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Introduction to Shared Care
This course session covers:
- The theory of secondary attachments
- The effects that missing someone can have on the child
- The every day practicalities of being a key person and how you can be supported
Length of session:
The session should take between 30 to 40 minutesYou will need:
Each participant will need a pen and a note book or a printed copy of the Session 2.1 Shared care task sheet - Available in the further reading section- 00:09
- Children can form more than one attachment.
- 00:12
- There is often a hierarchy with Mum
- 00:14
- as the primary caregiver,
- 00:16
- backed up by secondary attachments with other close
- 00:19
- caring, familiar adults, that the child may turn to
- 00:23
- if Mum is not available.
- 00:25
- In the nursery setting,
- 00:27
- shared care give a similar hierarchy of carers.
- 00:31
- The key person is the first person the child would chose
- 00:33
- to turn to, but if they're not available,
- 00:36
- they're content to have their needs met by another close,
- 00:39
- caring, familiar practitioner.
- 00:41
- No key person can be with the child all of the time
- 00:45
- and of course that's absolutely true,
- 00:48
- key persons in the nursery have times
- 00:51
- when they have to attend meetings,
- 00:53
- if they work on a shift basis,
- 00:55
- they'll be times when they're not in the nursery
- 00:57
- to greet the child or not in the nursery
- 00:59
- when the child is going home,
- 01:01
- and then of course, sometimes when they're on holiday
- 01:04
- or away sick.
- 01:07
- But it's absolutely not necessary, and wouldn't even
- 01:10
- be possible, or desirable, for the key person
- 01:13
- to be with their child all of the time.
- 01:15
- No parents can manage that,
- 01:17
- no parent spends 24 hours a day with their child
- 01:21
- and those times when the parent is away from the child,
- 01:25
- or when the key person is away from the child,
- 01:27
- a very important opportunity for the child to make
- 01:29
- different relationships.
- 01:32
- Separation distress is a rational
- 01:34
- emotional response to being separated
- 01:36
- from the person you've become dependent upon,
- 01:39
- for meeting your emotional needs
- 01:41
- and providing you with security.
- 01:44
- To minimize this and provide the most effective key person
- 01:47
- approach, it's best to work with key people
- 01:50
- organized in pairs,
- 01:51
- or with a back up person that the child knows
- 01:54
- and is familiar with and who knows that child well.
- 01:58
- It is important we recognize the impact
- 02:01
- and distress that missing someone can have on the child
- 02:04
- and minimize the potential for this
- 02:06
- by organizing a key person approach
- 02:08
- to ensure wherever possible, that a child doesn't feel
- 02:11
- abandoned by their special person.
- 02:15
- Shared care is also about sharing the care
- 02:18
- when you're available and working as a team.
- 02:20
- It is about being aware of each other
- 02:23
- and each other's key children
- 02:25
- and working together so that you can anticipate
- 02:28
- when and how you can support each other
- 02:30
- to provide each child with security and caring
- 02:33
- interactions they need throughout the day.
- 02:37
- It's also important that parents have a feeling
- 02:39
- of trust and wellbeing, knowing that their child
- 02:42
- is understood and cared about throughout the day,
- 02:45
- even if their key person can't be there all the time.
- 02:48
- At drop off and pick up times, it's important
- 02:51
- that the practitioner, sharing information
- 02:53
- about their child, really does care and know about them.
- 02:57
- I leave him in the day when--
- 02:59
- Having a paired person approach,
- 03:00
- or back up person can really make this easier.
