Trust and Betrayal in the Treatment of Child Abuse

by MacKinnon, Laurie K.

• ISBN13: 9781572305236
• ISBN10: 1572305231
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-07-16
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

Offering a practical new approach to the management of child-at-risk cases, this book illuminates how parents perceive therapists and child protection workers and why, from their own point of view, they so frequently refuse to cooperate with intervention. Amply illustrated by case examples and interviews with parents, the book helps readers overcome common difficulties associated with the referral process while maximizing parents' cooperation and motivation for therapy. MacKinnon challenges dominant professional discourses that attribute abuse to parents' "pathology" or "dysfunction," showing instead how family violence and the referral process itself are inextricably linked to dynamics of gender, class, power, and powerlessness. Readers learn to develop an effective relationship discourse with families, giving voice to the experience of each member and eliciting their commitment to nonviolence, fairness, and equality. Special attention is given to the therapist's role as a "power broker" who can prevent problems and intervene in difficulties between families and child protection agencies.

Author Biography

Laurie K. MacKinnon, PhD, is a family therapist in private practice as the Director of Insite Therapy and Consulting in Sydney, Australia. Since 1985, she has lectured in family therapy and provided supervision and training to a number of Australian organizations. Originally from Calgary, Canada, where she received her masters in social work and began her training and practice in family therapy, she received her doctorate from the University of Sydney, Australia. She is an Approved Supervisor of the American Association of Marital and Family Therapy and has published a number of articles relating to theory and clinical practice.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(8)
I. CHILD ABUSE IN CONTEXT
Why Are Child-at-Risk Cases So Difficult?	9	(16)
The Scope of ``Child Abuse''	11	(2)
Conflict and Mistrust between Professionals	13	(3)
Mistrust between Parents and Professionals	16	(2)
Notions of Pathology and Dysfunction	18	(5)
Conclusion	23	(2)
Routes to Therapy	25	(8)
Self-Referrals to Therapy	27	(2)
Referrals to Therapy from the Department	29	(4)
Becoming a Client of ``the Welfare''	33	(20)
Routes of Referral to the Department	34	(9)
The Impact of Notification	43	(3)
The Process of Investigation	46	(4)
Court Proceedings	50	(3)
Working-Class Life and the Family Ideal	53	(32)
The Family Ideal	55	(5)
Working-Class Life	60	(18)
The Control of Children	78	(7)
The Genealogy of Relationships	85	(16)
The Genealogical Method	88	(2)
The Construction of Subjectivity	90	(2)
The Nicolopoulos Family	92	(5)
Conclusion	97	(4)
II. THE THERAPIST AS POWER BROKER
Initial Meetings: Earning the Parents' Trust	101	(24)
Initial Meetings: Laying the Groundwork	102	(6)
Establishing and Defining Confidentiality	108	(5)
Getting the Story	113	(2)
Kurt and Sue	115	(8)
Beginning with a Positive Frame	123	(2)
Woring with ``the Welfare'' in Child-at-Risk Cases	125	(31)
Establishing a Workable Relationship with Child Protection Professionals	128	(6)
Intervening in the CP Worker-Family Relationship	134	(12)
Reporting Back to the Department	146	(8)
Conclusion	154	(2)
Raising the Stakes in Child-at-Risk Cases: Eliciting and Maintaining Parents' Motivation	156	(23)
An Approach to Eliciting and Maintaining Client Motivation	156	(21)
Conclusion	177	(2)
Rewriting the Story of Abuse	179	(23)
Obtaining the Story of the Abuse	180	(4)
The Orczy Family	184	(9)
The Travis Family	193	(7)
Conclusion	200	(2)
Creating a Relationship Discourse	202	(31)
Commitment to Respect and Nonviolence	204	(10)
Making Apologies Part of the Discourse	214	(10)
Resolving Conflicts: Commitment to Fairness and Equity	224	(9)
Conclusion	233	(4)
Appendix: The Research Project	237	(12)
Enlistng the Participants	237	(2)
Interview Methodology	239	(1)
The Sample	240	(3)
Method of Analysis	243	(3)
Limitations of This Study	246	(3)
References	249	(6)
Index	255