Farm social work varies greatly from day to day. From training parents in current theories of discipline and child development, to evaluating the appropriateness of a case for ingression, to intervening with a child who is behaviorally and emotionally out of control, the situations Farm social workers face every day are far from easy. We have made great strides in the last 10 years - we have formalized our rules and discipline code, put in place policies and procedures for the social work department, initiated Character Counts in the school and homes to help teach values, and brought the Boys Town Common Sense Parenting curriculum to the Farm to help all Farm adults learn a common theory and practice of discipline. The social work team has spent alot of energy on overhauling the social work training process so that it is more than orientation to the department and daily tasks of social work. We now have training on de-escalation of intense situations (for all volunteers), parent support and empowerment, child development, basic case management, assessment, implementation of problem-solving strategies in work with kids, and many other topics. This is an exciting time to be at the Farm, with many changes and improvements happening. Current duties and projects include:

Youth Development and Support

Case Management
We ensure that our children’s physical, emotional, spiritual, medical and educational needs are met through weekly meetings with houseparents, as a team, and with direction. Social workers meet monthly with teachers to monitor behavior and progress, and with clinic staff as needed. Significant incidents are documented and discussed with the Direction-Social Work team, and monthly and yearly evaluations help us focus on our children’s progress in all areas of life. Social workers also investigate cases of abused and neglected children and assess the appropriateness of bringing these children to live on the Farm. Within the last 13 months, we have brought six children into the Farm: a family of five siblings ranging in age from 8 months to 12 years, and a 14-month old boy.

Character Counts
We work with the school in implementing this pillar-based character formation program, believing that when the entire Farm uses the same six words to describe good character, our children are better able to understand and apply these values to their daily lives.

Keeping Kids Safe
Acknowledging both the histories of our children and the realities of this world, we are petitioning the Program Committee to support us in initiating a sexual abuse prevention program. The Keeping Kids Safe curricula are developmentally appropriate for children aged 3-6, 7-12 and 13-18 and teach children both the right they have to demand respect for their bodies and concrete strategies for self-protection. We are working to translate the curriculum and write a proposal to our US Board to bring this program to the Farm.

Adult Support and Formation

Parent Support Group
Recognizing the years of experience and wisdom our parents bring to the Farm, we have begun a parent support group with the goal of empowering the parents to support each other in the daily mission of raising our children. Parents and tias have the opportunity once a month to share with each other their daily struggles and triumphs, and offer each other support and advice. Two social workers facilitate the group, ensuring that group members maintain respect and confidentiality and offering advice based in the Common Sense Parenting model used by all Farm adults.

Mission Formation
We know that in order to raise our children in a loving, Christian manner, we must first attend to our own personal and spiritual needs. This March, a committee was formed consisting of two social workers (Daniel and Vivian), Sor Margarita (who leads Farm spiritual life) and two parents who have developed a year-long plan to deepen our sense of mission and apply it to our vocation to caring for orphan children. These sessions also meet monthly and are led by committee members as well as invited guest speakers. While the parents and tias are required to attend, all Farm adults are invited to participate in this formation.

Arturo and Celena Beranda, a Mexican-American couple living in Chicago who are family consultants, will return in June to offer sessions on moral and spiritual development. Through their witness as a strong, Catholic, Latin American married couple and through their workshops, Arturo and Celena support us in our understanding of how to better form ourselves personally and in our roles as caregivers, spouses, and community members. They work both in groups and individually with our houseparents, tias, ayudantes, volunteers and children to offer general formation, individual case consultation, spiritual direction and personal development. The opportunity to share with and learn from an experienced Latin American couple is invaluable.

Common Sense Parenting
We believe that we can best educate and discipline our children if we, the adult community are trained in and use the same method. The Boys Town Common Sense Parenting model has proven to be a good tool for training our adult staff in educating our children to prevent problem behaviors, remediate existing problems and teach children self-control. We have also developed a more extensive workshop on managing intense situations which is taught to all adults and for the first time this year, will be offered to the Honduran teaching staff. CSP continues to be taught to all new volunteers, houseparents, tias and ayudantes.

Social Work Orientation and Training
While our social workers come with much life experience, energy and love for our children, most do not come with formal training in social work. To that end, we have developed a comprehensive orientation and training program to help new social workers not only orientate themselves to the department and tasks of Farm social work, but also learn basic principles of case management, family support, work with abused and neglected children, and group facilitation.