The Georgia Department of Family and Children Services invited the Village of St. Joseph staff to videotape one of their team meetings and presented it at a workshop on children’s institutions.

Because the Village is concerned with the physical, spiritual, intellectual, as well as the emotional progress of each child, team meetings are held weekly to coordinate the efforts of everyone involved with a child.

Present at these team meetings are: the administrator, the consulting psychologist and psychiatrist, the director of social work, the child’s own social worker, the psychological tester, the supervisor of cottage life, special education teachers, child care workers, coaches and a representative of any community agency who might assist us in working with the family.

It is the team who decides whether or not a cottage is ready to accept a new child into its group; or whether a child with a particular behavior pattern will be able to be helped by the Village program.

It is the tam who assesses: a child’s response to or need for special medication; a child’s interactions with his peers and those in authority in the program; the frequency and length of home visits; a child’s readiness to return to a school in the community; and finally, a child’s ability to again function in his family and neighborhood, thus enabling his discharge from the Village. Because each team member meets each child in his own particular field, it requires a consensus of agreement of all team members to determine the best manner in which to work with each child and his family.

It was one of these weekly team meetings which was videotaped and presented at the workshop held at Georgia Mental Health Institute Nov. 21. Sister Teresa, the administrator, Sister John Frances, the director of social work, and Mr. David Freides, the consulting psychologist, were available to explain the team approach and to answer questions.