Jane, aged 11
Category: Caps
Jane’s father left the family when she was 10 years old, leaving Jane with her mother Maeve and two year old brother Peter. The separation of her parents had a huge effect on Jane and she became verbally and physically aggressive towards her mother and Peter.
There was little for Jane to do outside the home and she became bored and began exhibiting signs of anti-social behaviour. Jane also has learning difficulties, which resulted in her experiencing problems making friends and becoming isolated at school.
At the request of Social Services, Caps began working with Jane. Her Caps Project Worker developed an individual programme with her, which took place weekly at the NIACRO office, looking at how Jane dealt with her anger and emotions and what she could do to improve her social skills and her relationship with her family. To build routine and confidence, the Caps team also arranged for Jane to attend a youth group in her area, as well as encouraging her attendance on the Caps summer programme. This allowed Jane to develop her social skills and improve her self-esteem levels.
Part of the Caps programme is also to support the family of the young person, so the Project worker developed another programme with Jane’s mother. It looked at how Maeve could deal productively with her anger issues and find appropriate ways of expressing and coping with her thoughts, feelings and emotions. Maeve was also invited to attend the Caps parent group, where she could interact with other parents in similar situations. To assist Maeve in developing more confidence to enhance her parenting skills, Caps also arranged for her to attend adult literacy classes.
Most importantly, Maeve, Jane and Peter needed to learn how to be a single parent family. Caps liaised with a local Women’s Centre to ensure Peter could go to crèche and allow Maeve time to attend classes, as well as working with Social Services to offer ongoing positive support for Maeve. The family also benefited from organised activity days and enjoyed two outings to Belfast Zoo and Streamvale Open Farm.
After nine months on the Caps programme, Jane is now a much happier child. She is no longer engaging in anti-social behaviour, has more confidence and is far more settled at home. Her school has reported an improvement in performance and in behaviour.
As a family, Maeve, Jane and Peter are also happier and spend more quality time together. Social Services are still engaged with the family, but on a more positive basis. There is no threat of Jane and Peter being removed from home and Maeve is continuing her studies.