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Session 12/15

Page 2/3 Roller og relationer i samarbejde med din arbejdsgiver

Roller og relationer i samarbejde med din arbejdsgiver

Som beskrevet i scoringskortet i begyndelsen af programmet afhænger resultatet af din omsorg meget af dit sociale netværk og det vigtigste er her dine relationer til myndighederne, der har ansat dig som plejeforælder.

Emne A: Samarbejde med socialrådgiveren

Socialrådgiveren er ansvarlig for at beskrive barnets ressourcer og vanskeligheder i forbindelse med anbringelsen for at vælge hvilken type pleje, der er behov for og for at sikre langvarige anbringelser. Alle disse opgaver er fastlagt i lovgivningen. Socialrådgiveren og plejefamilien ser ofte med meget forskellige øjne på anbringelsen. Socialrådgiveren har pligt til at se den biologiske familie som en helhed og har ofte fokus på de biologiske forældres rettigheder og behov. Socialrådgiveren er også bundet af lovgivning og retslige afgørelser (retten kan f.eks. beslutte, at barnet skal sendes tilbage til den biologiske familie). Din plejefamilie er bare en af mange, som socialrådgiveren skal føre opsyn med og derfor kan kontakten være noget sporadisk på grund af de mange sager. En anden udfordring kan være, at offentlige arbejdspladser ofte bliver omorganiseret og rådgiveren skifter job eller position. Dette kan gøre det udfordrende for myndighederne at skabe en langvarig og tilfredsstillende relation til plejeforældrene. Plejeforældrene ser anbringelsen fra en meget anderledes vinkel – de er naturligvis meget tættere på barnet, de kender de følelser og problemer, som barnet har og har etableret følelsesmæssige bånd til barnet. Familierådgiveren ser oftere plejefamilien og ser derfor også mest sagen fra denne vinkel. Dette gør det helt klart, at de to positioner kan skabe meget forskellige ideer omkring, hvad der er muligt, og hvad der er i ”barnets interesse”. Plejefamiliens professionelle opgaver er at forstå forskellen mellem disse to positioner og at anskue dem som andet end personlige forhold. Dette kan i nogle tilfælde være meget udfordrende, men forskning viser, at barnets udvikling styrkes i positiv retning, når der er gode relationer og forståelse mellem socialrådgiveren og plejefamilien.
EMNER TIL OVERVEJELSE
  • Did you have a first meeting with the social worker, which gave you a clear understanding of your contract, the nature of the task, and what authorities consider a good outcome of your work?
  • How often do you talk to the social worker and do your dialogues lead to agreement and cooperation?
  • Has the social worker defined how often the child should meet its biological parents, and how this is conducted?
SUGGESTIONS FOR CREATING A RELATION WITH THE SOCIAL WORKER
  1. Ask the social worker for a paper describing your tasks and the most important goals in your work with the child in foster care. This paper will make it easier for the next social worker if there is a change in the person who works with you
  2. Give a photocopy of the Scorecard and the most important of your notes to the social worker. This can give him/her an understanding of what you find important in the placement
  3. Ask the social worker what kind of contact (and how often) you can expect to meet while the child is in your care

Topic B: Cooperating with supervisors and/or the manager from the foster family organization

In some countries a social unit provides training and supervision for foster parents. Sometimes they also manage the contract concerning the placement. This is taken care of by foster parents managers and / or supervisors. The function of these people is: to assist you in developing professional relations with the child, reflect with you on difficult problems and solutions in daily life, and discuss how to practice and plan in your daily work with the child. Because their function is to support your work, and because they work closely with foster parents, they will probably be much more familiar with the way you see the foster care. This means that you should try to be as open-minded as possible and also describe the very personal challenges you can experience in your work as foster parents.
TOPICS FOR REFLECTIONS IF YOU HAVE A SUPERVISOR
  • How do you feel about telling the person about difficult challenges in the relationship with the child or its parents?
  • How do you feel about talking about your personal challenges in working with the child or marital problems in the foster family, which can affect the foster care relation with the child?
SUGGESTIONS FOR CREATING A PRODUCTIVE RELATION WITH THE SUPERVISOR/MANAGER
  1. Before you have visits from the person, write a short list of the most important things you need to talk about. If possible, send it to the person before the meeting
  2. Use the Scorecard during visits to have dialogues about issues you noted there. This can be the basis of a good dialogue. It will help the person assist you better, and give the person a good overview about how you see the foster care job
  3. If you find it difficult to talk about personal problems that affect you, tell this to the person. When you are foster parents, it might be necessary to talk about very personal feelings, because your personal reactions are now also part of your professional work. So you and the supervisor must help each other to find the limit between what is private and what must be discussed because it influences your professional way of giving care
  4. The task of fostering a child can be very difficult, and you may sometimes be disappointed with the system supposed to assist you, or disagree with decisions made. We suggest that you tell the supervisor this if it happens, but also that you keep a realistic and open-minded attitude in spite of eventual problems. Conflicts between foster parents and authorities or supervisors never benefit the child in the long run. However, you should always insist in a kind way to get the support you need to perform your job
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