Practical Provisions

Round the clock attendance : assistants have the duty to make sure that at least one of them is present in the home at any time day or night. They also must be particularly careful when a new child has been admitted as we do not know well yet that new little person and ces reactions.

Nevertheless we have to strive to not interfere with children's privacy when they need some and we must not appear as being on a suspicious watch. Real caring is more a genuine concern for the little people and to be ready any time to intervene immediately if necessary. Children must know well that they can request immediate help at any time day or night.

Live-in assistants are encouraged if they wake up in the middle of the night to go and have a look to see if everything is all right with the children.

No seclusion nor physical restraint of children is to be used except for safety in emergencies or if a child wants to injure ceself or assault other children.

Children must be left free of their movements because they know best what they feel. Thus they can withdraw any time when they feel a need for it. Similarly, when a relationship is successfully built with an assistant they will feel no need to take distance from that person : physical position of children from adults at any time is a clear indicator of success or failure when trying to help them. Even when they are totally mute like some autistic children, they can express very clearly what they need thru non-verbal clues.

When a new child arrives in the home ce is asked if ce wants to have ces own bedroom or if ce prefers to share it with an other child.

This project is a pressure-free environment : that means that children are trusted for being active when they want and for doing what they want. We believe that this feature is necessary for the cure because it helps the young person become full aware of what ces needs and drives are, therefore ce comes to experience more clearly who ce is. Then it helps the child out of confusion to gain a better sense of selfness and individuality.

Further, we believe that being pushy and stressing with children prevents building good relationships with them and therefore stands in the way of the whole curing process.

School : when children are ready for it, we help them attend school and participate in local activities like the children's hour at the library.

Neighborhood children : in order to provide the children with friends of their age outside the home, we can welcome non-disabled children belonging to the families around. This can be quite helpful for the troubled children because healthy children can be very efficient at helping them and can do even better than adults in many instances. But children from the neighborhood will be welcome only if they want to come from their own free will. We will then have to check that being with troubled or sick peers will not be too stressful for them. They would deserve some kind of reward and recognition for being of help to acknowledge the value of their assistance.

Medications for children : please see the Psychiatric Drugs for Children page.

rev. 2013