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Systemic approaches in children’s social care contexts 14.12.11. Nick Pendry, Institute of Family Therapy and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust. The Systemic Approach. Interpersonal rather than intra-psychic, Problems embedded in relationships,
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Systemic approaches in children’s social care contexts14.12.11 • Nick Pendry, Institute of Family Therapy and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust
The Systemic Approach • Interpersonal rather than intra-psychic, • Problems embedded in relationships, • Circular rather than linear causality, • Mutual influence, • The importance of context, • Influence of family beliefs, rules and patterns of communication.
The application to a children’s social care context • A liberating effect - problems are relational rather than embedded in individuals, • Individuals are freed from being pathologised, • Social workers are freed from intervening only with individuals, in order to, “fix problems,” • The influence of family beliefs, rules and patterns of communication, • The pattern of relationship between the Local Authority and the family assumes importance.
Reclaiming Social Work • The systemic approach embedded into the very structure of children’s social care, • At points of crisis traditional ways of doing social work are much less likely to be followed, • The systemic approach in the interests of doing better, more thoughtful, theoretically coherent social work.
A case example • “Stuck,” child protection case, • White UK family known to Local Authority for many years. Mother, father and three children aged 10, 7, and 4, • Concerns around neglect, children’s behaviour, domestic violence between parents, mother’s alcohol use, • Social worker applied systemic ideas in work with family: • Relationship between local authority and family over time, • Exploring ways of relating and doing family that have worked over time, rather than focusing on deficits, • Explored wider family system for strengths and resources, • Understanding of children’s behaviour in the context of their relationships, • Understanding of mother’s alcohol use in a relational context, • Dominant narrative of mother’s (and the professional system around the family) parenting ability.