A New Approach to Professional
Child Care: Introducing the
Authentic Warmth dimension
Sean Cameron (with Andy Constable and Colin
Maginn, who are lurking somewhere in the
audience)
Living Psychology
***Our objectives for this workshop:
We would like to• Provide an overview of the background, theory and
rationale underpinning our work with children and young
people who are in public care.
• Show how the ‘Pillars of Parenting’ can offer a set of
principles to guide professional childcare practice.
• Offer a model of adaptive emotional development which
can enable carers to understand and support children in
public care.
• Discuss some of the implications of what we believe is a
promising new approach to residential and foster
childcare.
***Rejection and exclusion
Social Rejection
Baumeister (2005) compared the brain’s response to rejection with
its reaction to physical injury.
“ .. social rejection is a bit like getting knocked on the head with a
brick.”
• Parental rejection
When attempting to understand the emotional, adjustment and
attainment difficulties of children and young people in public care, a
conceptual shift is required, namely that they are part of the much
larger population of children in our society who have all shared
negative life experiences, the common factor being parental
rejection (Rohner 2004 & Rohner et al 2004).
Attunement occurs when the parent
is aware of his or her own
feelings and sensations, and at the same time
recognises how the child is
responding and can communicate
this awareness back to the child.
Waldsax, A. (2004). ‘Parenting’. In: K.N. Dwivedi and P.B.
Harper, (eds.) Promoting the Emotional Well-being of
Children and Adolescents and Preventing their Mental Ill
Health. London: Kingsley.
Some dimensions of EMPATHY
1.
Demonstrating that you can see the other person’s
point of view.
2.
Accepting the feelings which accompany this point
of view.
3.
Adopting the other person’s perspective.
4.
Identifying directly (where appropriate) with the
experience the other person is describing.
Changes in brain capacity to
change with respect to age (after
Rohner, 2000)
Capacity
to
change
Age
02
05
08
15
30
***Parenting style
High level of
sensitivity to and
interest in child
Positive
psychological
control
Low level parental
control/ management
and expectations for
learning and
behaviour
High level of parental
control/ management
and expectations for
learning and behaviour
Negative
psychological
control
Low level of
sensitivity to and
interest in child
From Parenting Styles in Childcare, Baumrind, 1991 & 1993
Plus Authentic Warmth, Cameron & Maginn, 2005
***An Enabling Parenting Style
Authoritative parenting
• Warmth and understanding towards child
• High level of involvement with the child.
• Rules and discipline applied fairly and
with a clear explanation/ rationale
provided.
N.b. Only authoritative parenting is likely to
lead to healthy and socially desirable
child development.
***The Pillars of Parenting
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Primary care & protection
Secure attachment
Positive Self-perception
Emotional competence
Self-management skills
Resilience
A sense of belonging
Personal and personal responsibility
Post-traumatic growth
PTSD as a continuum of adaptive behaviour rather than
a distinctly abnormal reaction.Three broad areas for
positive change and growth:
• Perception of self
– Acknowledgement of vulnerability and appreciation
of integral strength.
• Relationships with others
– Development of compassion, empathy and altruism.
• Philosophy of life
– Valuing and appreciation of everyday life
Reference source: Linley, A. (2000) Transforming
psychology: the example of trauma. The
Psychologist, 13(7) 353-355
***So, what’s different about this approach,then?
•
•
•
•
It is based on the psychological needs of
children
It is underpinned by psychological theory
and research
It can generate good practice for
understanding and meeting the oftencomplex needs of children in care
It does introduce a new professional
dimension into residential and foster care.
NW Commissioners and Care
Providers Conference 2008
Haydock Park
May 20th 2008