USE OF LANGUAGE

There are words that some use in or about out-of-home care (OOHC) that I have a strong visceral reaction to. One of those is the term ‘churn’ which is sometimes used in New Zealand to collectively describe those who left OOHC but who subsequently returned. While I find such jargon is most often used by those new to child welfare in specialist functions with little direct contact with children and young people, that is not always the case. 

Rightly or wrongly in my mind I associate the word churn with simple linear manufacturing processes and find the term both disrespectful and dehumanising. Sometimes a plumbing analogy will instead be used depicting how liquid (children) will make its way through a series of pipes (in the same way and at the same rate), with associated taps being either on or off, leaks, and blockages etc. In response I find myself instinctively reaching for Jim Anglin’s quote that “Child and Youth Care is not rocket science: it's FAR more complex than that!”. 

Yet I am also a strong proponent of conceptualising OOHC as an evolving system or systems and used Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to in part guide my 2015 doctoral research with care leavers. Ecological Systems Theory views child development as a complex system of relationships affected by, and interactions between, multiple levels of the surrounding environment, from immediate settings of family (and in our context foster carers and residential workers) and school, to broad cultural values, laws, institutions and customs.

 Perhaps part of my visceral reaction to the word churn is that our brains like analogies. This one also clearly reminds us that our hopes and assumptions about how residential and foster care should operate are not always reflected in reality. Another term with strong visual images in a plumbing context is ‘blockages’ which in some respects is even more distasteful. But that clarity of itself can be very powerful given that we all take plumbing for granted yet the impact of a single blocked pipe can have significant ramifications?

 For me, all of this acts as a clear reminder to us that an investment of time and money in for example OOHC leadership, strategy, care models, engagement and performance are unlikely to be realised if there are basic blockages elsewhere in the system, and most notably an insufficiently skilled and experienced range or shortages of foster carers, residential workers and transitioning from care workers to meet the needs of children and young people.    

 Perhaps a human system analogy using a healthy heart would be better than a manufacturing or plumbing one? Cardiology is a complex topic yet despite recent technological developments in the use of open heart surgery, angiograms, angioplasty and cholesterol-reducing statins, the simple truth is that blood supply to the heart always needs to be maintained and the importance of nutrition, exercise and managing stress.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! You can email me at: iain@betteroutcomes.co.nz

Kia kaha (Stay Strong).

Iain