Issue 149: july 2011



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they must be cu ri ous and non-judgemental 

about dif fer ences.  Po ten tial is an elu sive

qual ity to as sess, but there are some help -

ful in di ca tors, such as a cre ative and

per sis tent  at ti tude  when  frus trated,  and

the abil ity to look at self when con fronted

with  un pleas ant  in ter ac tions  with  oth ers.

Ac a demic abil ity can ap pear to be the

abil ity to come up with the right an swer,

but ac tu ally what is needed is the abil ity to 

see many pos si ble an swers.  The chal lenge 

for fac ulty is to cre ate mea sure ment strat -

e gies that re ward cre ative lat eral think ing

and  ac a demic  rigor  si mul ta neously.

Fac ulty  and  pro gram  man ag ers  both

want to grad u ate and hire peo ple that can

be ef fec tive with peo ple who have suf -

fered from and often in flicted abuse

and/or ne glect on chil dren, some times in

fam i lies that have this pat tern for gen er a -

tions.  Or di nary logic and so cial iz ing

tech niques do not help, and we need CYC 

staff who can cre ate trans for ma tions

where ev ery one else has failed.  This level

of prac ti tio ner skill does not exist in the

new hire or the school-based stu dent. So

fac ulty  and  em ploy ers  are  see ing  de vel op -

men tal po ten tial, not ac tual abil ity as they

be stow de grees or offer em ploy ment.  

We ex pect stu dents to work in small

groups on some as sign ments, which is

frus trat ing for many of them.  Yet the abil -

ity to un der stand how to see strengths in

oth ers and to avoid blame when things go

awry are major learn ing ob jec tives.  Case

study  as sign ments  and  sem i nar  dis cus sions 

sup port stu dents to work through the

con fus ing  and  chal leng ing  be liefs  of  the

peo ple they are help ing.  Be liev ing in their

own po ten tial to grow often is sup ported

by a learn ing re la tion ship with a fac ulty

mem ber who does n’t give up on them.

We also have to chal lenge stu dents

who  are  de vel op ing  in ef fec tive  be liefs  and

ap proaches and eval u ate all stu dents fairly, 

but with an eye to the pro fes sional tasks

ahead of them. Per haps a use ful  idea

would be to get pro gram man ag ers and

fac ulty  to gether  to  dis cuss  de vel op men tal

and re la tional strat e gies.  There would be

great learning all around.

14

CYC-Online July 2011  /  Issue 149




15


O

nly a few years ago the word

‘unsustainability’ did n’t even

exist.  Now it’s used to de scribe

al most ev ery thing we do on this planet.

The rea son is sim ple.  In order to be sus -

tain able  the  en vi ron ment  needs con stant

self-re plen ish ment  to  sup port  human  life;

the econ omy needs pro tected free dom to

op er ate in the best in ter ests of all; na tions



need  se cu rity  to

re spect other na -

tions;  re li gions

need  hu mil ity  to

main tain  their

spir i tual  con nec -

tions; and, at the

core, human be -

ings need to

ex press their car -

ing and


com pas sion  in

order to live in

har mony on this planet.  The mes sage is

clear.  When we fail to at tend to the es -

sen tial needs in any liv ing sys tem it

be comes  in creas ingly  un sus tain able  and

our des per ate ef forts to ‘fix’ the ac cu mu -

lat ing prob lems only serve to dig the

trenches deeper.  Well, the same prin ci ple 

ap plies to the sustainability of human re la -

tion ships in gen eral and the de vel op ment

of our chil dren in par tic u lar.

For the most part med i cal sci ence has

con firmed what we have al ways known

about the phys i cal and nu tri tional needs of 

kids, al though fads and fash ions might

change.  Mean -

while, obe sity is

ram pant  across

na tions that still

have op tions.  In

the  psy cho log i cal

realm, child de vel -

op ment  the o rists

have given us a

broad list of spe -

cific needs in line

with their spe cific

areas of in ter est.

So we can ap pre ci ate what Piaget had to

say  about  in tel lec tual  de vel op ment,  un der -

stand Mowrer’s the o ries of

com mu ni ca tion  and  agree  with  Kohlberg’s 

no tions about mo ral ity, even though we

16

CYC-Online July 2011  /  Issue 149



No Need to Fix Anything – 

Just Add the Missing Parts:

A Needs-Based Approach

to Child & Youth Care

Gerry Fewster


might  never  ac tu ally  in cor po rate  these

ideas into our ef forts to re spond to the

strug gles of a par tic u lar child.  But, in my

ex pe ri ence, very few of the prob lems pre -

sented  to  pro fes sion als  are  as so ci ated

with the needs iden ti fied by these

anointed ex perts.  In the vast ma jor ity of

cases, the de pri va tions occur in re la tion -

ships and ap pear as self-de feat ing pat terns 

of be hav ior that can be traced back to

what happened, or didn’t happen, during

the child’s earliest formative years.

From this per spec tive, our pri mary re -

la tion ships,  from  con cep tion  through  the

first three or four years of life be come the 

blue print that lays the foun da tion and sets

the di rec tion for the jour ney from the de -

pend ency of in fancy to the au ton omy of

adult hood.  If the es sen tial needs are ac -

knowl edged and ad dressed, the core of

this  de vel op men tal  tra jec tory  is  the  emer -

gence of the Self – an ex pand ing

ex pres sion of who we are through our re -

la tion ships with oth ers.  If not, we are left

with the pro fes sional ‘fix-it’ rem e dies we

eu phe mis ti cally  refer  to  as  “in ter ven -

tions.”  Back to square one.

But if we can iden tify the foun da tional

needs that nour ish the de vel op ment of the 

Self, per haps we can cre ate a re la tional

con text that of fers what was miss ing from

the out set.  Again, if we re view the rel e -

vant the ory and re search we will find a

mul ti tude  of  pos si bil i ties  clus tered  around

the  ori en ta tion  of  par tic u lar  the o rists.

Blend ing these no tions with a lit tle in tu -

ition, a dash of in sight and the ground-

break ing re search of Dan iel Stern, three

fun da men tal  re la tional  needs  emerge  from 

the mix.  They are as follows:



1.  The Need for Bond

If the ex perts agree about any thing it’s

that the bond be tween in fant and mother

(or  pri mary  care giver)  es tab lishes  the

foun da tions  for  the  life-long  de vel op men -

tal jour ney.  Ide ally, this pro vides the

an chor point — a con stant, lov ing and re li -

able pres ence that en sures sur vival and

pro tects against the in her ent fears of

aban don ment  and  an ni hi la tion.    When  this

pri mary bond is weak or in ter rupted, chil -

dren be come anx ious and in se cure.

Feel ing pow er less and fear ful of the un -

known, they des per ately try to con trol the 

world, using what ever means are avail able 

to them along the way.  If some one moves 

close, they will dis tance them selves.  If

oth ers move away, they will do what ever

it takes to get them back.  Their only trust 

is in their own de fenses.  Is there a child

and youth care worker any where who has 

not tried to fix this re la tional dance?  At

the ex treme end of the con tin uum, in fants 

who live with the ter ror of aban don ment

and an ni hi la tion have no op tion but to cut

them selves off from both Self and Other.

With no emo tional con tact on the in side

and no con cern for the feel ings of oth ers,

all that counts is their own sur vival.  These 

are the kids who will tor ture a kit ten to

af firm their power over life or kill a class -

mate with no sense of re morse.  The label 

may be “psy cho path” but no fix is avail able 

at this point.



2.  The Need for Breath ing Room

The pri mary bond that pro vides safety and 

se cu rity must also be the home-base from 

which the in fant is free to ex plore the ex -

ter nal world.  Chil dren who are

en cour aged to have their own thoughts

17

CYC-Online July 2011  /  Issue 149




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