Social workers’ experiences of using the narrative model to talk to children about why they are in care and other sensitive issues

Abstract

Children entering care often experience considerable uncertainty as they struggle with questions about why they had to leave their birth family, whose fault it was and whether or not they will ever return. To help in these fraught situations, the authors developed the narrative model for talking to children about sensitive issues in a way that promotes psychological safety and healthy adjustment. The details were published in a previous edition of this journal (Coman, et al., 2016). The model has now been fine-tuned after trial applications and feedback from parents, carers and professionals. This article reports the findings of one part of that evaluation: a survey of social workers experienced in using the model. The results show that they acknowledge the importance of helping children understand why they are in care but find it difficult to talk to them about it. They report that the narrative model increases their confidence in undertaking this task and benefits the children by giving them an explanatory narrative and enhancing the stability of their care placements.