A Model Program to Avoid the Institutionalization of Children

The concept of "deinstitutionalization" has led to a great deal of concern being focused on moving children out of large institutions into community based programs. This paper proposes a model program that would seek to avoid the initial placement of the child and focus attention on working with the family as a total unit. The program would recognize the acting out child as symptomatic of a family system in crisis. Social work's current concern with 'deinstitutionalization' has resulted in considerable attention being paid to the development of alternative treatment modalities for children to replace the larger institutional setting. Numerous programs have been established, having one element in common. They involve the removal of the child from the home setting and are rehabilitative in nature rather than preventative. "Deinstitutionalization" as defined by Koshel means "...reducing and emptying the population of residential institutions .... -i In assessing techniques for accomplishing this, Koshel suggests that ... one should realize that deinstitutionalization encompasses more than the simple removal of children from congregate institutions; it also diverts those children from the institutional path.... (emphasis provided) When one considers the alternatives suggested to institutions (e.g. group homes, half way houses, agency operated boarding homes) then it is clear that all that is being advocated are other forms of institutionalization. Of concern here are two issues: 1. the physical separation of children from their natural families. 2. the lack of preventative measures that might have been taken to preclude the removal of children from their homes. Too often, the child who is placed is merely symptomatic of a family in chaos. Robinson and Weiner have observed ...When a family comes to an agency for help with a child's problem, something has shaken the family equilibrium; the balance by which it operated has been disturbed. The family asks the agency to help reinforce the projection of responsibility onto one family member, for in this way the group can maintain itself as is...we consider the child's symptoms to be a cry for help for the entire family and ws view the situation in the context of the whole family....' The program to be suggested concentrates on that aspect of deinstitutionalization which seeks to alleviate those conditions making it necessary for the removal of the child from the home. Such a program will allow for the necessary treatment to take place within the total family environment. Wolfensberge, writing on the concept of deinstitutionalization, proposed the following definition: ...Utilization of means, which are as culturally normative as possible, in order to establish and/or maintain behaviors and characteristics which are as culturally normative as possible .... It is suggested here that keeping a child in his home setting is 'culturally normative.' Governina Principles Underlving the Proposed Program It is the premise of this paper that many of the problems created by the inappropriate placement of children in institutions would be eliminated if we initially dealt with the entire family system. Harriet Goldstein, writing of her experience with the Association for Jewish Children in Philadelphia. notes that S..over the years, our experience with.. .children and families.. .convinced us that foster placement can be avoided in many instances, provided certain changes were made in the concepts and modes of treatment used with families .... 5 Any program concerned with families in crisis must make an assessment of both the physical and emotional needs to be addressed. Then, a plan must be developed which allows for the provision of both direct services and counseling as indicated by that particular case. Problems calling for direct services (e.g. day care, job training, etc.) must be given as much priority as the offering of counseling services.