Strengths-Based Approach and Coping Strategies used by Parents Whose Young Children Exhibit Violent Behaviour: Collabora
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Strengths-Based Approach and Coping Strategies used by Parents Whose Young Children Exhibit Violent Behaviour: Collaboration Between Schools and Parents Marie Drolet Æ Maryse Paquin Æ Magnolia Soutyrine
Published online: 6 September 2007 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007
Abstract This research study explores the strategies adopted by 60 parents of children between 3 and 9 years of age considered to have engaged in violent behaviour, within the meaning of the Safe Schools Act (Ontario Ministry of Education, Canada, 2000). This legal framework requires parents to be involved in the decisions concerning their children. Parents’ perceptions of their involvement lead them to develop coping strategies enabling them to play a more active role in such decision making. This article analyzes their perceptions according to a strengthsbased approach and seeks to provide a mediation perspective to social work practice with families. Keywords Strengths-based approach Coping strategies Children with violent behaviours School–parent collaboration Empowerment
Introduction To prevent violence in schools, the Ontario provincial government enacted a framework of laws governing violent acts committed by school children, including those between 3 and 9 years of age. In 2000, the Code of Conduct (Ontario Ministry of Education [OME] 2000a) and the Safe Schools Act (OME 2000b) came into force. This legislative framework introduced what was essentially a ‘‘get tough’’ M. Drolet (&) School of Social Work, University of Ottawa, 1 Stewart Street, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5 e-mail: [email protected] M. Paquin Faculty of Education, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada M. Soutyrine School of Social Work, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
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approach. It was designed to establish a uniform and systematic means of applying remedial measures and to formalize an early intervention perspective in order to ensure the cooperation of parents,1 especially those with young children. Social workers associated with schools are among the best placed to promote effective school–parent communication (Dupper 2003). They have long been recognized for their promotion of parental involvement in children’s school life (Bowen 1999) and for their ecological perspective (Dupper 2003; Germain 2000). They base their interventions on an analysis of both the child’s strengths and the child’s home and school environments (Bernard 1997). Their role typically involves facilitating school–parent interactions, referring children and families to appropriate community resources (Agresta 2004; Canadian Association of Social Workers [CASW] 2002), counselling children and providing direct support to parents (Allen and Tracy 2004). Under the provincial set of regulations, social workers are expected to maximize the opportunities for schools to work together with the parents of young children who display aggressive behaviour at school. It is therefore important that these professionals clearly grasp parents’ perceptions of their r
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