The Objectives Set Out in My Action Plan - Essay Example

?Topic: Write a report that reflects critically on the objectives set out in your Action Plan. Acknowledgements: I do volunteer work as part of an internship with Childlink, a community service group that facilitates the meeting of foster children with their birth parents in a controlled environment. Introduction: The social and economic destruction of families in contemporary society can be seen in the relationships when foster children visit with their birth parents in a controlled setting such as Childlink, yet at the same time the healing aspects of the relationships and personal regeneration of individuals are seen over time. Yet, sometime despite our best efforts, children and even the parents fall further into social problems with crime, substance abuse, and destructive behavior. This creates questions of how to moderate social crisis in families, and relates to the professional development of my career in counseling and social work. Findings, or discussion: The basis for most foster care placements are deterioration of the family structure through crime, substance abuse, domestic violence, and poverty as they combine to create a situation where a child may be taken from his or her birth family to a safer environment under the auspices of Child Protection Services, a court order, or a recommendation from social welfare. The psychological effects of these family traumas may affect all involved in a profound, life-changing manner, hurting the children the worst in learning how to process emotions born out of abusive or abnormal patterns of family behavior. Because of this, I decided to do a literature review of academic sources in psychology and sociology relating to the foster care experience as it is reported from all of the different perspectives in the relationship, including: the child, the birth family, the foster family, the counselor, social services, and the legal or judicial aspects of the process. In reading the academic literature related to psychology, for example, I became interested in child development stages and also the patterns or reactions of the children as they developed through different responses to the alienating situation. I began to realize that some of the children naturally reacted passively to the situation, and that they were apt to close up emotionally more often when confronted with confusion or emotionally charged situations. Conversely, others were always active and aggressive and more apt to resist violently or irrationally when confronted with conflict. The recognitions of patterns of introversion and extroversion led me to the conclusion that different approaches should be prepared in advance to address the needs of the children uniquely, for example introducing activities to calm or moderate the behavior of the active children while attempting to stimulate a more positive response from the withdrawn children. I feel that further research on this topic can lead to a better understanding of what a counselor needs to do in order to recognize signs in individuals and introduce treatment through unique diagnosis of the psychological issues and personality types underlying the individual cases. The same approach can also be taken with regard to family members who are displaying outward signs of substance abuse, or alcoholism. These two combined are the usual gateway to family destruction, especially when intersecting with the prison justice system. The roots of substance abuse in theory are important to academic research for my work at Childlink and also for further progress in the field of social work and counseling. Substance abuse and alcoholism are the most common problems that lead to the further domestic violence, criminal behavior, and deterioration of the family structure that tragically results in foster care. The question of treatment and recovery for those suffering from long term or chronic alcoholism and drug abuse is an important part of my research at Childlink, as they relate as a key cause to the social and personal breakdowns that create the family destruction we ultimately want to prevent through interventionist social work. As Alvin Rosenfield (et al.) wrote in a critical study titled, “Foster Care: An Update” (1996), “Being in foster care is a defining experience in these children's lives. They are at risk in myriad ways: for instance, being poor, having chronic health deficits, experiencing the trauma of abuse and neglect, and suffering from a gamut of emotional challenges. Evolutionary developments in foster care such as therapeutic foster homes, kinship care, and changes in Medicaid funding will continue to alter the system. Foster children are a huge reservoir of unmet pediatric and psychiatric needs; research on them is spotty at best. It is hoped that child and adolescent psychiatrists will meet the challenges these youngsters present and will advocate for them.” (Rosenfield, 1996) Much of the hope for the foster children is in their foster parents, and the challenge that they face in integrating a troubled youth from a broken family into a new environment following a traumatic event or life crisis is truly remarkable. As such, I found myself searching for new ways in which to assist the foster parents themselves from a position as a social worker. Constant encouragement, shows of appreciation, thankfulness, and respect create a social atmosphere that lets the foster parents know that their work is critical, important, and appreciated, even if unsung and typically unknown. These people clearly show how selflessness and love can benefit in intervening in a young person’s life, but also how unappreciated and abused the people who try to do good in society can become. The Takayama report, titled “Children in Foster Care in the State of Washington: Health Care Utilization and Expenditures” (1994) concluded: “Results suggest a higher prevalence and greater complexity of illnesses, particularly mental disorders, among children in foster care. Despite the high utilization and cost of mental health services, previous research suggests there may be underutilization of these services compared with need. Appropriate allocation of resources is essential if foster care agencies are to adequately meet the diverse and compelling needs of children in foster care.” (Takayama, 1994) This highlights the importance of child and adolescent psychology in the context of counseling at Childlink. The children are some of society’s most damaged persons psychologically, suffering from emotional traumas and peer pressures. The children’s lives are becoming more challenging as they manage the foster home process. We attempt to assist the children in keeping in touch with their birth families, yet this in itself can be inherently traumatic for all parties involved. Understanding the dimensions of the issues and their psychological roots in development stages is important to learn from this internship and apply my research to a career path in counseling and social service. I believe additional research in child and adolescent psychology will allow me to understand and assist the youth in the foster care process at Childlink. Conclusion: To assist the children and families who are going through the foster care process from a counseling perspective, it is required to understand the roots of the problems in their psychological, sociological, and developmental aspects as they affect all members of the group and relationship. This includes support for the families and children in different manners. As such, to apply what I have learned by working at Childlink, I need to study further in child and adolescent psychology, as well as learning how to work in a treatment environment for substance abuse. In combining these understandings, I can better prepare unique counseling responses that are designed to assist the adults and children on all sides of the foster care relationship. Recommendations: To further develop research from the work that I conducted at Childlink, I would recommend more study of the sociological aspects of poverty, racism, and crime as they relate to the criminal justice system, for without some type of reform in these areas, the social problems will continue to get worse. This future research will also look at the manner in which public policy is administrated through the judicial system and has an adverse effect on families, as well as the way that minorities, the poor, and other marginalized groups suffer these effects disproportionately because they lack adequate protection in society and make easy targets. I would also like to see more emphasis on the compassionate response of government services that can actually be put to use in helping families solve their problems, rather than exacerbating them and making them worse. As such, I believe there is a relation between social work and activism that can be found in the implementation of theory into the workplace at locations such as Childlink. Reference List: Bass, Sandra et al. 2004, Children, Families, and Foster Care: Analysis and Recommendations, The Future of Children, Vol. 14, 2004. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. Davis, Inger P. et al. 1996, Parental visiting and foster care reunification, Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 18, Issues 4-5, 1996, Pages 363-382. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. < http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V98-3VW8JRH-4> Grigsby, Kevin R. 1994, Maintaining attachment relationships among children in foster care, Families in Society, Vol 75(5), May 1994, 269-276. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. < http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&uid=1994-42662-001> Hubbell, Ruth 1981, Foster care and families: Conflicting values and policies, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1981. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. Jones, Mary Ann; And Others 1976, A Second Chance for Families: Evaluation of a Program to Reduce Foster Care, Child Welfare League of America, 1976. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. Kufeldt, Kathleen; And Others 1995, How Children in Care View Their Own and Their Foster Families: A Research Study, Child Welfare, v74 n3 p695-715 May-Jun 1995. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. McDonald, Thomas P.; And Others 1996, Assessing the Long-Term Effects of Foster Care: A Research Synthesis, Child Welfare League of America, 1996. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. Palmer, Sally E. 1985, Placement stability and inclusive practice in foster care: An empirical study, Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 18, Issue 7, 1996, Pages 589-601. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. Roberts, Dorothy 2002, Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare, Children and Youth Services Review, Volume 24, Issue 11, November 2002, Pages 877-880. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. Rosenfield, Alvin A. M.D., et al. 1997, Foster Care: An Update, The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Volume 36, Issue 4, Pages 448-457, Elsevier Inc., April 1997. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. Takayama, John I. MD, MPH, et al. 1994, Children in Foster Care in the State of Washington: Health Care Utilization and Expenditures, JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 1994. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. Wulczyn, Fred H. and Goerge, Robert M. 2004, Foster Care in New York and Illinois: The Challenge of Rapid Change, The Social Service Review, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Jun., 1992), pp. 278-294. Web. Accessed 11th April 2011. Read More