Residential treatment for young children in care: a field practicum with Eagle’s Nest Youth Ranch

Abstract

This paper is an account of a Master of Social Work field practicum with Eagle’s Nest Youth Ranch (ENYR). ENYR is a Residential Stabilization Program (RSP) that provides out of home therapeutic services to children in care of the Ministry of Social Services (MSS) in Saskatchewan. The organization subscribes to the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT) and Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI). These models are used by ENYR to address the complex needs of the traumatized children in their care. Internal data was collected and analyzed on a new home opened up for young children ages 6-12, and the findings illustrated the significance of the caregiver/child relationships as a critical component to these children’s therapeutic interventions. This resulted in the development of a training module to assist front line staff at ENYR in better understanding child development, the impacts of trauma on the neurological development of the brain, and the implementation of NMT when working with children in care.