Reflective Account On Child Development

Skills
My belief is every child should have the opportunity to achieve their potential so I am passionate about making sure this objective is potentially a reality. Consequential of spending years amongst children as a mum and aunt, one of my greatest attributes is the ability to adapt my practice to suit the various stages of human development. This was evident within my placements where I had no problem engaging with, and forming and maintaining appropriate relationships with families and children from 0-18 years old. Notably, maternal instinct proved useful during a contact session I was supervising where I was able to gently guide a mum on how to wind and soothe her baby properly. On the other hand, both a mother and teenager related
This knowledge came into play whilst co-working with a colleague on a Viability Assessment of a couple who wanted to raise a friend’s baby, currently in foster care. During an announced home visit it was apparent that the home conditions were extremely dirty and unhygienic, however, although this raised concern it did not mean the family’s own four children were at risk. However, after checking whether the family were known to other Local Authorities and speaking with the children’s current and previous school, I found out the family had repeated Social Care involvement, predominately in respect of two of the children who were consistently poorly behaved, left unsupervised and sent to school hungry, dirty and wearing ill-fitting clothing. With the knowledge of the short and long-term impact of neglect, we not only were obligated to make a Social Care referral for the family but advise the parents of a negative viability to ensure the best interests of all five children. The parents were obviously unhappy and contented the decision, yet eventually accepted they needed to prioritise their own