System Perspective Approach In Foster Care

Across the country, child welfare agencies struggle to respond to the many challenges that come with the role they play in making a positive impact in the lives of foster care youth and improving the outcomes of youth. These challenges are best addressed using a systems perspective approach. A system's perspective approach takes into consideration the various systems in a child's life (Crittenden, 1992; Swenson & Chaffin, 2006). This approach recognizes that the systems in the life of a foster youth contributes to the challenges that are faced by the youth and their family. This approach focuses on both the relationships between people and the environment that people create between themselves. Everything is connected. When one part changes another part is altered. When something effects an individual within a family unit, the whole family is affected. By utilizing a system's approach, services that are put in place to assist youth in foster care in overcoming challenges, assesses, addresses, and intervenes on three levels; micro, mezzo, and macro. Each of these levels first seeks to understand how systems are connected, what the impact is that comes from the interactions within the systems, and then intervenes at each

This is where professionals engage directly with the individual or family unit to promote change and explore solutions to problems. These interventions include individual and family therapy, as well as case management is often utilized to help access resources for the family. These interventions help the individual and the family develop skills to improve their system. Interventions on the micro level require collaboration between the professional and the youth and their family. The collaborative partnership explores the interactions between family members and helps develop healthy interactions to form systems that function effectively together to get needs