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6.6 Placement

Placement represents a major life crisis for the child and his/her parents. All that is familiar to the child is now totally changed. No matter how well the prepared the child is for placement or re-placement (regardless of age), he/she will still be scared, confused or anxious. Great care must be taken to recognize this and take active steps to manage the crisis and minimize the trauma to the child and parent. Time spent managing this is well spent in reducing the pain, anxiety and disorganization for the child. Therefore, once the child is placed or re-placed, it is imperative that the placing worker follow the guidelines below in order to reassure the child and help the child with separation and loss.

• Take as much time as is necessary to work with the child. Spend time in the placement with the child. Demonstrate an interest in where the child will sleep and get a sense of the physical layout of the home
• Spend time talking with the new caregiver and the child to attempt to resolve issues or questions which might make the child's adjustment easier. Household rules, meal times and chores change from household to household. Information about those rules can help a child adjust to the new setting. In addition, the child's new school should be discussed. Even though these issues have been talked about prior to the placement, it is important to review them again in case the child has forgotten or has additional questions.
• The worker should facilitate discussion with the child about his/her feelings about the placement and separation from his/her family.
• The worker who places the child, calls the child in the new home within 24 hours of placement if possible and if age appropriate, to discuss how the child is feeling, reassure the child that he/she is cared for, help the child to talk about the things he/she is anxious about, let the child know when he/she will be visiting his/her parent, observe the interaction between the child and caregiver, and discuss with the caregiver how the child is doing.
• The permanency worker visits the child within 72 hours of initial placement and all subsequent replacements.
• The parent-child visit must occur within the first five days of the initial placement to minimize the feelings of separation and loss. Parent- child visits should occur weekly there after.

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