Research and Program Outcomes
Growing Great Kids for Orphanage Caregivers
Evaluation Brief
Training Impacts Caregiving Practices
in Filipino Orphanages and Foster Homes
Institutionalization of children is detrimental to the optimum development of a child. More often than not, institutionalized children receive caregiving services that are custodial & impersonal resulting in adverse outcomes in later life. In the Philippines, where close to 1,600 maltreated, abandoned & neglected children yearly enter the domain of child-caring institutions, the need to minimize the effects of institutionalization propelled several agencies to launch a program called Growing Great Kids (GGK).
GGK was initiated to equip caregivers of infants and young children in residential or foster placements with training and on-going, hands-on competency development. Great Kids, Inc. (GKI), a US-based organization working in the Philippines since 1996, developed the curriculum and training program with a focus on building in-country capacity to replicate the program. It was piloted in 2000 and was further contextualized in 2002. In 2002, eight trainers from 3 agencies - a foster care agency, a private orphanage, & a government home - were trained. They later trained 43 caregivers and foster parents from their respective agencies/homes for children. In 2004, the curriculum was further revised, based on caregiver observations and the need to place more emphasis on particular aspects of their skill development.
In an evaluation conducted in 2002, the trainees cited many perceived effects on their knowledge, attitudes and practices, including:
- Increased knowledge about child development.
- Increased understanding of the role of attachment relationships in future functioning and successful adoptions.
- More sensitivity to the needs of all children in their care.
- More patient in spite of environmental and personal stresses.
- Feeling more competent and creative in caregiving.
- Feeling more valued themselves due to increased awareness of the impact they have on each child’s development and future functioning/relationships.
To document changes in caregiving practices, Great Kids, Inc. made follow-up visits to 18 trainees using a caregiver observation scale. An independent evaluator also conducted interviews with caregivers who had participated in the GGK training program. The visits and interviews showed that the agencies and their caregivers have creatively re-organized the environments and have re-allocated their human resources to better respond to children’s needs. They put into place practices that clearly foster the full development of the children, two of which are, 1) assigning a permanent primary caregiver to each child during his stay with the agency; 2) and have implemented daily scheduling of one-on-one developmental activities with each child.
Other noteworthy outcomes of GGK at the caregiver level are:
- Realistic expectations based on awareness of the child’s developmental needs.
- Prompt and appropriate response to infants’ cues and signals.
- Talking to and playing with children during routines.
- Showing empathy while playing and providing care.
- Including daily developmental activities.
- Adapting care practices to suit a child’s temperament.
- Less TV time and noise.
- Children spend less time in cribs, with more floor and outdoor activities.
- Acknowledging a child’s successes with claps and praise.
- Conducting regular developmental screening to determine focus for stimulation.
All who were interviewed report that their increased understanding of nurturing care practices have had a significant positive impact on their relationships with the children in their care. Additionally, caregivers and administrators have gained a new appreciation for children being placed in adoptive homes as quickly as possible and the importance of infants forming secure attachment relationships prior to such placements. Advocacy efforts are under way to change procedures that delay adoptions.
top
|
About Great Kids, Inc.
