Planning for Family Visits
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Family Visits
When a child cannot live with their biological parents, they continue to belong to them; this isn't about ownership, rather the child being intrinsically connected to their birth family. Whether in out of home care during an interim proceeding or in long term care having regularly scheduled visits, family visits are essential to maintaining children's sense of connectedness and identity with their biological family.
The Purpose of Family Visits
Promoting the child's rights to maintain connection to people who are significant in their lives.
The purposes of family visits can be to assist with family reunification, connection with kin, managing grief and loss, promoting attachment and connection with culture or a combination of these.
The purpose of family visits will change depending on the emotional and developmental needs of the child.
Types of Family Visits
Not all family visits are face-to-face. We can use creative approaches that are more suited to developmental, emotional and geographical needs.
Considerations when planning a Family Visit
Safety: Physical and Emotional
When planning for family visits the child's emotional and physical safety is a priority. Safety is determined through:
Listening to the child.
Seeking alternative views and opinions.
Observation of the child's behaviour and interactions.
Understanding the impacts of trauma.
Understanding relevant history of the child.
Locations
The location of the family visit can have a big impact on the success of the visit.
Things to consider when planning a visit: does the environment support interaction;
is is over- or under-stimulating;
does the child feel safe there;
are there appropriate amenities available? For example, accessibility, nappy changing facilities, toilets.
Activities
Ideal activities are ones that allow family members and children to engage and that are regulatory for the child. For example, swinging, rocking or jumping. Being pushed on a swing allows a child to feel the family members presence without expectations of eye contact or conversation while regulating the child.
Best Interests of the Child
Family visits should be focused on meeting the needs of the child. This will impact decisions around:
Who is involved in family visit
The purpose of the visit
The type of family visits (phone calls, face to face)
Supervised or unsupervised
Frequency and duration of visits
The venue and activities
Collaboration in Planning and Decision Making
Research suggests that family visits are more likely to work if the family is actively involved in planning and decision making.
The aspects to consider within this are:
Why?
Adherence to plans
Feelings of value
Relationship building
Conflict resolution
Who?
Children
Family
Carers
Court orders
Caseworkers Psychologist & counsellors
Reviewing Plans Regularly
Many aspects will change over time, this will include:
Age
Developmental stage
Incidents
Life events
Family circumstances
Placement changes
Documentation
Why keep documentation?
Life story work
Evidence for court
Reduces confusion
Assists with managing conflicts
Informs decision making
What to document?
Who can attend
Plan for confirmation
Behavioural agreement
Date Time Location
A brief description of the events of the visit
Preparing the child and the family
Remain child focused.
Have photos displayed around the house.
Talk positively about family members. Include the child and family in the making of plans.
Talk about the visit, who will be attending, where it is going to be, how long they will be there and what activities may happen.
Ask scaling questions about feelings.
Talk about previous family visits.
Confirm with the family the day prior to the scheduled visit.
Confirm if there are any rules or boundaries in place for family time.
Create a repair ritual for after a visit.
Preparing yourself
Remain child focused.
Manage and reflect on your emotions.
Leave enough time to arrive on time.
Be attuned with the child.
Debrief afterwards if required.
Attunement
Attunement is how we read and respond to the communicated needs of others. Children are attuned to their caregivers and will therefore respond to their caregivers emotional state. When we are calm and strong, children are reassured and will also feel calmer and stronger.
Being aware of attunement and our own regulation and feelings when preparing for and straight after family visits we can better support children to regulate leading up to, during, and after family visits.