> [Ron]
> Boy, you said it. The school district portrays an
> image of progressive
> compassion and active
> involvement.. But what I found is the same old
> system .
The institution... it is a well-worn path to help
a community habitually keep not only its' operations
running smoothly, but these institutions are in
contact with other institutions.
A true example, at the supervisor's meeting on
Monday I asked about 'Risk Assessments'. These are
forms that need to be done twice a month, filed, and
sent to the residents PO, Caseworker, and/or parent(s)
[any parties immediately involved in the placement of
the youth at the placement facility]. These 'Risk
Assessments' are assessed by the youth and a staff
member on the residents unit where the resident
resides while in placement. These 'Risk Assessments'
have boxes to be either checked or left blank besides
a statement. The staff has a column to check and the
resident has a column of boxes to check, each besides
these statements. These statements either say
'Physical Aggression', 'Suicidal Thoughts', 'Suicidal
Thoughts that are Planned', 'Suicidal Thoughts that
are Not Planned', 'Sexual Fantasies', and the list
goes-on to include approximately 40 statements that
would be considered a contribution or actual Risk
considering the behavioral problems the child already
expresses.
Ok, now the institutional aspect of this piece of
paper called 'Risk Assessment'. I asked at the
meeting (since I'm a new supervisor) do we need to
keep having the boxes checked even if the resident
didn't have any of these 'Risks' in a two week span
(remember these forms are filled out twice a month).
The director in charge of all the supervisors said
yes, we check the boxes even if they had a history of
these events. I said these forms would not be useful
to know whether or not the resident actually
participated with any one or more of these events
since we keep filling in the same boxes if nothing has
changed, even though the resident didn't participate
with any one of the events in the two week span. The
director said the reason we must keep filling out
these boxes is because when an outside oversight
agency comes in to check these forms if a box is not
checked and other forms indicate that the child did
participate with one of these events, then the forms
don't match up and the placement facility I work at is
given a poor rating. This outside agency is called
DPW (I don't know what it stands for but I believe it
is a department run out of the state government).
So, you see, even though the child did not do any
of these behaviors that can be checked off on the
'Risk Assessment' form, we need to keep checking them
off to cover our butts from an outside state agency.
These forms do not go against the child, but these
forms are useless in letting us know if the child was
or wasn't involved in one of those events during the
two week span. It is difficult to make sure all the
staff know if any one of the those events happened or
not, due to the high turn over rate and thus,
knowledgeable, competent staff that even understands
what this form is. It takes about 5-6 months for a
staff to understand what's going on at this placement
facility. After that a staff member may have
questions, but the staff will still be able to keep
the place in order as a leader on the unit. So, this
seemingly simple piece of paper that is supposed to
update anybody as to what the child may have done in a
two week span, is not actually for that. It is a form
filled out in a certain way to protect our placement
facility from inconsistencies. The form is useless.
It doesn't say a thing. Yet, the institution demands
this form, even if the form has become meaningless.
This particular form is finds a web of inclinations
placed upon it not only from this private institution
I work at, but the state government is involved, too,
in keeping this meaningless form alive.
rainy spring day,
SA
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