Putting the child at the centre of inter‐professional cooperation in out‐of‐home care

Abstract

A large part of most children's childhood is about taking part in educational and leisure‐time activities together with other children across various contexts. However, children in out‐of‐home care do not always have easy access to these possibilities for participation. In general, parents coordinate their children's everyday lives, but in the case of children in out‐of‐home care, the responsibility of care is distributed between several professionals and institutions. Research often recommends that inter‐professional cooperation should put the child at the centre and be more child focused. But what does that mean? The paper investigates theoretical understandings of ‘child centredness’ in inter‐professional cooperation. It also includes an empirical example taken from a research project that followed four children in their everyday lives in two residential homes in Denmark. The research explored how professionals work together across contexts in order to support children to take part in school and leisure‐time activities. The overall reasoning leads to the point that for children in out‐of‐home care, the possibility of exercising personal agency in their everyday life constitutes a difficult but vital issue. How children in out‐of‐home care learn how to conduct their everyday lives, is closely related to the ways professionals cooperate across contexts. It points to the need for close inter‐professional cooperation in order to encourage and support children's initiatives and engagements in activities in communities with other children.

Experiences of Finnish care leavers of their involvement in the aftercare services for child welfare clients

“…Many important values and principles of interaction were fulfilled in their collaboration with the staff. These results emphasise the high ethical quality in child welfare services and a need for investment (Schwarz, 2017;Withington et al, 2017). The findings support the service provision and involvement founded on trust and the availability of employees (Carrà, 2014;Christiansen et al, 2013;Hollingworth, 2012;Mendes et al, 2012;Vis & Fossum, 2015;Withington et al, 2017).…”

“…Instead of across the board consistency, the solutions may depend on a single employee. Young people wish for continuity and sustained contacts in their collaborative relationships, extending beyond crisis situations and after leaving care (Schwarz, 2017;Withington et al, 2017).…”

“…The development of child welfare and aftercare services emphasises operating approaches that are respectful towards the young client and are of high ethical quality. In addition to the management of crises, investments should be made in a good collaborative relationship between the employee and the child or young person (Schwarz, 2017;Withington et al, 2017).…”

‘Discuss it with your legal guardian’: Challenges in practising care for young unaccompanied refugee minors

“…Studies of out-of-home care, like residential care, show that the task of care is distributed among several professionals and institutions ('institution' refers to bounded and self-contained organisations, such as school, specific administrative procedures and health care offers (Zittoun, 2017: 181)), and thereby constitutes an even more complex landscape of care than for children living in 'ordinary' families (Schwartz, 2017). It is well known that cooperation between professions and institutions is pivotal to the effective management of institutional care arrangements (e.g.…”

“…It is well known that cooperation between professions and institutions is pivotal to the effective management of institutional care arrangements (e.g. Schwartz, 2017).…”