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Choices in Caring: Contemporary Approaches to Child and Youth Care Work

NCJ Number
124239
Editor(s)
M A Krueger, N W Powell
Date Published
1990
Length
143 pages
Annotation
This book defines and develops several important concepts critical to the competency of child care counselors.
Abstract
Child and youth care workers are defined as those people who work directly with troubled or developmentally handicapped children and youth. The first chapter describes tenets, actions, and an organizational process that outline a direction for child care organizations. The second chapter applies the Conflict Cycle Model, developed by Nicholas J. Long, to an example of a negative power struggle between a child care worker and a child. It is believed that this model can be used in situations to help understand daily conflicts and ways to avoid destructive conflict situations. Social skills training is the focus of the third chapter. It is seen as an integral part of the treatment process to teach personal and social behavior to troubled youth. The importance of culture on our behavior is the topic of one chapter. The need for cross cultural education of child care workers is outlined to aid in the understanding that behavior that may be viewed as abnormal by one culture may be normal in another. The need for more specialized and quality care for deaf children is the theme of another chapter. The final chapter discusses including families as part of the treatment. This brings the community and treatment agency closer to being resources for each other and enhances the quality of services needed by young people. 103 references, 5 figures, 1 table.