Nacel Open Door Annual Board Meeting

1

Problem Solving Conflict Resolution Student
Advocacy
2
Helpful Hints

• Role is always to be a fair, neutral, objective
  third party for each placement, especially when a
  problem appears.
• Be Available
• Be Pro-Active
• Be Calm Supportive
• Listen to all parties
• Be objective and timely in documentation and
  reporting

3
FLEX

• A FLEX boy from Azerbaijan has been with his
  host family for one month, and things seem to be
  going well. The boy is doing well in school, and
  he seems to be getting on well with his host
  brother. The host mother mentions, however, that
  whenever she reminds him to help pick up after
  dinner or to bring his laundry down, he seems to
  ignore her. She doesnt want to nag or be too
  stern, but she notices that it only takes one
  mention from her husband to get the boy to help.
  Shes frustrated and suggests that if things
  dont improve in terms of the boys respect for
  her, the rep may need to look for a different
  host family.
• What information would you gather, and from
  whom?
• What would your course of action and timeline
  be?

4
Brazil

• A family chooses a girl from Brazil, since they
  have teenage daughter in their home already. The
  family does not have an extra bedroom, so the two
  girls will share a room. Things seem to be off
  to a good start. The girls seem to be getting
  along well, and everyone is excited about the
  close friendship that might develop between the
  girls. The exchange student ends up befriending
  girls at school with whom the host sister is not
  really friends. After a couple months, the
  tension has grown, and the relationship between
  the host sister and exchange student has lead to
  arguing at home, and the host sister informs her
  parents that she no longer wants the girl in
  their home.
• When you check in with the girl from Brazil to
  see how she thinks things are going, she only
  mentions that its becoming uncomfortable in the
  home, because its dirty. (Upon a spontaneous
  stop at the home, you find some dishes in the
  sink, and other noticeable signs giving the house
  a lived in look. This is in addition to the
  couple things you noticed when you did the
  initial home visit, including weathered paint on
  the outside of the house, and worn carpet and
  furniture on the inside.)
• What would you do?
• Whom would you contact to secure a new
  placement?
• What would you tell the new host family?
• Would you place another student in that host
  family?

5
Germany

• The national office receives a call from a
  school guidance counselor. A female student from
  Germany has made a statement to the counselor,
  alleging that her host father has made an
  inappropriate comment to her, and the girl does
  not feel comfortable going back to the host
  family home. This call is received by the
  national office at 10 am CST. The national office
  immediately calls the coordinator, to request
  that the student be moved immediately to another
  host family, at least temporarily.
• What would your course of action be?
• Whom would you contact to secure a new
  placement?
• What would you tell the current host family?
• What would you tell the new host family?

6
Korea

• A Korean boy spends a great deal of time in his
  room studying, not interacting much with the host
  family. He also spends a great deal of time on
  the host family computer, and the host family has
  noticed that their computer is no longer working
  correctly. They discuss the problems with the
  boy, outline their expectations for the student
  to spend more time with them and set limits
  about the computer use. The host parents
  discover that the boy is spending late night
  hours (12-2 am) on the computer, and that he is
  still downloading programs and doing other things
  that they specifically asked him not to do on
  their computer.
• The boy has also been suspected of smoking,
  after smelling like smoke when he returned from a
  walk outside he denied smoking. The host family
  feels they can no longer trust him, that he does
  not really want to be with their family, and they
  request that he move as soon as possible.
• What would your course of action be?
• Whom would you contact to secure a new
  placement?
• What would you tell the new host family?

7
Common Issues

• Student Flags
• Drinking, Driving, Sex, Drugs, other
  crimes/illegal activity (gt almost automatic
  repatriation)
• Smoking
• English profiency
• Poor or failing grades poor school attendance
  (tardies or truancy)
• Sexual harassment or inappropriateness
• Lack of adjustment / integration with HF
• Disrespectful of HF (members, rules, expectations)

• Host Family Flags
• Allowing student to break NOD rules
• Dirty or unkept home
• Shared room with significantly younger host
  sibling
• Insufficient financial resources
• Inadequate food and/or heat
• Lack of adult supervision
• Sexual harassment or inappropriateness
• Violence

8
Objective Documentation

• Sample
• Please help. Weve had it with Stefan. Hes
  never on time, hes always talking to his parents
  on the phone, and he stays holed up in his room
  all the time. We cant take it any more.
• Please move him immediately!

• Preferred
• We have the following concerns about Stefan
• He is often not ready to leave for school on
  time, and he has also been late for curfew two
  weekends in a row.
• He calls his parents, or they call him, every
  day.
• He spends a lot of time alone in his room,
  instead of spending time together with our
  family.
• Please advise how we can work with Stefan to help
  all of us have a good experience!

9
Nacel Open Door

• QUESTIONS?