Drivers of parenting support, policy and provision in Croatia
Oxford Kinship care
1. Issues in Kinship Care :
assessment and support in
Dutch kinship foster care
Flexus Foster Care Rotterdam
Anneke Vinke, PhD
Child Psychologist/ General Health Psychologist
www.adoptiepraktijk.nl
2008 Oxford
2. Outline
• Perspectives
– Context of Dutch foster care
– Flexus
• Practice issues
– Training: questions and needs
• Future developments
3. Context: Dutch Foster Care
28 Foster Care Facilities
Local organization (15 regions)
2007: 20591 children in DutchFoster
Care,of whom > 33 % in kinship care
City regions up to 80% in kinship care
4. Youth care System in the Netherlands
Centre for Youth and Family (local)
Bureau of Youth Care (province)
Youth Care (voluntary)
Mental Health
Child Protection (involuntary) judge
Private Practice
6. Flexus Foster care
Rotterdam Region
Multicultural society
Up to 80% kinship care placements
Different procedure for acceptance
Need for strengthening assessment
and support in kinship care
Training and development (2006
ongoing)
7. Perspectives: conflicts of interest?
Family perspective child perspective?
Short term solution long term solution
Freedom of choice responsibility for
child safety and
well being
Foster care facility family
8. Statistics and research findings
Is there a difference between kinship
and regular foster care ? (Strijker, Zandberg &vd Meulen,
2001; Broad, 2001; Calder & Talbot, 2005)
Defining the children’s needs in
regard to fostering
9. Practice issues
• Routes into kinship care
• Double parenthood & contact issues
• Formal requirements & practical
pitfalls
• Timing
• Knowledge & skills
• Transparency
10. Bring in the theory: evidence base!
• Child development theory
• Decision making framework
• Parenting capacities
• Risk and protective factors
• Risk assessment
Transparency
11. Honour good practices: practice base!
Evaluate good practices
Make implicite practical knowledge
explicit
Raise awareness (e.g personal reference
points)
Find anchor point in existing
procedures to improve practice
12. Professional intuition:human factor!
(Munro,2002)
• Formal knowledge: Evidence Base
• Work experience : Practice Base
• Emotional wisdom
• Values: Value Base
• Reasoning skills
Human elements need to be
honoured
15. Assessment: what do children need
from their foster care workers?
• Sound theoretical basis -> tools
• Decision making framework
• Honouring the human element
• Transparent choices
• Ongoing training and supervision
• Monitoring by research
16. Risk issues: good enough?
Which risks weighs most?
What needs to be done to counter the risks?
Which risks can be changed in due time?
Which strengths can be used to counter the risks?
Need for systematic risk evaluation (checklist,
instrument)
18. ‘Child protection work makes heavy
demands on reasoning skills. With an
issue as important as children’s
welfare, it is vital to have the best
standard of thinking that is humanly
possible. Mistakes are costly to the
child and the family. Overestimating
the danger is as harmful as
underestimating it’ Munro (2002, p. 161)
19. Training
• Adressing the knowledge, skills and
personal base of foster care work
• Introducing tools (SoS, decision
threshold, intuitive reasoning, risk
assessment instruments)
• Education permanente (1 - 2 * each
year)
20. Evaluation by Flexus workers (n=40)
Training and tools were evaluated
positively
Increased sense of professionalism
Increased transparency in decision
making
21. Future directions
Monitoring and feedback
Need for more training on
- Cultural sensitivity
- Good enough parenting
- Risk evaluation instruments
New training planned (fall 2008)
22. References
Meer lezen....
• Berge, I.J. ten & Bakker, A. (2005). Veilig Thuis? Utrecht: NIZW
• Berge, I.J. ten, & Vinke, A. (2006 – in press). Methodiek en
hulpmiddelen ORBA, Onderzoek Risicotaxatie Besluitvorming AMK’s.
Utrecht/Woerden: NIZW/Adviesbureau Van Montfoort.
• Broad, B. (2006). Some advantages and disadvantages of kinship
care: a view from research. In : C. Talbot & M.C. Calder. Assessment
in Kinship Care. Dorset: Russell House Publishing.
• Dalgleish, L.I. (1997). Risk assessment and decision making in child
protection. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland,
Department of Psychology.
• Munro, E. (2002). Effective child protection. London: Sage.
• Pas, A. van der (2006, 4e dr.). Naar een psychologie van het
ouderschap. Handboek methodische ouderbegeleiding, deel 2.
Utrecht: SWP
23. References
• Turnell A., & Edwards, S. (1999). Signs of Safety. A solution and safety
oriented approach to child protection casework. New York/London: W.W.
Norton.
• Talbot, C. &. Calder (2006). Assessment in Kinship Care. Dorset: Russell
House Publishing.
• Talbot, C. (2006). Kinship Care: the Research Evidence. In : C. Talbot & M.C.
Calder. Assessment in Kinship Care. Dorset: Russell House Publishing.
• Vinke, J.G. (1999). Geschikt voor het adoptiefouderschap? De ontwikkeling en
het gebruik van een taxatie-instrument voor gezinsfunctioneren met het oog
op interlandelijke adoptie. Delft: Eburon.
• Vinke, J.G. & Mortel, M. vd. (2003) Methodisch bronnenboek
Netwerkverkenning. Utrecht/ Woerden: VvP de Rading / Adviesbureau Van
Montfoort.
• Vinke J.G. (2004). Methodisch bronnenboek Van Huis Naar Thuis -
hulpverleningsvariant pleegzorg. Utrecht/ Woerden: VvP de Rading /
Adviesbureau Van Montfoort.
• Scripties via: http://ppswmm.ppsw.rug.nl/~strijker/