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Approaches to a Successful Home Visit
Partnership – Home visits occur in families’ homes. It is anticipated that parent/caregivers may feel more confident in their own space. Home visiting CASAs should respect their role as visitors in another person’s home and develop with parent/caregivers a partnership approach to working together.
Parental input - In the discussion of expectations, to incorporate the parent/caregiver's participation, you can clarify the boundaries and opportunities of your role. Parent/caregivers’ expectations for the visit are clarified to provide a sounder basis for supporting appropriate observation context.
Developing secure attachments - CASAs support children and work in partnership with parent/caregivers to develop secure attachments for infants/young children as the foundation for future development.
Trust and relationship building – CASAs need to have an understanding of attachment issues and training in developing trusting, supportive, and respectful relationships.
Cultural inclusion - Families from different cultures have different values and beliefs. Home visitors/CASAs should respond to the uniqueness of each family in the context of their culture. CASAs should listen to and respect families’ cultural beliefs and values and work within them, except where the safety or well-being of the children is of concern.
Linke, 2001[3]
While severing ties with past relationships is undesirable for the majority of children entering the Child Welfare System, there may be circumstances where contact with birth families is inappropriate. Our first priority is keeping children safe from harm.
Many foster parent/caregivers report children have disturbed reactions to visits with parents, such as sleeping problems, hyperactivity, anxiety or a general worsening of children’s behavior. While this may be a healthy expression of how the child feels about their situation, atypical responses or severe apprehension to birth parents may indicate difficult aspects of parent/caregiver and child relationship. This may necessitate supervised or restricted visits or even intensive therapeutic intervention to avoid compromising the child’s development.
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