Intake Session essay
The integration of the child in the foster family often raises a number of issues associated with the child’s positive psychological condition because children suffer from the integration in the new family. In this respect, it is possible to refer to the case of the child, who has been just adopted by experienced foster parents. The child suffers from a number of problems and faces substantial difficulties with the integration into the new family. Nevertheless, the process of integration of the child can be facilitated through close work with the child and his foster parents.
The child has problems with the integration in the new family. To put it more precisely, the child feels being a stranger in the family because he has little experience of living with his foster parents. Even though they are acquainted quite well, the child still views his foster parents as strangers and, therefore, feels himself being a stranger. At this point, the work with the client should focus on his integration into the family. In this respect, the mutual activities of the family can help the child to accelerate his integration and to develop positive interpersonal relationships with his foster parents. Foster parents, from their part, do their best to establish positive relations with the child.
In this regard, it is worth mentioning another problem – the child is anxious about his foster parents and is afraid of being left alone. In fact, the child feels anxious about his future. In this regard, the psychological trauma the child has already suffered, when he was abandoned by his biological parents, affects the perception of the new family and foster parents by the child. In such a situation, foster parents should create favorable and positive environment, which make the child feel comfortable in the new family. In actuality, the assistance to the client is essential in terms of the development of positive attitude to the new family and, what is more important, the child should believe that he can be certain in his foster parents. The certainty of the child that he will not be left alone any more is extremely important for his integration in the family and for the formation of a positive view of the child on his foster parents. The task of health care professionals and social workers is to help the child to come psychologically prepared to the life in the foster family, while foster parents, being experienced, may also need the assistance from the part of health care professional, social workers and psychologists. At any rate, foster parents and the child need to find the common ground to build up the real family.
Furthermore, the child suffers from the change of his environment. Obviously, the child accustomed to different environment and the life in the foster family is totally new for him. Therefore, the child needs to develop new models of behavior and to establish close interpersonal relations with his foster parents. The communication with the child is crucial for the establishment of close relations between the child and foster parents.
Thus, the child faces the problem of the integration in the foster family, he feels anxious about his future in the family and he suffers from the change of the environment. However, the assistance of health care professionals, social workers and foster parents can help the child to solve the problems he is currently facing.
