Berry Street Web Docs Berry Street Early Years Plan | Page 6

Terminology Vulnerability: Berry Street understands vulnerability in the following terms: • Children and their families experience vulnerability - they are not defined by it • Vulnerability and resilience are contextual and vary over the course of a person’s life • Children are vulnerable to harm when bad things happen and when good (and necessary) things don’t happen • The more dependent children are on others and their environment to meet their needs, the more vulnerable they are. Hence, infants are more vulnerable than young children and children under eight are more vulnerable than older children • Disability has a significant impact on vulnerability and the way vulnerability occurs across the life course Attachment relationship: This is a special and enduring form of emotional connection that develops between an infant and his/her primary caregiver/s that allows the child to feel safe and secure. An attachment relationship provides children with: • a safe haven that promotes a feeling of security even in times of distress; • a secure base that fosters confidence in the child’s ability to actively explore the wider world; and • a mental framework or schema for the child’s confidence and trust in the caregiver’s love, their own worthiness to be loved and the world as a positive and safe place. Trauma: Trauma is some kind of terrible experience or event that: • seriously threatens the health or survival of the individual • causes the individual to feel powerless in the face of overwhelming fear or arousal (i.e. there is an important subjective element in which the external traumatic event quickly becomes incorporated into the mind such that the individual perceives that they are utterly helpless) • overwhelms the individual’s coping ability • violates or undermines the individual’s basic beliefs that the world is good and safe Child development: Human development can be viewed as comprising a number of age/stage-relevant tasks. Healthy adaptive child development involves accomplishing these core tasks across commonly recognised domains, including: language, learning, and social, physical, emotional and moral development. ‘Normal’ development is inclusive of many variations and a wide range of individual differences along the road to competence. Age and development are not always in sync: children can be behind in some areas and ahead in others. Age and development may be especially out of sync where there has been trauma, neglect and other adverse experiences. Frequently this can cause the child or young person to be more mature or developmentally delayed than Central Office their chronological age would predict. Berry Street believes all children should have a good childhood, growing up feeling safe, nurtured and with hope for the future. 1 Salisbury Street Richmond Victoria 3121 Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone] Email:[email protected] www.berrystreet.org.au