The co-author of the newly released book "Behavior with a Purpose" has worked to help minimize all of the misses.
"The reason we chose to write this book was that we just felt there was a lot of misunderstanding of foster youth and sometimes behavior challenges that they offer," Joyce said. "We thought that maybe we could add some strength-based ways to deal with children's' behavior challenges."
The book, co-written by Dr. Richard Delaney, targets foster families and foster children helping each better understand the other. The book explains reasonings behind unsettling or baffling behavior and offers proven tactics to help foster home placements be more successful.
"I think there is a lot of new information here that people may not have heard before," said Tammy Swift, a communications specialist for Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota. "(Joyce) has been down in the trenches and he knows what so many of these families and kids are going through. Plus, he also has just sort of a compassionate approach. I think the whole idea of looking beneath the behavior and figuring out what the true issue is, is so important and he does that so well when working with foster families and foster children."
Joyce, a Jamestown native, has more than a generation of experience with the foster care system. Joyce has been in private practice as a licensed clinical social worker therapist but has also contracted with organizations. Five years ago he contracted with Lutheran Social Services to begin Abound Counseling, a statewide behavioral health program. Abound Counseling provides behavioral health services through a therapy network that matches therapists with individuals and families who seek assistance.
"My experience has all been based off of being a clinical social worker and therapist serving kids in foster care," Joyce said. "That goes back a little over 40 years currently. When I was a young professional I was working with kids in foster care and I really, really enjoyed working with them and their own families and foster care families as well."
In addition to working in his private practice with clients, Joyce co-authored the first edition of "Behavior with a Purpose" in 2009 with Delaney which was initially released 11 years ago.
Joyce said there are currently 443,000 children in the foster care system in the United States. Approximately 69,000 children in foster care are waiting to find an adoptive family.
"It's kind of challenging sometimes to find foster families and there are so many foster children who need good homes," Swift said. "I think anything that adds to the toolbox of understanding so that foster parents can better understand the behavior foster children are showing is very important."
One thing Swift said she learned while helping Joyce edit the second edition of "Behavior with a Purpose" was that children, while they may be in an abusive home often experience trauma when put into the foster care system. Joyce said unless going to live with a relative or former foster family, foster care can often start off as "stranger care." For the child, Joyce said, being in a new home, around new people and in a community that is perhaps unfamiliar can cause anxiety in the children.
That anxiety could lead to more unsettling behavior. Joyce said he wants readers to understand that while some behavior challenges look complex, the child is not actively trying to disobey authority. Rather, it is more likely behaviors are adopted due to prior experiences.
"Most of the kids in the foster care system are talented kids that have gone through some really, really, really tough experiences through life and that they have done the best they could to survive those experiences," Joyce said. "Sometimes what might look like really severe behavior to people that don't understand the child's background, really holds purpose for the child and was adapted to protect themselves against harmful forms of abuse."
In one instance, Joyce said he was working with a child who would rub urine on herself. The behavior was due to having been previously sexually abused and it was adopted in an effort to make herself unappealing to any adult. Joyce said behaviors such as this are common and not only effective but "brilliant" as it prevented any harm from coming to the child.
Joyce said he hopes his readers will come away from reading the most recent addition to the foster care toolbox with more understanding. Joyce also said he hopes foster families can use the book to help respond to issues more effectively. The book is available for purchase and can be found at https://www.lssnd.org/bwap.
"The most rewarding part about it is when people come up to you after they have read the book and they say 'the book really helped me understand my child's behavior in a more positive way ... not to be so frustrated with them and to respond to them more in a more positive way,'" Joyce said. "That's just worth a million bucks right there."
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Jamestown native writes about foster care behaviors - Jamestown Sun
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