A psychologist in a centre who follows children placed in care from O to 3 years decided to suggest a therapeutic group for the children and their foster family. As the children are too young to be sent to school, the relationship with their foster parent is strong but lead to the isolation of the foster parent and make the separation difficult. Without this separation it makes difficult for the child to be secure and act as a unique individual and develop a concept of self.
Those kinds of strong relationship appear because the child grew up in an early parental deprivation environment characterised by the fostering. This life-event expose the child to a predominance of the “loss object”, which is the fear of losing someone who have performed good deeds. It also led to an alteration of the process “separation-individuation”, in which the separation refers to an internal process of mental separation from the mother, while individuation refers to a developing self-concept. If the child doesn’t go through those stages, it can lead to psychological difficulties when becoming an adult. In these cases, the foster parent replaces the mother in a symbolic way. So, here the idea behind the therapeutic group is to revitalise the developmental dynamic of the child. It allows him to live experiences of “separation-individuation” in a secure environment which reduce the fear of “loss object”.
The group is composed of two spaces, one for the foster parents where they can talk together and exchange about their work and their experiences. The second one is a space of activity for the children. The two spaces are not separated, it makes possible for the children to communicate with the foster parents. The psychologist act in both of those spaces and is there as much as for the children than the adults. There are only two rules that everyone has to respect. The first one is that each foster parent is responsible for their child. The second one is that everyone need to be there every time. The group was reunited 1 time per month for 11 months, each time the group met for 1 hour and a half. During the meetings, the point was for the children to interact with each other’s without being tied up to the foster parent.
At the end, the group had a positive impact on the children. They learned to be by themselves, while doing a separation with their foster parent, and act as an individual. So, they gain a sense of individuation. The group also is doing some good to the foster parents who got out of their isolation and could communicate about their work with each other.
Useful Words:
Foster family: famille d’accueil
Loss object: perte de l’objet (terme issu de la psychanalyse)
A deed: une action
Parental deprivation: carence parentale
Revitalise : redynamiser
Reference : T. Caron (2018). Le groupe comme processus de séparation-individuation. Le journal des psychologues, n°358, 68-73.