Where can I mourn? Psychodynamic contributions to working in residential child care

ABSTRACT

Loss permeates the experience of being placed in residential child care, yet residential workers are rarely trained to work with young people who are grieving the loss of family and home. This article will provide an overview of psychodynamic theories of mourning, and will discuss how grief work can be facilitated for children and youth in residential child care.

KEYWORDS:

• Residential child care
• loss
• mourning
• grief work

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Varda R. Mann-Feder

Varda R. Mann-Feder is Professor of Applied Human Sciences at Concordia University and the founding Director of the Graduate Diploma in Youth Work. She is known for her research on ageing out of care and her advocacy on behalf of youth in placement. She worked for many years as a consulting psychologist in the English Child Welfare System in Montreal where she provided intervention training to front line workers across a range of domains. She is privileged to serve as the advisor to the first alumni of care organisation in Quebec. At the international level, she is an active member of INTRAC, the International Network on Transitions to Adulthood from Care, and of the Editorial Board of FICE, the International Federation of Educative Communities.