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,

•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.