Resiliency and its Use in Foster Care
By Tom
Culver, State Manager, KidsPeace North Carolina Foster Care and Community
Programs
One of the greatest
challenges facing agencies that provide services to high-risk children and
families in community settings is the need to have a well defined Model of Care
that is understood and implemented by all involved in service provision. The
need for a well defined Model of Care that is supported by research to
demonstrate a positive impact on the life outcomes of the families and children
we serve becomes increasingly important as the effects of both child welfare
reform and mental health reform demand that foster care and community services
serve clients who may have otherwise been served in a more intensive residential
treatment setting. KidsPeace Foster Care and Community Programs (FCCP) has
embraced a Model of Care that is based on Resiliency Theory.
Resiliency
Theory arose from the study of the characteristics and life histories of those
high-risk individuals who experienced adversity yet managed to avoid poor life
outcomes such as: substance abuse; dropping out of school; social and
relational problems; mental/emotional problems; problems with law enforcement;
and vocational instability. The studies contributing to the theory of
resilience refer to various cross-cultural lifespan developmental studies on
the lives of children who were born into families and environments that
provided serious risk and adversity to the healthy development of the child.
Studies include: children born to parents who suffered from mental illness
and/or severe chronic substance abuse problems; children raised in homes that
subject them to severe neglect and /or abuse; and children raised in
environments with severe poverty, crime and instability. Surprisingly, the
findings from these long-term studies were that at least 50% - and often closer
to 70% - of youth growing up in these adverse conditions developed the life
skills necessary to overcome the odds and lead successful lives.
The greatest benefit
derived from this research on children who have overcome significant adversity
and have thrived in spite of it, is a list of common characteristics found in
the lives of these individuals. The list of common characteristics known as “protective
factors” has become a focus in the KidsPeace Model of Care as these
characteristics appear to counterbalance the adverse effects that “risk
factors” have on a developing child or on any individual struggling with
excessive levels of stress brought on by too much risk/adversity. <<Read More>>