Understanding and Supporting Behaviour – Connection with Correction

Children Always First is committed to a holistic approach that draws on established theoretical bases, research, best practice and guidance in order to understand, regulate and support behaviour. Supporting emotional regulation alongside “Connection with correction” forms an essential part of our approach in supporting children, young people, foster carers and staff to experience safe, protected and resilient therapeutic care. Connection with correction means that we will always strive to emotionally connect with the children through an attitude of PACE (playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy), maintaining this connection through times when boundaries have to be applied and discipline is needed. This helps children to feel safe and to build security even at those times when they are vulnerable to feeling not good enough and to fears of abandonment. There is an acknowledgment and commitment that our foster carers will be supported to manage what can be very difficult behaviour.

Children Always First is committed to gaining and sharing a robust assessment of need that determines the approach to be taken and the most effective matching of foster carers. The referral information, Placement Plan and reviews are central to the ongoing planning and evaluation of the support needed by foster carers and the children / young people in their care.

Children Always First’s approach to supporting behaviour that challenges:

• Aims to create a safe, caring environment;
• Ensures that all children have opportunities to become confident and achieve their full potential;
• Recognises that some behaviours can present as aggressive, violent or destructive at times and that foster carers will be supported to regulate, understand and support the child / young person with these behaviours whilst providing the children with continuing acceptance and emotional connection;
• Recognises when behaviour is an indicator of dysregulation and offer regulatory support before behavioural support;
• Helps Foster carers to maintain an attitude of PACE;
• Adopts the principle of “Connection with correction”;
• Focuses on building a good relationship with children based on mutual respect, trust and an unconditional acceptance of the child;
• Establishes house rules and boundaries with the child or young person which are consistent, explicit and applicable to all children in the household;
• Understands and acknowledges the past life experiences which children bring into the home;
• Uses age and developmental stage appropriate consequences but only as necessary and not as routine. Consequences will be logical and linked to behaviour. Children will be supported to complete the consequences;
• Supports carers to make every effort to help the child to feel understood and regulated so that consequences can be worked out between them when needed (collaboratively) rather than applied coercively;
• Provides support and training in the application of DDP principles;
• Encourages foster carers to celebrate success with the child so that the child can experience joy in their relationships;
• Accepts the individuality of children and young people and celebrates the diversity of their backgrounds;
• Recognises that placements are different, unique and represent many notions of family, yet they share a common value base (DDP informed practice).

The majority of children and young people in care are in care because they have experienced poor parenting, neglect and sometimes abuse. Their pre-care experiences can mean that children are more vulnerable, have complex needs and may present behaviours that are challenging. Their experience can leave the children in a state of ‘blocked trust’ towards their care givers. Behaviours need to be supported in a way which helps the children to move to a position of trusting in the good intentions of their caregivers.

Children Always First supports foster carers to parent children therapeutically. Children Always First believes that positive outcomes can be achieved for children by embedding therapeutic parenting practices throughout the Agency. Children Always First is committed to making a difference to children and young people by adopting Dyadic Developmental Practices (DDP).

Children Always First believes ‘therapeutic parenting’ approaches and a ‘therapeutic environment’ is the essential ingredient in providing a safe, positive and stable care experience to children. Understanding presenting behaviours is the starting point in order to help foster carers support behaviours. Agency training is focused on this principle.

The atmosphere of the household, generated by the carers, is crucial.

When caring for foster children, foster carers should at all times endeavour to maintain an attitude of PACE whilst supporting the child /young person. This means:

• Staying curious about the child, their inner experience and how this links to outward behaviour;
• Listening to and empathising with the children, accepting their thoughts and feelings and taking their wishes into consideration;
• Looking for moments to enjoy the relationship with the child, including adopting a playful approach when appropriate. Accept the inner experience of the child and maintain an attitude of PACE whilst supporting the child / young person.

All carers will have house rules, appropriate boundaries, routines and rituals consistent with their cultural values and the ethos of Children Always First. Helping the child to understand these provides them with a sense of safety and belonging.

Foster carers will support children to accept and feel confident with these expectations. Where children struggle to conform to these expectations, carers will be supported to help the child/young person to meet and internalise these values and expectations by drawing on the DDP Principles of PACE with behavioural support.

Difficult or behaviour that challenges in children can occur for a number of reasons, for example:

• As a way of expressing emotions;
• As a result of developmental delays or learning disability;
• As a result of attachment/relationship difficulties with staff/carers;
• Learned behaviours in which challenging responses have become habit in the face of frustration or anxiety;
• Overwhelming emotions that lead to dysregulation.

It is helpful if staff and carers can understand the causes of the child's behaviour and provide the child with help and support to manage their difficulties in a more acceptable way.

When working with, or caring for, children with behaviour that challenges it is useful to bear in mind the following:

• The age and emotional maturity of the child;
• Challenging or undesirable behaviour should not result in emotional distance between the child and the staff/carer;
• No matter how difficult or challenging a child's behaviour, staff/carers should never resort to similar behaviour.

Children need clear and consistent boundaries and to know what is expected of them.

The key points of supporting behaviour that challenges are:

• Boundaries are discussed with the child and their family/carers so that their views can be taken into account;
• Staff and foster carers should be open and honest about any non-negotiable issues, such as smoking in the home;
• Boundaries need to be realistic and take into consideration the emotional and developmental age of the child and children / young people should be supported to adhere to these boundaries.

A child may have disabilities that affect their behaviour, social skills and understanding and so require extra help to be able to behave within acceptable boundaries. Others may be faced with a variety of stresses that are difficult for them to manage without support.

It is imperative that we have realistic expectations of children according to their emotional age and developmental ability. Children, are unlikely to benefit when adults fail to assist them to realise their potential to behave appropriately.

Staff/carers need to be aware that children under pressure can have strong feelings of frustration, distress or anger. Adults can help children to behave in a more socially acceptable manner when they accept and validate children's feelings.

Children who have experienced trauma, as well as some disabled children, may resort to challenging or unpredictable behaviours due to difficulties in making themselves understood. It is important that such behaviour is seen in the context of the child's circumstances. If there are known trigger factors which appear to impact on how the child/young person behaves then these should be recorded clearly in the care plan and every effort made to avoid such situations happening - such information should be sought from parents, teachers, and college staff or from anyone who has worked with and knows the child well.

Carers are not permitted to conduct body searches, pat down searches, searches of clothing worn by children or of their bedrooms.

Should carers suspect that a child is carrying or has concealed an item which may place the child or another person at risk, they should try to obtain the item by co-operation/negotiation.

If carers suspect that a child is concealing an item which may place themselves or another person at risk, they must notify Children Always First immediately or, in an emergency, the Police.

In the event of any serious incident (e.g. accident, violence or assault, damage to property), carers should take what actions they deem to be necessary to protect children/themselves from immediate harm or injury; and then notify the agency immediately.

If there is a risk of serious injury/harm or damage to property, carers should not use any form of physical intervention except as a last resort to prevent themselves or others from being injured or to prevent serious damage to property. If any form of physical intervention is used, it must be the least intrusive necessary to protect the child, carer(s) or others.

At no time should carers act unless they are confident of managing the situation safely, without escalation or further injury.

Children Always First will endeavour to deal with as many as possible of the challenges that are involved in caring for children without recourse to the involvement of the police, who should only be involved in two circumstances:

• An emergency necessitating their immediate involvement to protect the child or others;
• Following discussion with the Supervising Social Worker, Team Manager/Registered Manager, or the fostering agency Out of Hours.

If any serious incident occurs or the police are called, the Supervising Social Worker, Team Manager or the fostering agency Out of Hours (if out of office hours) must be notified without delay and will then notify the relevant social worker(s) and arrange for a full report to be made of the incident and actions taken. The Regulatory Authority must also be notified.