Child Welfare: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice

33. The Looking After Children Approach in Quebec: An Evaluation of the Experiences of Youth, Caseworkers, and Foster Parents

33 The Looking After Children Approach in Quebec: An Evaluation of the Experiences of Youth, Caseworkers, and Foster Parents Marie-Andrée Poirier Marie-Claude Simard Véronique Noel Béatrice Decaluwe Placement in out-of-home care, and particularly placement in foster families ,has an important role in the continuum of services offered to young people and families in difficulty. In Quebec, in 2007–8, almost 31,900 young people were referred to the Centres Jeunesse (Association des Centres Jeunesse du Québec [ACJQ], 2008). A significant proportion of these children were placed in substitute care. On March 31, 2008, approximately 11,914 young people were in substitute care. More than half, or 6,887, of these children were living with foster families (ACJQ, 2008). The use of foster care presents major challenges: When children are placed away from their own homes, how does the responsible agency ensure that they are provided with opportunities for optimal development? How can conditions be put in place that protect the children but at the same time allow them to develop their competencies, to dream, and to have fulfilling lives as future young adults? There are no simple answers to these questions. Recent studies indicate that the placement practices most likely to encourage the child’s optimal development are those in which particular attention is paid to the following aspects: a detailed evaluation of the child’s needs,proper care planning , listening attentively to the child, the presence of supportive foster parents, positive school and social experiences, and good collaboration among the different adult actors involved (Pecora & Maluccio,2000;Ward & Rose,2002).In light of such findings,it is important that the protection system encourage innovative approaches with the aim of providing these conditions.It was precisely from this perspective that the Looking After Children (LAC) approach was developed in 473 England at the end of the 1980s. The province of Quebec has implemented LAC in four Centres Jeunesse since 2003.(It should be noted here that when LAC was introduced in Quebec,the French name—S’occuper des enfants [SOCEN]—was used. In this chapter, however, the abbreviation LAC will be used.) Implementation of LAC was accompanied by a research project. The first phase, which ended in June 2006, was aimed at evaluating the implementation conditions of LAC, as well as the perceptions of the children, the foster parents , and the workers on the repercussions of the approach (Poirier et al., 2007). This chapter presents the principal results of this first evaluation phase. The first section briefly introduces the approach, presenting its philosophy, objectives , and methods. The second section presents the results of a study on the implementation of LAC in Quebec. The chapter concludes with discussion of the essential conditions needed to promote and facilitate the implementation of LAC by child protection agencies. The Looking After Children Approach The main goal of LAC is to support the development of children in foster care by determining their needs, potential, and personal aspirations as a basis for care planning (Ward, 1995). Lack of evaluation and of care planning had been identified ; LAC was developed to promote positive outcomes for children in care. It enables workers and foster parents to gain a deeper knowledge of the children in care, and to improve care planning. LAC is an ecosystemic approach that considers the child more holistically (Poirier, Simard, Dumont, & Richard, 2005). It differs from traditional foster care approaches by its emphasis on a rigorous evaluation of the child’s progress in multiple areas of development: health, education, emotional and behavioural development, identity, family and social relations, self-presentation, and self-care skills. According to Ward (2000), it is essential to consider these dimensions in order to achieve adequate health and development goals for children in substitute care. In addition, the concept of resilience is an element of the theoretical framework underpinning LAC (Lemay & Ghazal, 2007). Thus, the approach aims to provide the conditions that will allow optimal development for children in foster care. Specifically, the approach emphasizes the children’s strengths and competencies and directs them toward positive and validating experiences. It also promotes the children’s involvement in the needs assessment and care planning that affect them. One of the main tools used in LAC is the Assessment and Action Record (AAR). This tool is used to evaluate the needs of the child in the developmental POIRIER, SIMARD, NOEL, DECALUWE 474 dimensions outlined...