under which the child lived before being placed with you
• The physical and mental state of the child, when you received it in your care.
• What problems the child had when placed with you

1. Please describe the competences you have acquired as foster parents from your daily experiences and the Fairstart training in supporting the development of children’s practical skills:

For example:
“I have learned that foster children need a secure base and a stable daily rhythm without a lot of changes and activities”

What do you think about the development of the child’s practical skills? Has the child improved in learning for example to get dressed, to get a stable daily rhythm, do its homework, ride a bicycle, etc.? In short, has it learned to do practical things by itself, and does it correspond to what other children of the same age are able to?

2. Please describe the competences you have acquired as foster parents from your daily experiences and the Fairstart training in supporting the development of children’s relational skills:

For example:
“I have learned that it is important to feel with the child and not like the child – children who have had unhealthy relations can respond to care in disorganized ways, and we are no longer upset by this”

What do you think about the child’s relational skills? Has the child improved in the way it relates and attaches to you? If the child had avoidant or ambivalent behaviour at the beginning of placement, has this behaviour disappeared or diminished? Does the child come to you for help, protection and soothing? What do you think about the child’s social competence development with peers? Is the child able to relate to your own children and to other children? How does it handle friendships and school relations?

3. Please describe the competences you have acquired as foster parents to help children handle separation anxiety:

How is the foster child’s ability to handle separations? Is the child aware of how loss and separations have affected it? Has the child developed an understanding of how to get over separations? Does the child still show intense physical and emotional reactions to separations (such as panicking), or is it able to be calm when separating from you or other important persons? Can the child describe how it tries to manage separations?

4. Please describe the competences you have acquired as foster parents to help children create a clear identity in spite of having different backgrounds:

Does the child have a clear idea about who it is? Does the child know how different caregivers, friends, teachers and others have contributed to its personality? Can the child describe this?

THE DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR COOPERATION WITH SOCIAL AND PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS 

5. Please describe the competences you have acquired to create an accepting and open minded social network that is helpful to the child:

Developing the social network of the child:
Considering your relations with your local network (your relatives, neighbours, school teachers, etc.), please mention three important topics in your cooperation that have been helpful to the child.

6. Please describe the competences you have acquired to cooperate with authorities:

Considering your experiences in cooperating with authorities about the placement, please mention three important topics in your cooperation that have been helpful to the child.

7. Please describe the competences you have acquired as foster parents from your daily experiences and the Fairstart training in cooperating with the biological parents of foster children.

For example:
“I have learned to show the child that we respect its own parents in spite of problems and that this helps the child respect itself”

Regarding your cooperation with biological parents, please mention three important topics in your cooperation that have been helpful to the child.

8. If relevant for you:
Considering your work with the child’s transition from childhood to youth and in leaving your care, please mention three important topics that have been helpful to the teenager.