Children and Family Breakdown - The Tearfund International ...

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CHILDREN AT RISK GUIDELINES
Framework for Good Practice
In this section we look at how the general Child Development Framework
can be applied in family support projects.
PRINCIPLE 1 BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
1.1 Priority is given to building relationships – with the
child, family, community, organisation or institution
and between agencies.
■ As family programmes are usually a response to broken relationships between
family members – be it adult to adult or adult to child – listening and building
relationships must be key. Abuse of children, especially within families, can distort
their perceptions of what relationships can be, so healing relationships is essential
at all levels.
■ Furthermore, churches and Christian organisations must practically build quality
relationships – both interpersonal and with outside agencies – and thereby
demonstrate the priority of relationships.
PRINCIPLE 2 PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES
2.1 Parental responsibilities towards children are encouraged, as is the
development of a caring, child-friendly community.
■ Where parental relationships exist the emphasis must be on ensuring
that, if possible, they do not break down. Where relationships have
broken down, then the emphasis must either be on restoration or
providing alternative good adult to child relationships that show trust and love.
This may be possible through grandparents, aunts and uncles or an older sibling.
Outside the family, long-term supportive relationships with an adult carer can be
helpful. Multiple and frequently changing carers should be avoided where possible.
■ In a stable church community, the importance of the community’s responsibility
to meet the needs of the child must be emphasised and modelled by the leadership.
‘Where family is destroyed, how and where are the energies for social change to be focused sufficiently
to be effective?’
A South African woman quoted in McFayden (1996)
VOLUME 1: CHILDREN AND FAMILY BREAKDOWN
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