Tag Archives: fostercare

Child welfare intervention outcomes: what does trust in the accessibility and responsiveness of adults look like?

Posted on November 4, 2022 by colbypearce

In this the final blog of the series, I will present what I think functional learning about the accessibility and responsiveness of adults in a caregiving role for needs provision looks like. I recommend that the reader also take a … Continue reading →

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Outcomes in child welfare: What a well-modulated nervous system looks like

Posted on November 3, 2022 by colbypearce

In this, the third blog in this series, I will write about what a well-modulated nervous system looks like among children and young people who are recovering from a tough start to life. Please also refer to the first and … Continue reading →

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What attachment security looks like

Posted on November 1, 2022 by colbypearce

In the first blog of this series about child welfare intervention outcomes, I wrote about the importance of knowing, and being able to say, what progress toward successful outcomes looks like. In this second blog of the series, I will … Continue reading →

Posted in Adoption, Fostering, kinship care, trauma informed | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Practice alignment: How important is it in child welfare?

Posted on September 25, 2022 by colbypearce

A child leaves their placement to attend school, where acceptance and belonging are contingent on adhering to the school’s behaviour expectations. They leave school to go to sports practice, where acceptance and belonging are contingent on being good enough to … Continue reading →

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Achieving best outcomes from care

Posted on September 7, 2022 by colbypearce

Twenty-seven years continuous work in child protection and child welfare, including ongoing work with young adults who have transitioned from Care, has taught me some extremely valuable lessons about long-term outcomes of a childhood spent in State Care. In particular, … Continue reading →

Posted in Attachment, Fostering, kinship care, Parenting, Therapy, trauma informed, trauma informed care, Trauma Informed Schools | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Children (and Young People) who Foster

Posted on July 31, 2022 by colbypearce

I need my mum and dad to be there for me without me having to ask; to say the words that show that they understand what is happening for me and our family right now; to show that my needs are important without me having to explain them; and to sit with me and experience what I am feeling. Continue reading →

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What do children in care need to recover from relational trauma?

Posted on May 18, 2022 by colbypearce

In recent posts I have referred to three things that children in out-of-home care need, and need adults who are responsible for their care and welfare to understand, to support their recovery from complex relational trauma. These three things are: … Continue reading →

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Why does my child need ‘therapeutic care’?

Posted on April 1, 2022 by colbypearce

A child’s adjustment, like many aspects of their functioning, is usefully thought of as sitting on a spectrum ranging from maladjustment at one end to positive adjustment at the other end. Where a child is on this spectrum depends on … Continue reading →

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Why does my child chew their clothes?

Posted on March 16, 2022 by colbypearce

Chewing their clothes is not necessarily evidence of wilful damage or a lack of respect. For many children it is an exaggeration of a very natural way in which they regulate their nervous system. As such, it is better conceptualised … Continue reading →

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Why does my child follow me to the bathroom?

Posted on March 14, 2022 by colbypearce

Those who take care of children who are recovering from a tough start to life commonly report that the child in their care follows them to the bathroom, and becomes unreasonably distressed when prevented from doing so. In my experience … Continue reading →

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