With a focus in child and youth care on the principle of "participation", the question had to be asked. Should children participate in the selection of the child and youth care staff who will be their professional worker on a day to day basis? After all, there's some client choice in the way other professionals are chosen for professional intervention.
It was considered brave at the time. By some it was considered foolish. But the decision was to put some participation of children into the staff selection process. When staff selection interviews were arranged, two members of the Children's Forum, ( which we called 'Bridge') were selected by the Forum to be part of this.
The procedure was that candidates had to spend a day in the house before interview anyway. This gave the candidate insight into the clients, the routine , something of the interaction and at the same time a chance for the children to suss out something of the incoming staff as a person.
The two selected by Bridge collected the impressions of the children in that house to bring to the discussion.
They were allowed a short period in the interview, usually right at the start when the two could ask a few questions of the candidate. Then they reclused themselves for the rest to be invited back for the first part of the discussion afterwards.
They were not present for the presentation of the Psychologist's report,nor for the more intense questioning done by the adults on the panel. The final decision was that of the adults who took the children's input into consideration in the making of a final decision and called the children in to tell them of the result.
That was the FORMAL selection process.
But the real question is whether INFORMALLY , in the lifespace, the children make the final selection anyway.
There is always a process of relationship building that takes place between the children and their new childcare worker...... At first there appears to be a " goodie two-shoes" phase. Everyone trying to please the other. Then follows a testing phase. This is the hard part..... "boundary bonking".!!
The children and young people will test the limits . What is acceptable and what not by this new child care worker.
Really hard stuff this.
Limit testing is the hardest period of the child care workers introduction into a new set of relationships. It is summed up in the words of a very bright 8 year old girl " If you cant control me, you can't care for me !!"... Thing is that it feels good to feel "contained", to be allowed to be out of control is very frightening. Terrible things can happen in this testing period and new staff should be orientated to expect it, as well as supported through it. Their buttons will be pushed, and believe it, the children know just where to put their fingers. They know where to find the adults' vulnerability, even if the adult doesn't.
It is in this phase that the informal selection by the children is likely to be happening.
Depending on whether the new member handles this, the phase passes and relationships can settle. Then the real work can begin, because therapeutic work, care and development relies on relationship and the containment and management of behaviour... like the 8 year old said.." if you cant contain me you cant care for me"
So it's like this.... It seems that informally the children make the final staff selection anyway.
What do you think?
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