Exchanging knowledge to make a box of ordinary magic tricks: Resilience promotion made easier for adults involved with disadvantaged children

Background

Despite the very best efforts of parents, foster carers, community workers and statutory professionals some children are never going to have a good-enough childhood. They start off life on a trajectory of abuse and/or neglect, which never reaches a threshold that makes early removal from their circumstances unequivocal. However, there will always be some children for whom decision making is too complex for this categorical response and whose domestic situation, whether at home with their birth parents or in the care system, remains in fairly chronic crisis.

Working at this ‘hard end’ of children’s services can be bleak and depressing. Yet there is always hope. Over the past decade a huge body of empirical and theoretical research has been conducted into the concept of resilience – how some children seem to rise above adversity, against the odds. The efforts of parents, foster carers, community workers and statutory professionals can help enormously in making a difference for individual children, as well as achieving shifts in family, community and professional systems. Masten’s, one of the most influential writers in this area, has referred to this as ‘ordinary magic’. Her argument is that resilience encaptures a set of psychosocial processes which can seem extraordinary, yet are rooted in everyday activities. The idea here is that the little things in life can have huge consequences, and that once resilient processes are understood they no longer seem extraordinary. There is then nothing particularly esoteric about resilience: it is in fact, borrowing from Harry Potter – a kind of ‘muggle magic’.

There is a complex debate about how theoretically robust the concept of resilience actually is. There are vast numbers of academic research papers describing the factors that enhance resilience. However, there is very little material available that actually demonstrates how adults should practically go about helping children achieve it, and what practices should be prioritised. Consequently, both locally and nationally, adults attempting to help disadvantaged children are not necessarily doing the most helpful things.

Project Outline

This project drew on university and partner expertise to produce an evidence-based, practical, user-friendly ‘box of ordinary magic tricks’ to help adults involved with disadvantaged children enhance their resilience. The concept of a resilient therapy magic box is, following Masten’s, an attempt at making explicit the kind of ordinary magic that needs to happen to foster resilience in disadvantaged children.

A network of local parents, foster carers, community workers and statutory professionals interested in consulting to the project and helping develop the ‘box of ordinary magic tricks’ was set up. Workshop sessions for parents, foster carers community workers and statutory professionals were set up through AMAZE, YAC, social services, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services etc. The workshops was meant to ensure that the box of ordinary magic tricks is really helpful and practical.

The project aimed to enhance links between parents, foster carers, community workers and statutory professionals. Drawing on their research, service user and practice experience, the project partners undertook the development work necessary to produce a user-friendly highly-illustrated ‘box of ordinary magic tricks’ for use by adults involved with disadvantaged children.

Project Partners

*Dr Angie Hart, Principal Lecturer, INAM

*Dr Derek Blincow. Director of Children and Families, South Downs Health, and Consultant Child Psychiatrist.

*Kim Aumann. Director, AMAZE – voluntary group for parents of disabled children

*Erica Smith, Wordsmith Designs and/or Jon Higham Digital Illustrator.

*Helen Thomas, Family Therapist, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services

*Petra Sumner, Social worker, fostering team