Foster Care Observation

This week I continued with my Foster Child Welfare Training. It was a busy week to say least. There is a great deal that goes into child welfare. It makes me nervous, thinking about all of the things that I will be responsible for as foster care worker. We did a number of activities this week that were geared towards strengths. The activity that sticks out the most to me is the one where had the opportunity to observe a kindergarten classroom. At first I thought this was going to be a fun exercise, because I was able to interact with children. My trainer split our class into groups and instructed us to only observe the children in their environments. We were also instructed to pick a particular child of focus and see if we could figure

The most important thing it taught me was patients. I was extremely eager to label this child as shy and quiet, upon my first impression. However, by the end of my observation of the child my mind had changed, because I took the time to observe and really notice his non-verbal behavior and I found his strengths. This was an eye opener for me, because it made me sit back and think how easy it is to label a child or misdiagnose a child. This exercise builds a confidence in me and that made me feel good. It made me feel good because I can actually put my social skills into practice. I know it was only an observation training exercise, but it made me feel like I can really make a difference in someone life. I can do this by just listening and observing. I told my field supervisor about this exercise and she stated that it is important to just sit back and observe. She said that she learns a great deal about her foster children and parents just by observing them in their environment. She also stated that within 30 minutes she can pick up on who has the dominant behavior and who may be a little more passive. As a social worker it does make me nervous just thinking about having the ability to pick up on things like this. The exercise we did in training helped me get over that nervousness and I am excited about using my social work skills in the

Competency 1 addresses: Demonstrating Ethical and Professional Behaviors. Practice behavior 1.2 focuses on using reflection and self-regulation to manage personal values and maintain professionalism in practice situations. Learning how to recognize the non-verbal behavior in children is crucial. This was particularly true when I was observing the kindergarten student. My first impression of him was that he was a shy little boy, but upon further observation I changed my mind. Further observation of the student leads me to believe that he was a confident and fun