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Collaboration of Youth Social Work Professionals with Volunteers, Parents and Other Professionals

There is an increasing attention for youth social work professionals to collaborate with volunteers, parents, and other professionals. Collaboration can contribute to positive outcomes for youth. The present study contributes to understanding differences in the extent to which youth social work professionals collaborate with volunteers, parents, and other professionals. The survey was conducted with Dutch professionals working in youth care (n = 112), education (n = 67), and youth work (n = 89). Index for Interdisciplinary Collaboration was used to assess interdependence in and reflection on the collaboration process. Significant differences were found in the extent to which professionals working in different fields experience interdependence and reflection on the collaboration process with different partners. Future researchers should be aware that the degree to which professionals collaborate with others might depend on the context, work field, and the collaboration partner. Youth social work professionals and local governments can use this study to identify strong and weak collaborative partnerships in order to better organize collaboration between different partners with the final aim of improving support of young people.

Competencies for supporting a healthy sexual development of young people in care

This report describes the results of the interviews that were held with professionals, policy makers, and researchers (working in the field of sexuality and/or residential and foster care) in three countries in order to answer the following question: ‘Which competencies (i.e. knowledge, skills, and attitude) do professionals working in care need in order to support healthy sexual development of young people in care? Chapter 3 describes the characteristics of young people growing up in care. Young people in care are generally more vulnerable than their peers living in normal families since they have grown up in unsafe family environments. They are often insecurely attached, have a lack of positive role models and positive sexual experiences, have not grown up with clear norms and values concerning sexuality, have low self-esteem and little knowledge about (healthy) sexuality. This set of characteristics makes them more likely to cross their own boundaries and that of others and to make unhealthy choices with regard to sexuality. Therefore, young people in care have special needs with regard to sexuality that professionals working in care should know about and act upon. To meet the special needs of young people in care, professionals should create a safe environment and be there for the young people, in order to make them feel safe and secure again. In addition, they should act as positive role models, set boundaries, help young people to gain self-confidence, and give them space to have positive sexual experiences and to discover their own norms and values. Professionals working in care should provide sexual education that supports young people in their knowledge, skills, and attitudes concerning sexual development and teaches them to make wise and responsible decisions for themselves. Professionals need to put aside prejudices about boys and girls and treat them equally. Chapter 4 describes opportunities to start a conversation with young people in care about sex, intimacy and relationship and what professionals should teach foster parents. Opportunities to start a conversation with young people in care are: 1. When one of the boys or girls spontaneously starts to talk about sexuality; 2. When young people have discussions about boyfriends, girlfriends, or sex. 3. When young people watch clips on social media in which sexuality plays a role. Important topics to discuss are: healthy sexual behaviour, relationships, wishes, boundaries, making your own decisions, changing behaviour after regretting something, norms and values, and social media. Professionals working in foster care should teach foster parents that: 1. It is their task to speak about this topic with their foster child; 2. They should already start talking about this topic to toddlers; 3. It is normal to have difficulties talking about this topic; 4. They should not only speak about the risks of sex but also about sexual pleasure, desire, love, and respect. Chapter 5 describes the personal characteristics and general competencies that professionals working in care should have in order to support the sexual development of young people in care. These are: 1. Have a high degree of self-awareness concerning their own limits, norms and values, and how this influences the way they work, 2. Know that norms and values are dependent on time and culture, 3. Treat children, young people, and parents with respect, 4. Have a good sense of professional judgment, 5. Feel responsible for one’s actions, 6. Have knowledge about trauma theory. Chapter 6 describes what organisations can do to support healthy sexual development of young people in care. Organisations can do the following on the organizational level: 1. Provide structural resources for training and reflection, 2. Create a safe environment and reflective culture, 3. Create diversity among team members, 4. Create access to experts on the topic of sexuality, 5. Pay attention to competencies during hiring processes, 6. Have organisational and institutional policies on the topic of sexuality, 7. Have organisational structures and tools to support relationships and conversations with young people.Chapter 7 describes factors at the professional, organisational, and societal level that may contribute to sexuality-related difficulties in both residential and foster care. Some of these factors are not specifically related to residential or foster care, such as low self-efficacy of professionals, insufficient time for reflection and negative media influences. Other factors are specifically related to residential care, such as having insufficient possibilities to experiment with sexuality (in residential care) and fear of foster parents being accused (in foster care).

Safeguarding young people in care

Expectations and prospects of young adult caregivers regarding the support of professionals

There is a lack of service provision for young adult caregivers (18-25 years of age). This study aims to describe the expectations and prospects of young adult caregivers regarding support from health and education professionals. A qualitative focus group design was used. Twenty-five young Dutch adults (aged 18-25 years) who were growing up with a chronically ill family member participated in one of seven focus groups. Qualitative inductive analysis was used to identify codes and main themes. Two overarching themes with five sub-themes emerged from the focus group discussions. The overarching themes are: the 'process of approaching young adults' and the 'types of support these young adults require'. The process of approaching young adults contains the sub-themes: 'recognition, attention, and listening', 'open-minded attitude', 'reliability', and 'respecting autonomy'. The types of support this group requires contains the sub-themes: 'information and emotional support'. Health and education professionals should first and foremost be aware and listen to young adult caregivers, pay attention to them, have an open-minded attitude, respect their autonomy, and have the knowledge to provide them with information and emotional support. Further research could yield comprehensive insights into how professionals can meet these requirements and whether these results apply to male young adult caregivers and young adult caregivers not enrolled in a healthcare-related study program.

Behind the ideal person mask: a narrative inquiry into Dutch young professionals’ image (re-)construction process in the work, private and online settings

The daily lives of young professionals can be thought of as a balancing act, as they struggle with juggling their different work and nonwork roles (Allen et al., 2019). Young professionals do not only invest a considerable amount of time and energy resources in starting their careers, but also in building up a family life. As such, many want to succeed as hard-working, devoted professionals (i.e., the ‘ideal worker’), as well as become, or come across as, involved and nurturing parents (i.e., the ‘ideal parent’) (Ladge & Little, 2018). In addition, young professionals tend to increasingly experience that they need to live up to perceived expectations coming from social network sites on how to showcase oneself in the most perfect way (i.e., the media ‘ideal’) (Shah & Tewari, 2016). Accordingly, young professionals may (re)construct ‘ideal’ images of themselves in the work, private, and online domains which lean towards these ideal selves and away from their undesired selves (Leary & Kowalski, 1990). In the context of the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll & Wells, 1998), such an image (re)construction process (Dumas & Sanchez-Burks, 2015; Humberd et al., 2015; Roberts, 2005) may play a critical role in the attainment of relevant personal resources, such as pride, status and liking, on the one hand, and the loss of resources (i.e., energy resources), on the other hand.

Evaluatie Angry Young Men

Theatervoorstelling ‘Angry Young Men’ is een hip-hop voorstelling van theaterorganisatie WAT WE DOEN. De voorstelling vertelt het verhaal van twee jongens die opgroeien in een wereld waarin ze hun plek niet kunnen vinden. Die op straat hangen. Ze dromen van geld en aanzien, als het moet via de criminaliteit. Aan de hand van gesprekken (een combinatie van rap en spel) met hun moeders en verschillende professionals (docenten, jongerenwerkers, therapeuten, wetenschappers en politieagenten) kijkt het publiek terug op de levens van de jongens: de ene jongen komt om het leven bij een schietpartij. De andere jongen zit vast voor diezelfde schietpartij. Dader en slachtoffer. Ze proberen uit vinden of hun levens anders hadden kunnen lopen. En wie had het dan anders moeten doen?