Session 9/13

Page 1/5: Continuity in Daily Care

Continuity in Daily Care

The organisation made a number of regulations. In order to seem like a family environment, we got rid of our uniforms and started to wear comfortable casual clothes. Children’s rooms were already home-like but there were some more changes. For example we found sheep skins and used them for underlay when changing diapers. We made a baby park at certain hours. We spread blankets on the floor and put the babies on them. We had some of the bigger children to look after younger babies and thereby gave them responsibilities. This has strengthened our relationships.”

Caregiver’s statement

Competences to be exercised:

To inspire each other to promote continuity I the relations between caregivers and children
To promote social relations between placed children and youth through mentalizing, inclusion, controlling and confidentiality

Theme of the session:
To discuss and plan how to creatively create continuity and depth in relations in order to fulfil children’s need for security and community spirit in their every day lives. Partly through revising of work plans – partly through systematic work with relations between the children and teenagers. How can you – under the existing circumstances – create the best possibilities to provide continuous care and promote the sense of community for the children and teenagers in care?

Aims of the session:

To increase continuity in social relations
To ensure stable relations between caregivers and children and between children and their peers

In this session, you will work with the understanding of two basic needs of placed children and youth: personal, long-term contact with few stable adults and the development of a community spirit towards a group of peers.

You will discuss – and possibly revise – work schedules, attitudes and priorities in order to find the best balance for staff and leaders. The degree of adjustment is dependent on local collective agreements, rules on working hours and the children’s need for having the same caregivers in their everyday lives and on a long-term basis.

The daily leader(s) and perhaps a work schedule manager/assistant should participate in this session.

“We have chosen to tell the children that it will be a different person to wake him/her up than the one putting to bed. I am telling them: “I need to go home and rest for a while in order to be able to have a good time with you. I will miss you a lot till tomorrow but I know that the other caregiver also missed you a lot and she is looking forward to see you.” We solved our problem with this way.”
Caregiver’s statement