HOW TO HANDLE A PROVIDER’S PERSONAL PROBLEMS
You are in a position to enter someone else’s home and have a positive influence. This is a very rewarding part of your job. However, when you enter someone else’s home in order to conduct business you are often exposed to more personal circumstances than you may be prepared to deal with. Many people are going through difficult times. You may be visiting providers who are dealing with levels of stress that may not have been present in the past. Unfortunately it’s difficult to constantly be exposed to stressful situations without eventually being affected by them.
Don’t worry about things you have no control over. Although it’s often easier said than done, it will help you when you work to differentiate between things you control and things that you do not.
Examine the objectives of your visit. What do you and your employer expect you to accomplish while in the home? Good ways to focus your energies are to focus on your purpose and work on ways to enhance your skills so that your visits are productive. In the course of your visits it is possible to be compassionate and yet maintain appropriate professional boundaries.
For example: You are not in a position to fix a provider’s marital or relationship problems and most of you are not in a position to negotiate with a provider’s mortgage company.
You may have some resources that a provider may find helpful but be careful when sharing these resources that you do not take on the provider’s problem. It is important that you are careful not to create a solution that could involve you with the problem.
For example: referring your brother-in-law or any family member who is an attorney or bank loan officer. This could lead to you becoming involved with the provider’s problem. It could also lead to ethical situations for yourself and your company.
What can you control? You are in the provider’s home to monitor the provider’s ability to offer quality contractual standards for voucher child care and/or to assure that they are being fed meals up to the USDA standards. You have the responsibility to assure that the provider’s stress level does not affect their ability to care for the children. This can be difficult because you may feel empathy for the provider’s position. If you feel that the environment is not suitable for children or that the provider is too stressed to adequately care for the children, document your reasons and observations. Take your well-documented information to your supervisor so that together you can develop a plan of action. Sharing your documentation will help to reduce your stress and keep you focused on the objectives of your job responsibilities.