Using Secure Base: assessing prospective foster carers and adopters Mary Beek

Sam and Linda: secure base caregiving in all five dimensions

Providing a secure base Foster carers and adopters are a key resource for looked after children. Their tasks are complex and demanding. Secure Base can provide a framework for understanding strengths and limitations.

Using Secure Base in the assessment process Part of routine information gathering. Strengths based: evidence of capacities within each dimension. Can highlight need for training/support. Can contribute to decision making

Availability: caregiving tasks ‘Be there’ for the child – physically and emotionally (as an individual, a couple, a family) Provide nurture/reassurance and support exploration. Show this child that they are reliable and trustworthy

Availability: issues for assessment Evidence of: Receiving/providing secure base caregiving (specific examples). Openness and trust in existing close relationships. Time and energy available/implications for financial support. Story that is coherent, makes sense Acknowledges positives and negatives Can describe what helped/helps them when they were upset Can describe what helped/helps them to feel confident to ‘explore’ – learn, play, enjoy

Sensitivity: caregiving tasks Think about what the child is thinking and feeling. Recognise and discuss feelings Manage their own feelings Support child in experiencing and managing full range of feelings.

Sensitivity: issues for assessment Evidence of: Thinking and talking about own feelings and behaviours – and making the connection. Reflecting on range of feelings and behaviour at different life stages – especially adolescence Capacity to stand in the shoes of others.

Acceptance: caregiving tasks Accept and enjoy child for who they are, strengths and difficulties. Accept themselves: and model this for child. Value and promote ethnic and cultural identities. Promote education and talents AND that it’s OK not to win/be successful.

Acceptance: issues for assessment Evidence of: Positive self-esteem Capacity to reflect on times of low self-esteem. Acceptance and enjoyment of difference: culture, class, religion, sexuality, ethnicity etc. Willingness to support diverse talents and interests.

Co-operation: caregiving tasks Form co-operative alliance with child. Set firm boundaries/negotiate within them Promote choice and effectiveness. Promote developing autonomy. and that young people may make inadvisable choices

Co-operation: issues for assessment Evidence of: Understanding and managing own needs regarding control/co-operation. Resilience and ‘stickability.’ Capacity to be appropriately assertive/co-operative - within assessment process - within partnership/family/community

Family membership: caregiving tasks Include new and diverse family members. Give message: you are fully included in this family, AND you can connect, at a comfortable level, with your birth family.

Family membership: issues for assessment Evidence of: Firm but flexible boundaries around the family Open communication with other systems – schools community groups etc. Acceptance that ambivalence/mixed feelings – will emerge and re-emerge for all children and young people. Evidence /examples of Firm but flexible roles in the family –is there a role for the child? Acceptance of child’s history / empathy towards the birth family ‘Communicative openness’ -David Brodzinsky

Using Secure Base in decision making Most foster carers and adopters will have strengths in some dimensions, and some limitations in others. Additional training and support might fill these gaps. If little evidence of strengths in any dimension, this might contribute to a negative recommendation.

Further uses of assessment information Thinking, feeling and behaviour within each dimension can be affected by the needs and difficulties of the individual child. Dimensions can be re-visited as part of matching, support and supervision.

Using Secure Base: understanding the needs of children in placement and their caregivers Gillian Schofield

Using the Secure Base to understand the needs of children in placement Secure base dimensions Trust Managing feelings Self-esteem Feeling effective Belonging / family membership In the context of Appropriate development for this child’s chronological age and stage Actual development, emotional age and stage of this child Evidence The child’s behaviour in the family, with friends, at school Potential links to thoughts and feelings

0-18 months: implications for matching and placement of the Secure Base dimensions Trust: capacity to seek and accept comfort from selected caregivers, explore and enjoy play, have fun. Managing feelings: capacity to show range of emotions, to wait for attention, for early regulation of feelings / behaviour Self-esteem: capacity to express pleasure at achievements, approach others with confidence, manage set backs Feeling effective: capacity to make choices, persist in activity, co-operate. Belonging / family membership: capacity to relax/recognise /respond warmly to family members

18 months – 4 years: implications for matching and placement of the Secure Base dimensions Trust: capacity to seek comfort appropriately when stressed? (e.g. signal their needs c.f. shut down on feelings; cling, demand, resist comfort; helpless; controlling) Managing feelings: capacity to express and name a range of feelings, regulate feelings and behaviour, understand that other people have different thoughts/ feelings that link to their behaviour Self-esteem: capacity to enjoy success and praise - and to cope with set-backs; capacity to take risks / try new things Feeling effective: persistence in completing tasks, shows competence and confidence, plays with others Belonging / family membership: understanding family

5 –10 years: implications for matching and placement of the Secure Base dimensions Trust: Capacity to use an attachment figure (s) as a secure base, to appropriately approach / trust adults outside the family, to manage increasingly important peer relationships Managing feelings: show range of feelings/ reflect on their own and others feelings, empathy –social emotions e.g. shame and guilt Self-esteem: has a positive but realistic self-esteem Feeling effective: feels competent, knows and accept the rules, can co-operate Belonging / family membership: developing a coherent sense of family membership / sense of who they are /their history, where they belong / norms and values.

10 –18+ years: implications for matching and placement of the Secure Base dimensions Trust: capacity to manage autonomy and closeness with adults, peers, partners (for mid /older adolescents); lack of destructive defensive strategies; Managing feelings: capacity for more sophisticated self-regulation of emotions/behaviour (e.g. not using aggression, drugs, self harm); capacity to reflect / mentalise /plan; Self-esteem: capacity for positive feelings about self; coping with set-backs; managing school /performance challenges Feeling effective: competence /engagement in constructive activities; can negotiate; persistence / hopefulness Belonging / family membership : coherent sense of family belonging /connection; pro-social norms

Secure Base interview: e. g Secure Base interview: e.g. child’s capacity to trust -caregiver’s capacity to be available NB Aim is to encourage narratives of specific incidents –language can be adapted to the child / the caregiver Can you think of a particular time when he/she was upset or worried about something? What did (child) do – just before, during and afterwards? Why do you think he/she behaved in this particular way? What do you think he/she was thinking and feeling? What did you do at this time? How did that work out? Was this your usual approach when he she is upset or worried or have you found other ways of helping? How did (the child’s) behaviour at this time make you feel?

Trust / availability analysis - child attachment patterns /strategies and caregiver responses Helpful to be aware of the different secure and insecure patterns /strategies for managing anxiety/relationships Parents may have rejected the child’s emotional demands responded unpredictably been frightening or frightened Children will have developed different defensive strategies to cope with each type of caregiving How is the foster carer /adopter able to respond to different strategies /behaviours in the child?

0-18 months: analysis of the caregiver’s capacity / need for support to be available Evidence Availability is being provided emotionally and practically in ways that recognise this child’s age / stage / needs – from fretful newborn with minute to minute responsiveness to demanding toddler Caregiver’s understanding of the caregiving cycle-the importance of the child’s capacity to trust and the potential therapeutic impact of their availability-appreciating signs of progress Barriers to availability in the caregiver's thinking, feelings, family and community environment?

18 months – 4 years: analysis of the caregiver’s need for support for sensitivity / attunement Evidence Content and language of the interview Description of the pre-school child’s behaviour References to mental states / emotions How the child is being described e.g. caregiver’s curiosity / flexibility about what may be in the child’s mind Capacity to link thoughts and feelings to behaviour –in the child and in themselves Language that suggests warmth, empathy, sympathy Responsiveness Not just understanding and mentalization - also use of understanding to guide their caregiving responses to the child Barriers to sensitive attunement and responsiveness?

5-10 years: analysis of the caregiver’s need for support for acceptance / building self-esteem Evidence Caregiver’s understanding of self-esteem and its importance to children in this age group / the child in their care Caregiver’s acceptance of the child / promoting positive activities Barriers to accepting this child /building this child’s self- esteem?

5-10 years: analysis of the caregiver’s need for support for co-operation Evidence Caregiver’s understanding of the need for children in this age group to feel effective and competent in a range of settings – at home, at school Caregiver’s understanding of how the child in their care is managing or not managing challenges, tasks. Extent to which the caregiver is able to support the child’s autonomy alongside learning the ‘rules’ / learning to co-operate

11-18 years: analysis of the caregiver’s need for support to provide family membership/ belonging Evidence Caregiver’s perspective on the young person’s family memberships / connections in the foster / adoptive family and birth family The caregiver’s support for the young person in managing that complexity e.g. coherent /incoherent narratives about the past; contact, including social media; anticipated futures Potential role for external support for the caregiver, the young person, other family members, the birth family?