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- We wish to acknowledge and thank the following for their contribution,
support and encouragement:
- Trillium Foundation
- Ann Dafoe, President of Hastings FPA
- Canadian Foster Families Association (CFFA)
- FPSO Board of Directors
- Children’s Aid Foundation
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- While, for much of the time, foster parents do the same things that
natural parents do, they have to accept that, in other ways, their task
is a different one from that of the natural parents.
- Unlike foster parents' own children, the children in their care do not
belong to them. They are held in trust. Having someone else's children
is not a natural situation. The Society has ultimate responsibility for
the children and is involved in their lives.
- Note: Throughout this training session the term “Society” has been used
to stand for; CAS, Children’s Aid Society, Family & Children
Services, FCS Agency, Agencies etc.
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- Foster parents never think that their family will be the one that will
be reported for possible abuse. However, there has been a significant
increase in reports of allegations of abuse in foster families and it is
likely that this trend will continue.
- Foster families are at greater risk of an allegation than other
families.
- Foster families are held to different, higher standards for what will be
considered abuse in their homes.
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- Foster family life is highly visible in the community and held up to
public scrutiny.
- Consumers of social services ‑ foster children and their
biological relatives ‑ are familiar with child abuse report
procedures and effects.
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- Societies are concerned about their legal liability regarding placed
children.
- Foster children are often "high risk" both in terms of the
responses they may elicit from others and in terms of the abuse risk
they pose for other children
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- By Providing Foster Parents with:
- KNOWLEDGE
- &
- TRAINING
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- To identify the reasons and the context for allegations
- To develop family safety strategies to prevent false allegations
- To understand the investigative procedure
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- An allegation is a statement or suggestion made by an individual about
another person with respect to an abusive behaviour as defined under the
Child & Family Services Act.
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- The child’s safety is our first concern.
- Abuse allegations are serious and must be dealt with seriously because
we have given the child the promise of safety.
- When an abuse allegation is taken seriously the child learns that adults
can be trusted.
- Allegations will happen and can be a learning experience. Crisis causes
learning. We need to ask what could I do differently?
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- UNDERSTANDING
- ALLEGATIONS
- of ABUSE
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- Actual abuse has occurred. Actual emotional, physical or sexual abuse
has occurred in the foster family. The abuser could be one of the foster
parents, other foster children, natural children or even a visitor to
the foster home.
- Language is misinterpreted. An adult's action or expression has been
misinterpreted. Children who have been abused, particularly sexually,
sometimes misread a situation based on an earlier experience. To the
child, an action might seem a repetition of a sequence that was used
when he/she was actually abused.
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- Memories are confused with the present. Sometimes as repressed memories
of abuse come to the surface, the child confuses this with abuse
currently happening in the present placement.
- A child’s perception of day to day experiences is determined by their
past. Crisis and/or stress can bring out feelings or reactions from the
past. Seeing someone who looks like someone from the past can trigger
feelings/reactions. These reactions can lead to false allegations based
on memories of the past.
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- Body language is misinterpreted
- Revenge. The child, or perhaps someone in the child's family, has a
grudge against the foster parent or Society and uses an allegation of
abuse as a weapon.
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- Attention seeking. This is a way of obtaining the attention the child
seeks. It can also be a cry for help.
- A child may be getting back at the system. He/she knows that an
allegation is easy to make but difficult to disprove.
- The foster child wants to break a placement, is not listened to, and
knows this is a way to ensure a move.
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- The child/youth may want to break the placement because:
- abuse has occurred
- he/she wants to go home (various reasons-might want to get back to
protect siblings)
- he/she believes the placement won’t last (no investment)
- might want to be placed in the home of a sibling
- believe that no one cares for him or her. Has a history of being
unloved by parents and sibs.
- conflicting loyalties, desire to please bio parents
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- Anger stage: Self expression: “I
hate this place”. “You are not my mother” “I could do this at home.”
- Poor Case Management: Placement
disruption, or foster parent hanging in for the child.
- Honeymoon period. Shock denial
stage.
- The crisis: “Do you still love me
when I am this bad?” Questioning whether foster parent will still be
there for them.
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- We tend to interpret our experiences by what we know and what we have
experienced.
- Our foster kids see us as parents. Their past experience with parents
was not positive therefore they see us as not positive.
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- We see in others what we expect to see and miss what we do not.
- Children do this: They see an attitude where there is no attitude.
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- Isolation
- Too few adults
- Too many children
- Memory chargers
- Changes
- Access visits
- School problems
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- This concludes the first portion of the Safeguarding training session.
- Click on the “Back” button of your browser to return the Safeguarding
main page to continue
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Notes
