The Development of the Self in Children in Institutions

The theoretical basis for the thinking in this paper centres on a particular aspect of the development of the self, development that takes place through introjective identification. Healthy development depends greatly on the availability of appropriate models of individuals, relationships and situations for such identification. These models may be found in the adults who care for the children, their relationship with the children and with each other, and the setting for care. Healthy development may also require the management of the child's identification with inappropriate models, for example with other children in institutions for delinquent or maladjusted children.

Institutionalised children are likely to find their most significant models for identification within the institution itself, both in the institution as a whole and its sub-systems and in individual staff members and children. This leads to the concept of the institution as a therapeutic milieu whose primary task may be defined as providing conditions for healthy development and/or providing therapy for damaged children. Thus all the child's experiences in the institution contribute positively or negatively to his development, not only those more narrowly defined as education, individual or group therapy or child care. Indeed it has been the author's experience that the benefits of such provisions may well be counteracted by more general features of the institution.

This formulation would then lead one to take a very wide view of the institution in considering its effectiveness in carrying out its primary task. One would include its whole way of functioning; its management structure, including its division into sub-systems and how those relate to each other; the nature of authority and how that is operated; the social defence system built into the institution; its culture and traditions. In line with the theme of this paper, one would consider these in the context of how far they facilitate