https://www.cognitoforms.com/CASA7OfIdaho/Session1TrainingEvaluation
Don't worry if you aren't comfortable with certain things yet or don't know the answers yet, I just want a way to track your progress through the course! :)
View the video “Interviewing Skills: Meeting with a Parent”. On your own, write down as many positive aspects of the household and positive interaction with Mrs. Bleux that you observe. You will not turn anything in.
Take a few moments to think about your own family. Write a sentence or two describing a strength or a weakness in your family (either your family of origin or your current family).
You know the question about whether the glass is half full or half empty? In your CASA/GAL volunteer work with families, you can ask yourself a similar question, focusing on the positive or the negative. If you look at a family through a “resource lens,” you focus on identifying the strengths. If you look through a “deficit lens,” you focus on the problems. All families have strengths and weaknesses.
Part 1: Read the information that follows about the differences between using a resource lens and using a deficit lens when working with families.
Part 1: Just as all families have strengths, at some point all families encounter challenges. Families unable to cope well are often isolated from resources, face a variety of challenges and are stressed by numerous problems that compound one another. Stress can become crisis— the family moves, a parent is laid off, childcare arrangements fall through, a new step family comes into being, the car breaks down, a child becomes ill, the rent goes up and so on.
The families you will encounter in your work as a CASA/GAL volunteer are, by definition, under stress and likely to be in crisis. Their involvement in the child welfare system, and the perceived threats to their parental rights serve to increase their stress. Some families cope well and adapt effectively to stress and crisis; others do not and become overwhelmed.
These families may develop patterns that lead to and then perpetuate abuse and…