Partnership and Collaboration in the Promotion of Child Development - Essay Example

?Introduction Approaching and assisting children that are in difficult situations is one of the objectives of those who are involved in social work. This not only includes the school work that one may have difficulty with, but also implies that personal situations can be altered. If the personal situations begin to create a disturbance in the development and school life of children, then interactions and proactive solutions needed to be provided. This can help the individuals to move back into better functioning with school, personal relationships and with the overall well – being of the child. When looking at Louisa and James’ family, it can be seen that interactions and finding solutions for various situations can change the overall development of all the children. The scenario that requires specific actions is with Serena and the current situation that she has created with both school and personal development. Scenario of Serena Serena is known as a scholarly student in school and is continuously performing to have average to good marks in school. However, Serena’s personal relationships have recently altered. Serena is a daughter from Louisa’s previous marriage with her birth father, Colin. While Louisa has been in a relationship with James since Serena since she was one years of age, there are different dynamics from the previous relationship. Serena first met her father when she was six months old; however, the interactions were limited. Six months ago, Serena’s birth father, Colin, began to move into more contact with Serena. There have been several interactions between the two in the past few months. The teachers and administration at the school have noted that in the same few months, Serena is beginning to alter with her studies. Her attendance has altered and she is withdrawn when she is in the classroom, as opposed to having the regular interactions and alertness that was noted from her past behaviours. There may be several reasons associated with this, all which are leading to different behaviours among Serena. The problem that has compounded is one which is directly linked to personal relationships; however, the interference with Serena’s school work is leading to new concerns among individuals and professionals. Providing Integrated Services from Children’s Services The problem that has arisen with Serena is one which requires integrated services to work effectively. The relationship is the basis of this; however, the effects which are occurring with school work are creating alterations in how the main problem can be approached. The integrated services include the family that is involved in the relationship. It also includes professionals that are working within the school as well as counsellors who may be able to assist Serena to become more alert in school and to separate the personal relationships from the interferences that are occurring in the school (Parton, 976: 2006). For this to work effectively, the integration of the various team members will need to work together with the proper communication and understanding of the complete situation. Protocols and documentation will need to be used to follow with the right communication so the team members can work on the activities on hand while minimizing tensions between the professionals. The inter-personal and professional communication needs to be developed first, specifically which can provide better integrated services for Serena’s situation (Anning, 90: 2006). The two concepts which the integrated services will need to use are intervention and protection services. If this is done earlier, than the team will be able to stop any hindrances which may drastically affect Serena’s attendance as well as the potentially hazardous relationship that is affecting her school work. For the integrated services to work, the team defined will first need to define what interventions need to occur (Sloper, 571: 2004). The most well – known factor that is altering with Serena is her attendance and the school work that she is providing, specifically with being absent minded in class. The first goal of the team will be to intervene at a professional level. Teachers, administrators and counsellors can work together to try to change the attendance of Serena first and to change the habits of what is occurring with her school work. This will need to be combined with the professionals intervening by finding out why there is a sudden change in the behaviour of Serena. When this occurs, a different level of intervention and protection can occur, most likely which will be attributed to the growing relationship of Colin with Serena. The main focus will be to change the risk level that Serena is showing through her characteristics while reducing future problems, such as social inhibitions which may occur (France, Utting, 77: 2005). While these goals can be defined through the integrated services, there are other implications which come with combining the prevention measures with Serena. The concept of integration became prominent in the 1990s because of noticed failures among service providers and users who were not able to effectively assist children who were considered at risk. With several case studies, it was noted that the proper communication and interactions between different groups of professionals would have stopped the results from occurring. The result was the development of holistic methods that could provide children with better intervention measures (Fitzgerald, Kay, 5: 2008). This means that the educational, social, emotional and health needs of both children and the parents will need to be considered. This can be furthered by understanding the culture of the family while having more in – depth understandings of the situation that is occurring (Fitzgerald, Kay, 4: 2008). The professionals who need to work together in this instance are inclusive of working with Louisa, Colin and James as well as Serena. Finding the root of the problems in the family as well as with the school performance of Serena can then easily be found. The social integration of the family, as well as the emotional and health associations with the situation can further be determined by understanding the family culture through a variety of professionals who can assess the situation from different perspectives. Contributions and Outcomes from Every Child Matters The case with Serena is one that not only requires early intervention and protection because of the noticed changes in her behaviour as well as the personal interferences that are known to be occurring. There are also enforcements with the integrated team that will require specific contributions and outcomes. These are defined by the new policies and regulations from Every Child Matters, all which are specifically able to define the importance of changing the patterns that Serena is beginning to associate with. The outcomes that are expected through Every Child Matters include meeting personal needs of children and their families first. Partnerships can be built with children and their families to further understand the culture of the family and potential problems which may arise (Brazelton, Greenspan, 9: 2001). Extended and multi – agency services is another expected outcome with the early intervention concepts needed. From the agencies and services used, it is expected that children can be kept safe from discrimination and a healthy lifestyle can be promoted. The child can then have a strong voice with the relationship and in social relationships as well as within the school they are attending (Knowles, 2: 2009). For Serena, the relationship building would include intervention with Louisa, James and Colin. There would also be agencies that would work with the parents and Serena, both in terms of the family relationships and with school work. These would be combined with finding ways that Serena can have better emotional well – being and improve with educational needs while continuing to express what is occurring with personal relationships and in school. The contributions that can be given to Serena’s situation from Every Child Matters come with using the policies and recommendations as guidelines for the integrated teamwork used. The educational policies which are first used include the need to provide a setting within public areas, such as schools, that are able to enhance the child’s personality while meeting the personal needs of the student. Structures, organization and management can be used to make sure that the children are able to provide a different response in terms of care and education. This is followed by recommendations from school settings, which include providing children social room as well as the ability to have a voice within the school. This can help with further interventions and problems which may arise either personally or within the school setting (Vallender, 235: 2006). Providing support through outside agencies and parents is the provision that is related to meeting this goal. The well – being that can be given to children come first from the policies and recommendations of Every Child First, while providing an expectation of different outcomes through the use of the monitoring and policies that are provided (Fraser, 5: 2009). Factors that Enhance and Inhibit Working Relationships For the working relationships to work, as well as the Every Child Matters policies to be put into place, are specific needs that have to be met. The working relationships that are developed in Serena’s case include interactions with the parents, Serena and the educational professionals that are observing the changes in coursework. The multi – agency team that is developed with this can have better responses to Serena’s case by working together on the several dimensions that may be affecting Serena’s behaviour. For this to work effectively, a model partnership has to be created (Cheminais, 13: 2009). This is one which is based on providing information and communication between agencies so an integrated plan can be used to assist Serena. This should be followed with organized methods that can be used to ensure that Serena can be assisted in the right manner. The communication that is used between the agencies will create the right type of communication and responses while uniting and coordinating the individual agencies for a strategy and plan that can work effectively. Over time, defined plans and actions can take place to resolve Serena’s situation (Cheminais, 15: 2009). While these different factors can enhance the working relationships, there are also other concepts that may hinder the process with Serena. If the agreements are misunderstood and the communication is defined in different manners between the multi – agencies, then there may be problems with getting the correct results. Offending Serena or her family, finding other problems that may not be able to be resolved and creating gaps and miscommunication may all lead to problems (Goldthorpe, 115: 2004). More important, the integration of professionals doesn’t mean that each can work within the same timeline in finding a solution for Serena. This means that there may be gaps with creating a holistic solution because of potential gaps that are between the agencies in terms of time and coordination. The hazards that can arise from the gaps and miscommunication or lack of definition include offensives with Serena and the family. If this occurs, then a backlash may occur with Serena, her family and with the outcomes of both personal life and the way in which Serena approaches school and home life (Bretherton, Huzzard, Little, 1: 2006). Another problem which may occur when inhibiting the relationships of the work is from the boundaries and expectations. The age of Serena needs to be considered, specifically with the developmental aspects that occur among 13 years old. The fragility of the situation also has to be considered because Serena has only recently come into contact with her birth father even though her other parents have been married for a longer period of time. Another fragile aspect of the situation is with Serena being the eldest of the family and having three siblings that have the same birth father. Each of these situations creates a sense of fragility and sensitivity when looking at intervention measures with the issue (Goldthorpe, 117: 2004). If these are not taken into perspective by each of the groups working on the collaboration, then it can lead to problems with the initiatives that are required through the group. Evaluations, communication and exchanges of ideas about the family culture will need to be recognized between all working groups before taking steps forward while providing alternative elements in building the right sets of relationships with the family to begin approaching the problem in a professional manner while understanding the fragility of the situation (Quinney, 36: 2006). Evaluation of Relevant Policies While the policies and collaboration can work effectively in helping Serena’s situation, there are also several other aspects that need to be considered for creating a positive outcome. The policies and procedures used are based on basic policies and recommendations. However, this may not be conducive to the complexities that Serena or the family is experiencing. The policies that are developed need to look into the unique aspects and dynamics of the family while creating different assessments with the family situation and the personal development of Serena. Without the proper evaluation, the policies and recommendations become irrelevant to the situation that Serena is in. Furthermore, only following the systematic recommendations without inquiring further into the problem can lead to interventions that are not as successful. The implications of not creating a personal understanding of the situation and instead only following the policies recommended won’t provide effective solutions. Instead, there will be different methodologies that are followed that won’t lead to positive results for Serena’s specific needs (Raudenbush, 25: 2005). Another factor which isn’t considered with the Every Child Matters policy, as well as the integrative agencies is with the concept of inclusive education. Each of the agencies and professionals are expected to act independently with providing solutions while using goals, objectives and policy recommendations as the basis for action. Even though communication is added into this to provide positive results, there are gaps that are a part of the policy and which lead to the need to have different individual solutions (Edwards, 3: 2009). Inclusive education as well as proactive measures aren’t considered with the policies and require diversity of thought and the ability to reach different conclusions for the needs of Serena. More important, practices and models need to be defined with practical actions that can take place with the several policies in place. Without doing this, the agencies, individuals and professionals won’t have the ability to provide comprehensive solutions or inclusive educational needs for Serena (Lindsay, 3: 2003). The situation with Serena is one that can have positive outcomes and solutions with the right steps. However, the integrative approaches with professionals and individuals as well as the policies which need to be implemented with Every Child Matters also need to be considered. While this can work as a guideline for professionals, there is the need to understand the unique personal dynamics of Serena’s situation as well as the way in which this is affected by the several dimensions mentioned. The educational, physical, emotional and mental dimensions should all be looked into; however, Serena’s different family dynamics and cultural relations should also be considered for a more thorough evaluation by all professionals. If the agencies can integrate with this focus in mind, there will be more positive results created (Bonatti, 14: 2005). Conclusion The ability to create early interventions and to protect children is one that is the main focus of integrated agencies and the Every Child Matters policies. This associates with the several dimensions that may affect a child, their learning capabilities and the associations which they have in school and in personal relationships. When looking at Serena’s current problems, it can be seen that a variety of dynamics need to be evaluated and understood, including personal relationships, social interactions and educational levels. Combining this with the ability to get to the root of the problems that Serena is facing with her family and the changes in her life can empower Serena while allowing her to move back on track with the school work and personal interactions that she held before the changes with family dynamics. References Anning, Angela. 2006. Developing Multi – Professional Teamwork for Integrated Children’s Services. New York: McGraw Hill. Bonatti, P. 2005. “Driving and Monitoring Provisional Trust Negotiation with Metapolicies.” Policies for Distributed Systems and Networks (10). Brazelton, T, Stanley Greenspan. 2001. The Irreducible Needs of Children: What Every Child Must Have to Grow, Learn and Flourish. London: Da Capo Press. 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