Addressing many of the determinants such as income and housing (Mikkonen and Raphael, 2010) is an effective way to address the prevention of mental health problems in younger children. These determinants are linked (based on class discussion) and are the underlying reasons for maltreatment and neglect leading to increased mental health problems in young children and subsequent placement in foster care. While this is significant, this paper highlighted the growing number of children already residing in foster care with increasing mental health needs. Early childhood development directly affects young children, especially those in foster care. Current initiatives being implemented attempt organizational change, but occur at an interpersonal level and fail to address previously identified gaps. As with my experience at the Children's Cottage, the interventions were on an interpersonal level. Although the caregivers had early childhood training, many did not know how to provide adequate mental health care to the foster children attending the facility. In-depth training on the complex issues facing children in foster care, such as abuse and neglect, has been neglected. Therefore, in my opinion, building on these interventions and applying them at an organizational level allows the reduction and/or resolution of these gaps. The organizational level has the capacity to promote health on a larger scale (K. Raine, personal communication, November 15, 2013). Many families use organizations like Cottage, making it a great opportunity to collectively change/improve the mental health of all foster children. One strategy with the potential to achieve this is through a collaborative approach focused early... middle of the paper ... used by the speech-language pathologist could produce numerous beneficial outcomes (Wotherspoon, O'Neill-Laberge, Rafaat, et al., 2008). Additionally, “An “a-ha” moment for us was realizing that the strategies I promote as a speech-language pathologist (e.g., observe, wait, listen, model, expand) also promote stronger relationships because they encourage interaction with the child ” (Wotherspoon, O'Neill-Laberge, Rafaat et al., 2008, p. 14). Reshaping mental health problems in terms of development, as identified by the speech-language pathologist, helped in communication and the relationship between parents and children (Wotherspoon, O'Neill-Laberge, Rafaat, et al., 2008). This demonstrates that organizational change, through early childhood development collaboration, has the capacity to help young foster children prevent exacerbation of mental health problems and achieve mental wellbeing..
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