When the designated client is a child and the decision is clear that movement away from the family is necessary, the goal of intervention is rarely one of therapy as such. Rather we seek a safe environment in which the child may continue the project of life with the supports necessary for healthful growth and development. Nevertheless, it is the clear lesson of various forms of child psychotherapy that the child is continually engaged in the project of the development of the "self" doing in vary spontaneous ways the adapting, accommodating, integrating and reintegrating that adults in formal therapy find so challenging. In this article I will attempt to re-sort some of the data of such lives utilizing language and theory from the intersecting fields of group psychotherapy, family counseling and systems analysis. I believe that such rearrangements of the pieces of our collective experiences afford fresh perspectives and the possiblilty of an insightful, integrating gestalt with respect to:

a) the family dynamics that have created and sustain the current situation,
b) the needs and learned response patterns of the child as well as the impact they might have on any new system in which the child may be placed,
c) the criteria by which we might select an appropriate situation and process for addressing the needs of the child as well as those of the significant others in his or her life.

The well-established data concerning "recapitulation of the family of origin" loom large in all of our decision making. Each day we encounter children and adults whose lives are fragmented by the dysfunctional systems within which they find themselves. As we review their social histories we often find that the hurt and the destructive patterns are the heritage of several generations. Seemingly, what was, is now and ever shall be.
We are called to intervene in what appears to be the pre-determined cycles of these families: the addictive cycles of compulsive behaviors, drugs, wife abuse, child abuse, abandonment; broken families begetting broken families;families afflicted with alcoholism begetting those who seek to be the victim/savior of alcoholic spouses; sadistic families begetting those who abuse and those who elicit abuse. Such is the legacy of what therapists describe as the dysfunctional family: generations of dependence, generations of disengagement.
Our efforts on behalf of these hurting people evidence some hope of making a difference; some confidence that the cycles can be interrupted; some faith that individuals can become empowered to establish new patterns that bring new life to themselves and to their families. Such are the goals of therapeutic interventions -- to create a context within which it is possible to have "a corrective emotional experience" ; a context for the difficult "working through" of insights into self-defeating behaviors; a context within which one is free to change, to chose ways of acting that are more beneficial to the individual and to those he or she calls family.
Studies such as Bettleheim's (1976) "uses of enchantment", Axline's (1964) work with "Dibbs", and her findings regarding "child's play", beautifully illustrate the construction, demolition and reconstruction of concrete expressions of internal realities. The child struggles to reorganize the pieces of personal experience to gain some mastery over the flow of life's events, to attain the confidence, the sense of stability and control that comes with an ability to reasonably predict the behaviors of others and to foresee the probable outcomes of ones own behavior.
These very ordinary developmental processes attain a level of great saliency in the lives of children whose worlds have been rendered "unpredictable" by the dysfunctional condition of their family systems. They find themselves embroiled in a struggle to control the seemingly uncontrollable, to bring order where there is chaos. The ineffectiveness of their efforts is often a source of guilt. They feel responsible for the hurt they see in others and that they know too well in themselves. Such a sense of "responsibility" in a context that affords them no appropriate response becomes evident in a variety of forms. Depression, disengagement, aggression, passivity, acquiescence, physical illness, and self-destructive behaviors are all too common in the case histories of such children.
Frequently children find ways of coping with the most dysfunctional of systems. They assume roles that do hold together the fragile family-- roles of provider, victim, surrogate mother,or father or lover, which support the pathology of others and make possible the continued existence of the family entity.
When such a child is placed in a new situation these roles continue both with respect to the "family" the child has left and the "family" the child has just entered. Well-learned patterns of behavior are not easily changed; the roles assigned or assumed in the family of origin are frequently in evidence throughout life. The "recapitulation of the family of origin" is one of the basic premises of group psychotherapy. In any new group an individual, over a period of time, begins to manifest styles of relating to group members suggestive of the bondings he or she had once formed with various members in the family of origin.
With children for whom the defense mechanisms and social conventions are less developed, such patterns are evident almost immediately upon entry into a new group. They struggle to find in the new context relatioships that sustain both the adaptive and maladaptive behaviors learned and over-learned in their former environments. The stress of these efforts eventually manifests itself in acting-out or acting-in behaviors that are a critical test of the adequacy of the new environment.
All too often the "ideal" adoptive family finds itself in serious difficulty. In a family system, changes in membership have a significant impact on all previous relationships. When husband and wife become mama and papa, when the baby of the family becomes the big brother of a new sister, there is a period of adjustment in which status and role and expectancies need to be redefined. When this new member is someone experiencing a period of great emotional stress, tension is induced throughout the system.
In our efforts to confront these realities and to avoid the tragedies of inappropriate placement, we seek criteria for the making initial decisions. "Prevention of placement" (Reid,Kagan & Scholsberg, 1988; Miller & Wittaker, 1988), "permanency planning" (Maluccio, Fein & Olmstead, 1986), and "aftercare" (Jenson, Hawkins, & Catalano, 1986) are important expressions of our continuing efforts to be foresighted and wholistic.
Statistics concerning various types of placement are useful for establishing cautions, but do little to clarify the ideosyncratic requirements of this particular child, from this particular family of origin at this particular time. I find in the diversity of needs a strong argument for maintaining as wide a range of placement possibilities as is possible. To dismiss foster care,or adoption, small or large groups, single-sex or co-ed groups,etc. as categorically inappropriate is to eliminate from the field of choices what in a given case might be most appropriate. I would tend to go along with the clothier who promotes a large collection of various designers with the motto "select don't settle."
The complex interaction of the need systems of the adolescent or pre-adolescent and those of the family of origin with the range of placement possibilities actually available suggests the importance of choosing some focal question for the establishment of the selection criteria. " What are the current and foreseeable needs of this young man or woman?" is a logical starting point. I suggest, however, an alternative approach xhat begins with the question: "What does this young person need to do?" More specifically, anticipating the response, I will be asking "What must this young person do to establish himself or herself as a significant member of a community?"
The classic works of Kurt Lewin (1935) on "a dynamic theory of personality", of Robert Havighurst (1949) on the "tasks of adolescence", of Gordon Allport (1955) on "becoming", and of Abram Maslow (1962) on "self-actualization", suggest that there exists, at least in the field of psychology, a solid precedent for an approach such as the one being suggested. The work of Richard DeCharms (1968) on "personal causation" and the research of Edward Deci (1980) on "intrinsic motivation" provided convincing evidence of the utility of such an approach. Robert Perloff in his 1987 APA presidential address and Albert Bandura (1989) have reported the resurgence of interest in self-generated activities, self-interest, personal responsibility and human agency. The student of human behavior is being encouraged to attend to the initiatives of the individual as manifestations, within a facilitating or impeding context, of a dynamic engagement in the process of "growing up".
In seeking criteria for discerning the appropriateness of a given social system for a given child, I propose looking at the self-generated activity of the adolescent or pre-adolescent from three perspectives: INCORPORATION (focusing on the stages of integration into a social context), PROPRIATE STRIVING (recognizing the psychological work necessary to establish the uniqueness and authenticity of the self), and PROCESSING (attending to the means by which the young people come to terms with their individual and shared experiences).

Recurring patterns of the incorporation of individuals into groups suggest that the process is gradual and might be seen as involving a sequence of inter-dependent realizations such as experiencing acceptance, choosing to participate, feeling authentically engaged in the life of the group, and, in instances of complete incorporation, assuming ownership of the group and responsibility for its continued existance.
ACCEPTANCE implies some clear manifestation that in the eyes of those in the new reference group I (as the pre-adolescent or adolescent) belong in this group.
Here, as in other instances, the customs of street gangs and scouts highlight some of the dynamics involved. Rituals of initiation and concrete symbols of membership leave no doubt in the mind of the new member that he or she is now a member of the "Savage Skulls" or of Troup 138.
That the signs of acceptance are given is not enough. In fact, the reality of the acceptance is not enough. What is essential is my acceptance of the fact that the others are acknowledging my place among them. Seeing signs of being accepted and later experiencing myself as being accepted are only the beginning of the process of establishing whether or not I belong in this group. Having a place to be can become the starting point for asking do I really want to be here.
How I begin to address this issue of "wanting to be here"is frequently related to both the sense of options(do I really have a choice) and to the nature of the acceptance (Yes they accept me, but how? -- as a substitute for the child they never had? a poor kid in need of help? a soul to be saved? a potential wonder-child?)
A placement that deprives me of the right to say "No! I don't want to be here." is already at risk. In the absence of some sense of freedom, of choice, even the most comfortable of homes can become a prison. A placement that casts me into a pre-determined role is an assault on my right to be me.
Of critical importance in these matters is the preparation of the pre-adolescent or adolescent as well as that of the other members of the social systems from which and in which placement occurs. The attitudes of all those involved can be significant. The placement is greatly facilitated when the family of origin is supportive and do not see the movement as another judgement on their inadequacy. The engagement of me and my family in the process of selecting the right place encourages us to assume greater responsibility for helping to make it work.
On the receiving end, instructional sessions or workshops on .pa "unconditional positive regard" can influence the role played by the adults (foster parents, child care workers, etc.) in a given placement.
When other children are involved such as the siblings in a foster home or the residents in a group home, their role in accepting the new member is often the most significant. Peer acceptance has highest rankings in the need hierarchy of the pre-adolescent or adolescent.
Adult attempts to manipulate such peer acceptance will usually prove disastrous eand furthermore are quite unnecessary. When young people experience their own place in a given social context as relatively secure they are free to welcome newcomers. When they themselves have a sense of unconditional acceptance, they are able to open their home, their group, their lives to a new peer. In fact it is the realization of full incorporation that brings the young member of a community to a sense of responsibility for welcoming new life into the group.
If adults have a role in promoting mutual acceptance among a group of young people it takes the forms of modeling behavior and of providing a context in which young people have the freedom and sense of belonginess that empowers them to challenge each other toward personal and communal responsibility and ownership.
CHOOSING TO PARTICIPATE is a correlate of expectancies -- both my own expectancies and those of the other group members. A sense of reciprocity comes early in the process of moral development (Kohlberg, 1969). I expect to pay for what I get. I am suspicious of gratuity. I've learned the hard way perhaps that people expect some form of return for their kindnesses. In new situations being on the receiving end too long makes me uneasy. I am much more comfortable when I feel I can do my share of whatever needs doing. It's not that I like to work-- it is just that I don't like to be in debt, especially in dept to someone I really don't know well enough to trust.
"Work" in this sense may take the form of joining in games, in conversations, in arguments, clearing the table or simply paying attention. Being the guest can be fun at first, but eventually, if I plan on staying around, I want to establish my own place in this social system. Community membership begins when I begin to participate in the tasks of the group as if I were a group member.
Participating in the activities of a group is the beginning of an extension of the sense of self. I define my "self" not only in terms of central personal factors but also in terms of environmental factors. I am of this nationality, born in this place, a member of this family, this religion,this group. When I begin to act as if I were a member of a given group I am actually engaging in the psychological task of establishing myself as being "one of them", or at least testing the possibility and appropriateness of membership.
In this process the expectancies of others become very significant. Adults and peers who make demands on me are, in effect, proclaiming that I belong in this family, this group, this community and thus have a job to do and a role to play in its continued existence.
Sharing in the work of the group, its joys, its pains, its development, confirms my membership. Participation thus becomes a form of communication by which I proclaim to myself and those around me that I am beginning to see myself as belonging here.
Assuming that the individual retains the right to choose or not choose membership, a context (family, group,community) that requires participation, that makes demands, and occcassionally even calls for sacrifices is one that facilitates incorporation.
AUTHENTIC ENGAGEMENT in the life of a group characterizes a type of participation which is congruent with the individual's self-concept and personality.
Because of the instability of the adolescent's sense of self and frequent variations in the modes of presenting this self to others, the quality of engagement in the life of the group is frequently in flux. In the early stages of membership there is considerable positioning. I want to let them know that I'm strong, skilled, able to take care of myself -- often just the opposite of what I am feeling. As I become more comfortable with the group I can become more authentic.
Occassionally in the process of positioning I create an image of myself that becomes my accepted and expected role in the group. I become for the group the clown, the leader, the wise guy, the intellectual, the head, the jock, the rebel, the saint. An identity gives security, creates a mode of being in the group, and reduces ambiguity. I need to be somebody in this family, group or community. Even a negative identity is better than no identity at all.
The cognitive dissonance of such inauthentic engagements motivates change. I may choose to identify with the stereotype, I may try to change my image within the group, or I may simply physically, socially or emotionally remove myself from this social context.
To attain a significant level of authentic engagement, the adolescent in need of placement requires a context in which it is possible to work through these psycho-social operations. Such a context is characterized by both solidity and fluidity.
There is a need for adults who have attained adequate personal integration so as not to be threatened by the frequent emotional and affective shifts of the adolescent; adults whose consistency and stability provide dependable points of reference for the adolescent in flux; adults whose unconditional positive regard for the adolescent keeps them attentive and whose faith in the growth process allows them to give the adolescent the space needed for experimentation and redefinition.
Here youth gangs provide an interesting counter example. While there is certain movement within the structures of the gang (i.e., a variety of roles and services), there tend to be rather rigid boundaries with respect to behaviors that would be visible outside the group. Should I discover that I no longer really feel like a "Savage Skull", I soon learn that movement out of the group is unacceptable. Brutal exit rituals discourage departure. Death is a too frequent consequence of a gang members' decision to change.
Blocking of growth into authenticity may be less obvious in other social groups but not necessarily less effective. To maintain the cohesion of the system, individuals are constrained to assigned roles. Often the young person in need of placement has already been such a victim within a dysfunctional family system; there is a salient need for a social context that accommodates the trial and error of an identity-search.
There is also a need for peer interaction that affords what H.S. Sullivan (1953) labeled "reflected appraisals" and "consensual validation". The adolescent needs the feedback from peers on the presentation of self and on the consequences of various styles of behavior. In later adolescence there is an increasing need for reflective time to process this feedback and to examine and re-examine my personal authenticity within the context of the various systems that form part of my extended sense of self: family of origin, foster family, youth community, church, ethnic group, nation, as well as my intended future, profession, family etc.
OWNERSHIP, with respect to a social system, suggests a form of personal engagement that renders the individual responsible for its maintenence and re-generation. Ownership, with respect to personal becoming, suggests a form of engagement in which I assume responsibility for my own development, my behavior, my choices. It is in the process of incorporation that these two aspects of responsibility come together. Actively involved in working out who I am within the context of these others, I begin to accept increasing responsibility for both myself and the family, group or community.
Such a sense of responsibility and consequent ownership is fostered in an environment which invites and even demands my participation in the decision-making that regulates the life of the family, group or community.
Allport (1955) speaks of a transformation from the "must-consciousness" of childhood to the "ought-consciousness" of adulthood. Piaget's (1948) studies of the "rules of the game" clarify the place of rule-making in this process of moral development.
Movement out of the super-ego functioning of childhood obedience into adult forms of conscience and personal decision-making is promoted by engagement with others in the development of the rules that moderate our ways of being with each other. It is through our mutual agreements about where is out-of-bounds? what are the sides? who calls the shots? that external sanctions give way to internal motivation, experience of prohibitions and fear give way to preference, mutual-respect, personal and group values.
As I assume roles of increasing responsibility within a community, the needs of the group increasingly become my needs. I am concerned about our reputation, about the actions of the younger members, about the bonds that hold us together, the customs we share, the projects in which we are engaged, our future. Because of this bonding, this loyalty, my activities on the part of "us" become a significant expression of the project of my own becoming. My incorporation into this social context is, in part , the realization of my larger sense of self.

Propriate striving is a term introduced by Gordon Allport (1955) to identify those aspects of human motivation that go beyond the satisfaction of basic needs. He speaks of the involvement of the individual in the generation of the self, in what Goldstein (1940) and Maslow (1962) label as self-actualization. There is a continuing movement toward the unification of the personality, a selecting from available modes of behavior those that are consistent with the emerging image of one's self.
For the child, the pre-adolescent or the adolescent this striving might be compared to the composition of a story -- the story of his or her life. It is a story created and re-created in dreams, images, words and actions. Part of the story has already been lived, most of the story is yet to come. Each day there are events and possibilities calling for integration into the story giving ever new meaning to what has been and what will be.
Each stage of development affords the individual a new medium for for re-processing and re-telling the story, and thus a new perspective for understanding what it is all about. He finds echos of his story in fairy tales and films and in the lives of those around him. He acts out the parts, reorganizes the pieces, watches, listens, makes believe, and makes belief. He experiments with the symbols of his own life using the modes of thinking appropriate to his age to tell himself and others what he is about. With development there is a movement from concrete images to more hypothetico-deductive forms of reasoning. The adolescent has increasingly more powerful ways of interpreting what has been and projecting what can be.
What about the pre-adolescent or adolescent in need of placement? The case history that we read is one perspective on his story. The greater the turbulance of the life events to date the more difficult, and perhaps the more necessary, will be his re-working of the pieces into a story that can be continued in a new setting.
Engagement in current activities can seemingly distract one from the core story. Evidence from therapy with all age groups affirms that the telling of our stories continues -- acknowledged or unacknowledged -- in all of our personal and inter-personal activities.
Occasionally the story-telling is less than creative. As with a writer with a block, there is no movement beyond the last sentence. I read and re-read the introduction hoping for a break-through for some new insight that will provide the link between what has been and what will be.
Dysfunctional families are characterized by such fixity. They seem hopelessly constrained to repeating their distructive patterns. For the young person coming from such a family system, we seek a placement that affords the emotional and social space to develop patterns more conducive to growth.
Movement from one system to another complicates the work of propriate striving. There is so much more to be integrated into the story: continuing relationships with members of the family of origin, new relationships with significant adults and peers, terminations with respect to what has passed, feelings of hostility and guilt, a sense of having abandoned others and of having been abandoned, obligations to those who have heoped, the demands of the new social context.
Placed in a new environment, I seek familiar elements with which I might organize a physical,emotional,temporal space in which I can feel secure and from which I might eventually continue the more creative aspects of my propriate striving.
I seek first that which will be necessary for my basic physicological needs. I attend to the sources of reinforcement and learn quickly both who is in control and what I must do to attain what I need or want. One who has been victimized in previous situations knows the importance of learning how to work the new system.
How very skilled in the art of pleasing adults are the children with a history of multiple placements. Mutual manipulation--adults manipulating children and children manipulating adults-- is a fascinating engagement that can fully occupy the energies and very effectively curtail the growth of all concerned.
The practice of such games is reduced when there are consistent and mutually accepted guidelines with respect to such basics as bedtime, meals, hygene, household responsibilities, visits, travel, personal space, finances,etc. Clarity about such issues fosters a sense of security rendering the new environment more predictable. Participation in the establishment and review of such regulations serves to invite a greater sense of belonging, autonomy and responsibility.
Opportunities for involvement in creative and expressive arts, drawing, painting, sculpting, designing and writing, acting dancing, singing, athletics, playing musical instruments, membership on teams, engagement in organizations, in religious, social and political activities, all can help facilitate the trial and error efforts of the adolescent to tell and retell the story of his emerging self.
If the adolescent is to move toward the more creative aspects of propriate striving she or he will eventually need to find in the new system significant others, adults and peers, with whom new relationships may be formed and previous relationships may be "worked through". There may be a need for great intimacy-- there may be an equally pressing need for maintaining considerable distance. The optimal context is an emotional space that is supportive yet not constraining, that encourages authenticity, tolerates posturing, and gently challenges phoniness, that invites intimacy while respecting the readiness of the youth to trust and entrust to others an emerging self.

An environment conducive to the propriate striving of an adolescent is one that accommodates an emerging capacity to reason, to apply logic to life's events, to analyze and hypothesize. Significant dialectics develop as the adolescent begins to apply the inductive and deductive methods of secondary school courses, perhaps inconsistently ,often ego-centrically, to the personal social context. "Why do we always...? --Why can't I...? What would you do if...?"
Questioning, taking time alone and also time together with the significant others in my life to reflect, to evaluate, agreeing, disagreeing, speaking my mind, hearing the views of others, reflecting, challenging, being challenged, all form part of the processing required for what has been described above under the headings "Propriate Striving" and "Integration into the Life of a Group".
Such processing may occur spontaneously but not necessarily so. How often dysfunctional systems are those in which such communication is blocked. People who live in apparent intimacy fail to reveal to each other their thoughts and feelings about what is happening and not happening between them. Much family therapy is a matter of instruction and practice in the basic skills of human communication.
A child coming from such a dysfunctional system may find the call to communication and intimacy quite threatening. Models, secure settings, and gentle prods may be needed to empower the child to open himself or herself to such dynamic interpersonal processing.
Even very young children are quite able to speak about daily experiences. Talking about the very ordinary events of the day serves as an introduction to deeper levels of sharing. The earlier in the life span that such interaction begins the better. An adolescent who has not experienced real communication in the family of origin may be particularly resistant to any sharing that comes close to inner personal regions of the self.
Being in the presence of others who are engaged in such processing may provide the closed adolescent a vicarious introduction to this important skill. Psychotherapeutic intervention may also be required. I have found individual counselling followed by concurrent group and individual counselling quite effective in such cases. Alternate routes to self-expression such as art, music and sports may help but cannot fully compensate for what is attained through the dynamics of interpersonal sharing. Engagement in the communication of an interactive group provides rich opportunities for reflected appraisals, consensual validation, coming to terms with personal loss and hurt, challenging stereotypes, learning how others see the world, how others see me, establishing and re-establishing my position within the group, experimenting with new modes of the presentation of self.
While part of this processing may occur in private reflective moments or in one-to-one relationships it is in the social system, the family, the group, the community that the adolescent eventually seeks the validation of incorporation and reveals the accomplishments of propriate striving. It is here in the presence of the significant others in my life that I assert an emerging self.

All of the above leads to a number of questions I would propose for deciding the appropriateness of a particular placement. They are offered not so much as a check list of criteria but as a review of what has been presented and as an invitation to attend to how a given social context accommodates what the pre-adolescent or adolescent must do to establish his or her "self" within a group of significant others.
How will he or she be able to work toward incorporation within this family, group or community?
- What are the modes of communicating acceptance?
- What are the opportunities for participation?
- What are the demands of membership, the expectancies,the possibilites of staying and leaving. What are the decision making processes?
- What are the routes to fuller ownership of and responsibility for this social context?

How might the pre-adolescent and the adolescent in this context engage in propriate striving?

- What is the emotional space available for sustaining significant relationships, for dealing with terminations,feelings of hostility, guilt, abandonment?
- What are the opportunities for finding appropriate routes to self-expression?
- What is the reinforcement system within this context?
- Who administers rewards and punishments? How does an individual move toward increasing autonomy and responsibility?
- What are the possibilities for and acceptability of experimentation with new modes of the presentation of self?

How does this environment accomodate the need of the adolescent to process the events of his or her life?

- What are the communication systems of this family, group or community?
- What are the structures and dynamics that facilitate interpersonal sharing? Opportunities for counseling and therapy if needed?
- What is the capacity of the others (adults and peers) to engage the adolescent in meaningful dialog with respect to the emerging story of the lives they share?

Throughout this article I have used the expression "family,group or community" when referring to the social context for the pre-adolescent or adolescent in need of placement. I would like to close by re-defining the term "community" as a social context that accommodates the goals of "incorporation" and "propriate striving" just presented.
Not all families not all groups, large or small (even some that claim the title community) meet these requirements. Some do. It is in such communities that children from dysfunctional family systems have a new chance in life, a chance to realize the full and unique expression of their personal striving.