Reflection on DDP Core Training as a foster care team leader, Singapore

Having been a senior social work practitioner involving in foster care work and one who values a strong therapeutic relationship with clients, I felt drawn to this DDP model very quickly. As I went through Level One training and continued on with Level Two under Hannah Sun-Reid’s guidance, I began to realise that DDP is truly a model that is built upon the knowledge and practice in working with fostering and adoption families.

To me, DDP is about using PACE-infused interactions with the children and their caregivers to arrive at a deep connection between worker and the children’s and caregivers’ experiences and also a deep connection between the parent-child dyad. This is especially relevant when they are struggling with intense negative emotions and undesirable patterns of behaviour towards each other due to block care and block trust.

The DDP process emphasizes the use of co-regulation with the child and the caregiver which enable them to reach a position of safety and trust to be in a reflective space to explore new meaning and make sense of past experiences and of their relationship with each other. Through the repeated intersubjectivity experience, attachment of the child and their caregivers can then be repaired and built.

DDP has offered many more ways to think and do our work and has created more hope as we all navigate the difficult path to recovery from childhood and relational trauma.