The Power of Positive Educators

Lynn Knocker, Debbie Williams and Billie-Jo McDowell

Neglect Conference

12th September 2018

Aims of this Sessions By the end of this session participants will;

• Have an increased understanding of the importance of child, educator and social worker relationship

• Have an improved understanding in the importance of partnership working between Educators and Social Services

• Recognise cohesion between the 3 correlating views

• Be able to recognise good practice when working with children, children in need and Looked After Children

Learning Agreement • Confidentiality

• Respect for presenters and each other

• No Distractions

Session Outline

1. Lynn’s Perspective

2. Debbie’s Perspective

3. Billie-Jo’s Perspective

4. Q&A

Lynn’s Perspective

Keeping an Eye on the Little Things Build up a picture—doesn’t happen all at once or easily

• Physical Needs • Clothing • No coat • No break • Late to pick up

• Academic Needs • Incomplete homework • Slow to complete work or Too fast to complete work • Lack of organization

• Emotional Needs • attention seeking • Inappropriate behaviour

• Parental Attitudes • Sharing too much vs avoidance

Putting together the Puzzle

• Record and report everything

• Look for patterns

• Use the threshold documents

• Seek Advice

• Remember this is only part of the puzzle that we see • Others may have other pieces to help see the full picture

The Power of the Positive

• Proactive systems for supporting • Processes

• Child’s needs

• Catch them getting it right. A child can never get too much positive attention.

• Be prepared (i.e. more to the first aid room than first aid!)

• Be subtle and supportive (i.e. brush hair, change clothes, help with homework)

Having the Hard Conversation • Be honest and factual

• Be kind and understanding in approach

• Keep the child at the centre of the conversation

Behaviour is Communication

• What is the child telling us through their behaviour

• Challenging behaviour is often the result of a breakdown in communication

• Staff should aim to understand what function the behaviour serves

What are we communicating with our Behaviour?

Circles of danger

Outer Circle

of Danger Inner Circle of

Danger

Circles of danger Outer Circle

of Danger Inner Circle

of Danger

Give a Positive Message

Positive Non-Verbal Behaviour:

• Social distance.

• Sideways stance, step back.

• Intermittent eye contact .

• Relaxed body posture.

• Palms open.

Positive Verbal Messages: • “I can see something is wrong / has happened…”

• “Talk to me…”

• “I want to help”

• “How can I help…”

• “Let’s go and…”

Time

Crisis

Recovery

Need for

diversion,

support and

reassurance

Stage 1

Anxiety /

Trigger

Defensive /

Escalation

Restoration

Depression Need for

diversion,

reassurance,

clear limits,

boundaries and

choices

Stage 2

Probable need

for removal of

child from the

situation

Stage 3

Need for

coordinated

letting go.

Support,

reassurance

Stage 4

Need for

observation,

support and

monitoring -

recovery and

repair

Stage 5

Reflect

Repair

Reconnect

Stage 6

Arousal level 1

Arousal level 2

Arousal level 3

Six Stages of Crisis

Positive Responses

• Read the body language

• Read the behaviour- Assess the situation

• Intervene early

• Communicate – “Talk and I’ll listen”

• Inform of desired behaviour

• Use appropriate humour

• Display CALM stance & body language

• Talk low and slow and quietly

• Offer reassurance – including positive physical prompts

• Divert and distract by introducing another activity or topic

14

R.E.A.D ( Recognise, Evaluate, Assess & Decide)

Change of Face

• Our role is vital—Am I the best person to deal with this situation?

• It can become a situation where ‘stale mate’ occurs and no one is progressing

• Change of face normally results in co-operation !!

• Who needs to be involved?

‘Help Available’

‘More Help Available’

• De-escalation of a situation is key

• All significant incidents should be followed by a positive restoration process.

• Listening and Learning - Reflect and Repair

• Putting things right again

• What happened? - How did you feel? - What did you do? - what else could you have done?

• Be proactive not reactive • Does the child need a safe space to calm down regularly?

• Can we shorten the day to make school more manageable

• Set up Bubble time

Core principles

Communication is Key

• Listening to the voice of the child and observing their behaviour

• Importance of relationship with social worker • Trust

• Look for advice

• Seek Social Work advice and reassurance when need

• We are a team working together

Debbie’s Perspective

What is Neglect? • “Neglect is the failure to provide for a child/young

person’s basic needs, whether it be adequate food, clothing, hygiene, supervision or shelter that is likely to result in the serious impairment of the child/young person’s health or development. Children/young people who are neglected often also suffer from other types of abuse. It may also include neglect of, or unresponsiveness to a child’s basic emotional, social and educational needs”

• SBNI Core Procedures for Child Protection 2017

Social Work Assessment

• Voice of the child

• Engagement with parent/s

• Engagement with other professionals

• Putting the pieces of the jigsaw together

Role of Schools

• Vital contribution

• School staff know children well

• Adults in schools can offer children the experience of trusting, caring, reliable relationships

Neglected child in school

• Struggle academically

• Poor presentation

• Few friends

• Present as disruptive

• Seek attention

• Try hard to avoid attention

• Experience bullying

Impact of Neglect

• Education

• Emotional Needs

• Neurological development

• Relationships

Professional judgements …. we all make them ……

School’s Safeguarding Team

• Observe child’s presentation

• Monitor attendance

• Insight to home support available

• Notice change in peer relations

• Complete UNOCINI referral

• Process UNOCINI referral to SPOE

• Initial Assessment completed by Gateway

• Referral to FSIT with a recommendation re threshold of Family Support or Child Protection

• Adhere to policy and procedure

Social Work

Engagement

• Social Worker and Parents

• Social Worker and extended family network

• Social Worker and other professionals

• Most importantly ………

• Social worker and child

Decision Making

• Thoughtful and reflective practice

• Supervision

• Risk management

• Supportive v Authoritative practice

• Balance risk with protective factors

Social Worker’s view on importance of relationship with teachers

• Positive modelling for parents

• Multiagency working

• Value their contribution

• Professional respect

• We are all educators for children

Value Base “Poverty not neglect”

“Good enough parenting”

“It’s not intentional ….. They love their kids”

“Dirty but happy”

Professional Challenges • Time

• Staff turnover

• Thresholds

• Terminology and professional jargon

• Organisational structures

• Media Perception of Social Workers

• GDPR

Billie-Jo’s Perspective

Photographs Timetable The inserting of the photograph timeline had several different aims:

• First photograph of living at home showed that neglect is not always obvious

• The rest of the photographs showed the transition through foster care with different educational institutions

• The links was that despite numerous foster placements, there was stability in education with the same primary and secondary school through with high educational attainment

• The message was in relation to stability • While instability at home life, the consistency at school helps provide

some stability and the ability to maintain and build relationships, while engage in extra curricular to ensure more than academic achievement.

• It is important to acknowledge that even in tertiary education this is also highly important to maintain educational achievement.

TREATMENT

ATTITUDE

PRESUMPTION

INDIVIDUALISATION

INFLUENCE

RELATIONSHIP

Treatment • How you treat a child will be

influential in how the relationship is formed

• Ask the child how they wise to treated • Same as everyone else • Some consideration • Methods that work for them

• Ask relevant parents, carers and professionals • Do special considerations work

better • What methods of discipline work

best

• At all times be TRANSPARENT in how and why you treat a child a certain way

• How you interact with a child and the attitude you take has implications on relationships, reciprocated behaviour and other social interactions

• Taking a positive attitude when approaching any interaction with any child is important as it portrays your opinion of them • Taking a dismissive attitude

portrays you do not care • Taking a discipline attitude portrays

you feel they are always in the wrong

• Taking a positive and encouraging attitude shows you value them and want them to achieve

Attitude

Presumptions • Having a presumption about a child

influences how you interact with them. Thus if you presume a child is badly-behaved, your interactions and attitudes will be tailored towards this

• Just because a child is in foster care, does not mean that they fall into a stereotype of ‘Troubled, Badly-Behaved, Bad Influence’

• Every child is different as is every ‘Looked After Child’

• Getting to know the child as an individual and disregarding presumptions, helps promote individualisation, gaining a knowledge of both strengths and weaknesses and ensuring the best developmental opportunities for the child

Individualisation • Every child is different and requires different ways of interaction

and different ways of dealing with behaviours, regardless of whether they are a LAC child or not

• Building relationships helps to figure out how you individualise processes etc for each child

• This can be in the form of

• Types of discipline

• Help with work

• Social interactions

• Educational needs

Influence • As professionals that a child

interacts with on a regular basis, you are as influential as family and as such it is important that you ensure you are a positive influencer

• This is done through

• Your attitude and relationship

• Encouragement

• Help where needed

• Ensuring you are create an environment where the child is growing but in a way that they give and take

Relationship • The relationship is of the upmost

importance when working with the child

• It is important from the start to ensure you are building a strong and trusting relationship

• In schools, this may include the allocation of a specific person whom the child can go to in times of difficultly and trouble

• It is important that this relationship is consistant as this is often a problematic issue in regards to relationships for children in foster care

• It is also important to ensure positive relationships between teachers, parents, carers and professionals

REFERENCE • How you refer to the child be it reports, meetings or in person can produce stereotypes or promote

respect • You call a non-child by a child or by their name, so why refer to LAC children as LAC

Key Take Away Points • Interdisciplinary partnerships are key and important to

maintain

• Ensuring effective and open relationships with all parties involved, including the child is essential

• Individualisation is important for every child, especially Looked After Children

• Consistency is important and helps for better relationships and outcomes

• Terminology and stereotypes have no place in the relationship

TAPIIR

Any Comments, Questions or Ideas?