With Alert4you, youth care professionals help childcare practitioners recognise children who need additional support and guide these children and their parents. This can prevent children’s problems from worsening and the need for more intensive support.
Childcare practitioners develop positively
For the study, policy officers, childcare practitioners, youth care specialists and parents in Amersfoort, Amsterdam and Hoogeveen were asked about their experiences with Alert4you. The study shows that childcare practitioners develop positively in four core competencies: knowledge of child development, dealing with conspicuous behaviour, seeking outside help and dealing with parents.
The childcare practitioners also become more self-confident. They ask better questions and realise that asking for help is not a sign of weakness. They dare to try new approaches. They also learn to ‘observe’ more effectively and interpret the information they obtain. They also engage in self-reflection.
Working together on the job
According to Jitty Runia of the Netherlands Youth Institute, the equal partnership between youth care professionals and childcare practitioners is the strength of Alert4you. “I hear from childcare practitioners that they appreciate working together on the job and not being told from above what they should do. Moreover, it adds value that they learn to look at a child in a different way. So not: What problem does this child have? But: What question does this child have? Another important aspect of Alert4you is that parents are full partners and share responsibility with the professionals.”
Read the study here.