Detection of a potential problem
From AFSWiki
What to do when you detect a potential problem
Here are some suggestions about steps to go through before you contact your Local or Team Support Coordinator for help. If you are new, feel free to contact the Support Coordinator first, who can walk you through this assessment process. Additionally, There is a form entitled Documenting and Reporting Participant Support Cases which contains seven clarifying questions that you may find helpful as a guide when speaking with host families, participants, or others about a support situation.
Document the Situation
Any individual working with the participant on a support issue (e.g. Liaison, district rep, chapter chair, Team Support Coordinator) should maintain documentation. Both the chapter chair(and Team Support Coordinator if there is no president) and liaison should keep a running journal from the onset of any potential participant/family problems. This does not have to be elaborate, but can greatly help facilitate the resolution of any problems. Simply listing dates and the nature of each contact (who was present, where the contact was made, who initiated the contact, etc.) is helpful.
NOTE: When documenting a situation, rather than just using "adjectives" to describe the participant or family such as "the student is very arrogant..." be sure to describe the specific behaviors that led to that conclusion. For example, the host family feels the participant is being arrogant when he walks into the room and does not say hello to them or acknowledge them. Behavioral descriptions help distinguish where the problem is and whether or not the issue is cultural, individual, or a mixture of both. Behavioral descriptions also help when talking with a participant about what she or he needs to "change" or "improve." For example you can tell the participant that when he comes into a room and does not say hello to his host parents, they think he is being arrogant even if he does not intend to give this impression.
Obtain Relevant Information from All Concerned Parties
This means speaking with both the participant and the host family, separately at first to ensure that you are hearing both perspectives and to ensure that both the participant and his or her family feels they can speak freely about the issues with you.
Check with the School
See if the participant is adjusting academically and socially. Do not take the participant's or the host family's word that the participant is doing well or poorly. Ask the school counselor to obtain comments from each teacher in addition to class grades and check the student's report card quarterly.
Encourage the Participant and Host Family to Communicate
When host families come with concerns about a participant, check to see if they have talked to the participant about those concerns. Get details of any discussions and their attempts to resolve the issues.
Talk with the Participant
Address the issues with the participant and encourage the participant to talk with his or her host parents regarding the problem. If the participant feels he or she is unable to approach the host parents (or has already tried), then ask permission from the participant to contact the host parents. Instruct the participant to be careful about talking to others at school or in the community about any problems, as it can undermine the host family and their relationship to their community. It is important that the participant clearly understands this.
Talk with the Host Family
Do this with the participant's knowledge so that they are aware of the problem. You might not go into great detail, but they should be aware the participant is having "an adjustment problem," before they hear it from someone else in the community. This may be the time to arrange a meeting between you, the participant, and the family.
Meet with the Participant and the Host Family
Have the participant and family sit down together and facilitate a discussion of the problem(s) (presumably the participant and family have already discussed the issues between themselves with no resolution). Suggest to both participant and family that they each make a list of positive comments as well as concerns before the meeting. At the meeting, be sure both participant and host family communicates the positives and negatives. Have a plan of action in mind for the participant and family to follow.
Contact the Team Support Coordinator
When these steps have failed to resolve the issues, contact the Team Support Coordinator. If counseling fails to resolve the issues, the participant may be moved to a second family (the local chapter is responsible for locating a new family), relocated to a new area, or (in very rare cases and only when the participant has violated the terms and conditions of the AFS Participation Agreement) sent home. In the event that this counseling is done and the problem appears to have been solved, you should still forward a summary of the situation to the Team Support Coordinator, who may then forward the information to the Participant Support staff at the Regional Service Center. In most cases the Regional Service Center staff will want to alert our overseas partner of the situation and let them know about the problem and how it was resolved. If this kind of thorough information sharing is done with our overseas partners early on, they will better understand the progression of the situation should similar or related problems re-occur later with the same participant. It also gives them the chance to alert natural parents of a situation that might be improved through their direct intervention with the participant.
