Educational psychologists as advocates of children in out of home care : an innovative program model that empowers young people and the adults who support them

Debra Mainwaring

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Life Without Barriers, a specialist foster care agency, are funding a Collaborative Education Program in partnership with Edmund Rice Education Australia Youth +. This paper aims to share some of the practice that gives a voice to the children and young people who have experienced trauma, abuse and neglect and have been placed in out of home care. Casework illustrations serve to reveal how the voice of the child is included in measures of participation, well-being and achievement that inform their Education Support Plans. Given the evidence of the impact of trauma on language development non-verbal methods of monitoring are used to explore the child's perceptions of: what context is most likely to engage them using the Preferences for Activities for Children flashcards and pictorial Likert scales; how their attachment to the carer is developing using video recordings of structured play sessions with carers; sandtray and symbol work when creating trauma narratives; and iPad applications to scaffold emotional expression, social problem solving, transition planning and literacy and numeracy interventions. The program model is limited by recent government financial cutbacks in addition to the scarcity of educational and developmental psychologists in Queensland and its expansion to a national model requires a creative, facilitative model of leadership and strategic social investment in the local community.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)101-123
Number of pages23
JournalEducational & Child Psychology
Volume31
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 2014

Keywords

  • educational psychologists
  • foster home care
  • psychic trauma

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