LEADING THROUGH UNCERTAINTY
Yesterday (Monday 23 March, 2020) the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that this country would immediately move to COVID19 Alert Level 3 (of 4) of the government’s pandemic response system in preparation for a full Alert Level 4 ‘lock-down’ from midnight Wednesday. We’ve all seen the recent pictures coming out of China, South Korea and Italy, and similar measures to those in New Zealand have been taken, or are about to be taken, in many other countries.
While we’re all probably in a state of shock about this new reality and the implications for how we live our lives, we’ll be experiencing this in different and changing ways - the phrase ‘emotional roller-coaster’ suddenly feels very hackneyed. However, for me, my overall sense about these measures is one of relief…and hope.
In New Zealand, our welfare and social services including NGOs which meet immediate needs, have been categorised as ‘essential services’ with further guidance on this expected later today. We have about 6,000 children and young people in out-of-home care and how well they get through this crisis will be highly reliant upon our foster carers, social workers and managers.
While an important research study published last week confirmed that in China COVID19 was less severe in children than adults, our residential and foster care sectors are nonetheless going to be severely challenged in the days, weeks and months to come, with the effects being further compounded by the economic impact of national responses on individual households.
To get through this difficult time amid the uncertainty, confusion and fear that we have all been plunged into, here are ten important things that I believe residential and foster care managers must remember that they already know and need to hold onto (some of this would be applicable to foster carers and practitioners too).
You know and clearly understand your organisation’s purpose and values. It may not feel like ‘business as usual’ for weeks or even months to come, but the reason why your organisation exists is exactly the same and remains paramount – the wellbeing of children and young people. Similarly, if there was ever a time to live by your organisation’s values, that time would be now. For example, being child-centred, listening to children, valuing foster carers and residential workers, consultation, collaborative working, being evidence-informed and having an outcomes-orientation. Not just ‘nice to haves’ in times of calm; our values are absolutely essential in circumstances such as these.
You know how to manage crises. Whether it’s a child in care who has died or been abused, a foster carer or member of staff being assaulted, foster carer or staff shortages, unplanned placement terminations, absconding, power cuts, industrial action, serious complaints, legal proceedings, political and media questions (or attacks), or health and safety concerns, you are likely to already spend a significant part of your week managing crises. The principles now remain largely the same.
You know that the management of anxieties and uncertainties is central to all children and young people’s residential and foster care placements. Coming into care for most, and even being in care for some, is a frightening experience, and managing anxieties and uncertainties about the past, present and future is a key fostering and residential care task. While being strengths-orientated, you also understand that this experience will be stressful for many children and young people and may exacerbate any existing challenges that they have. For some the requirements to stay in the home or establishment and/or not attend school will be hard. You recognise that not all children and young people in care will necessarily have a strong relationship with their foster carers or residential workers. Similarly, effectively supporting foster carer and residential care staff and helping them to manage their anxieties and uncertainties is key to how you engage and retain them, and in turn your service provision.
You know the value of good planning, whether that be case plans and care plans in relation to each and every child and young person, or planning with foster carers, social workers, teams, and establishments. While contingency and concurrent planning are hardly new to you, you may need to plan for a variety of possible scenarios for each child, kin-foster carer, non-kin foster carer, social worker, team and establishment . For large residential establishments in particular, reviewing and refining plans should be a major undertaking.
You know that you are in a ‘relationships-business’ and the importance of ‘communication’ as part of that. While ‘comms’, ‘messaging’ and information on your website has a critically important role to play in such times, you also know that you need to be supplementing this with ongoing individual and group communication and conversations, whether that be face-to-face, phone, text, WhatsApp, private Facebook groups, Zoom, video, or webinars, and that your staff should be doing the same with foster carers too. You really cannot over-communicate, and you listening to what others are saying to you is half of the communications ‘equation’. Similarly many children and young people in care will likely need and want to communicate with their families more than before.
You know that residential and foster care are part of a complex joined-up system with many moving parts and that collaborating on sector and pan-organisational responses will be as important as those from individual organisations. As busy as you will be, you may need to take some initiative here if important issues are falling through the cracks.
You know that you need to give certainty and as clear a way forward as possible, but equally you also know that you can’t bullshit. Problem-solve with your staff and where possible give them key roles. If you are changing any processes ensure that these are being captured in ways that make communicating them easy. You also know that you sometimes have to make decisions in the absence of full information. However, while this is no time for perfection, if clearly not good enough, don’t be afraid to selectively refine and improve your responses in the light of new information or implementation experience.
You know that some of the children, young people, and care leavers that you are responsible for will be struggling and will require additional support. Are you addressing this or have you put someone else onto it? Over recent years, whether through the likes of the Australian Bushfires, the Christchurch earthquake or the Global Financial Crash, our understanding of what children, young people and care leavers may need in times of such uncertainty has grown considerably. There are also specialist COVID19 now resources available for children and young people.
You know that the child welfare system is highly reliant on your foster carers and residential workers and that they need to feel more valued and engaged ‘tomorrow’ than they did ‘yesterday’. Retaining your existing people, and closely monitoring retention rates, will be absolutely critical. You also likely know your residential and foster care system risks more than anyone, whether that be in:
kin-foster care, for example, if you have a high number of elderly grandparents or great uncles and aunts;
non-kin foster care, for example, if you have a lot of short term placements;
small-scale non-secure residential care, for example, if you have rostering challenges;
large-scale secure care, for example, if you have large numbers of young people and adults in individual establishments; and
transitioning from care, for example, if you have challenges around care leavers having safe and secure accommodation.
You know that over this time you will need to find ways to continue to recruit foster carers and residential workers. Even assuming that none of your foster carers or residential workers become ill, some placements will still break-down, and some foster carers and residential workers will still leave the service. While we can’t yet predict whether there will be an increase in children and young people coming into care, we can probably assume that there will be a rise in family violence and unmet need in our communities.
You’ve got this… yes be reactive, but be proactive and adaptive too.