Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T04:49:25.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parent blaming in child protection and health settings: A matter for concern

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Patricia Hansen  and
Frank Ainsworth
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article is about parent blaming. It draws on the authors’ experience in health care agencies and the children’s court. Parent blaming involves practitioners attributing to parents an ‘excess’ level of responsibility expressed as ‘blame’ in regard to child care and protection or child treatment issues in the context of health. In the course of this process, structural factors such as low income, poor housing, unemployment, social isolation and prejudice that affect a parent’s capacity to protect and care for a child are frequently ignored.

Parent blaming is not a new phenomenon although currently it seems to be in vogue among practitioners in these fields. When blame is conveyed to parents, it creates anger and resentment and guarantees a non-cooperative response from them. This response is then all too readily used as evidence to support the view that parents are indeed to blame for their child’s lack of safety or medical condition. In practice, a blaming approach is futile. Suggestions are made about how this phenomenon can be avoided and how more positive approaches can be adopted to providing services to children and their families.

Type
Practice perspectives…
Information
Children Australia , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , 2007 , pp. 29 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

APA—see American Psychiatric Association Google Scholar
Ainsworth, F. & Hansen, P. (2000) ‘Social workers’ views of parents of emotionally disturbed children: Replicating a US study’, Australian Social Work, 53, 3, 37–44.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, F. (1991) ‘A “no blame” approach to work with the families of children and adolescents in residential care’, Child and Youth Care Forum, 20, 5,301–311.Google Scholar
Allan, J. (2004) ‘Mother blaming: A covert practice in therapeutic intervention’, Australian Social Work, 57, 1, 57–70.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1994) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM – IV), Washington: DC.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (2004) Practice guidelines for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia, 2 nd edn, Washington: DC.Google Scholar
Barth, R.P., Clea, T.M., John, K., Quinton, D. & Thobum, J. (2004) Beyond attachment theory and therapy: Towards sensitive and evidence based practice principles and practices for services to foster and adoptive families, paper presented at the Fourth International Seminar on ‘Outcome-based evaluation in child and family services-Cross-national research initiatives’, September, Abano Tenne, PD: Italy.Google Scholar
Bateson, G., Jackson, D.D., Haley, S. & Weakland, S.H. (1956) ‘Towards a theory of schizophrenia’, Behavioural Science, 1, 251–264.Google Scholar
Berger, M.M. (ed.) (1978) Beyond the double bind: Communication and family systems, theories and techniques with schizophrenics, New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
Bergh, C., Brodin, U., Lindberg, G. & Soderstcn, P. (2002) ‘Randomised controlled trial of a treatment for anorexia and bulimia nervosa’, Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, 99, 14, 9486–9491.Google Scholar
Biestek, F. (1961) The casework relationship, London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Bordin, E.S. (1979) ‘The generalisability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working relationship’, Psychotherapy, Theory. Research and Practice, 16, 252–260.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1969) Attachment and loss. Vol. 1: Attachment, New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1973) Attachment and loss, Vol. 2: Separation, anxiety and anger, New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1980) Attachment and loss. Vol. 3: Loss, sadness and depression, New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Brown, P. & O’Leary, D. (2000) ‘Therapeutic alliance: Predicting continuance and success in group treatment for spouse abuse’, Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 68, 2, 193–197.Google Scholar
Burkard, A., Juarez-Huffaker, M. & Ajmere, K. (2003) ‘White racial identity attitudes as a predictor of client perceptions of cross-cultural working alliances’, Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 31, 4, 226–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassidy, J. (2003) ‘Continuity and change in the measurement of infant attachment: Comment on Fraley and Spieker’, Development Psychology, 39, 3, 409–412.Google Scholar
Cohen, D. (2005) ‘Blame it on testosterone’, Australian, Higher Education (p. 28), 12 January.Google Scholar
Cohen, E., Hornsby, D.T. & Priester, S. (2005) ‘Assessment of children, youth and families in the child welfare system’, in Mallon, G.P. & McCartt Hess, P. (eds.), Child welfare for the 21st century: A handbook of practice, policies and programs, pp. 87–101, New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Colson, D., Cornsweet, C., Murphy, T., O’Malley, F., Hyland, P., McParland, M. & Coyne, L. (1991) ‘Perceived treatment difficulty and therapeutic alliance on an adolescent psychiatric hospital unit’, American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 61, 2, 221–229.Google Scholar
Corey, G. (2005) Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy, 7 th edn., Belmont, CA: Thomson: Brooks/Cole.Google Scholar
Coullhart, R. & Farrow, N. (2004) The Stockholm solution, Channel 9, The Sunday Program, 31 October.Google Scholar
Department of Health (2000a) Framework for the assessment of children and their families, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Department of Health (2000b) Assessing of children in need and their families: Practice guidance, London: The Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Fox Harding, L. (1991) Perspectives in child care policy, London: Longman.Google Scholar
Fraley, R.C. & Spieker, S.J. (2003) ‘Are infant attachment patterns continuously or categorically distributed? A taxometric analysis of strange situation behavior’, Developmental Psychology, 39, 3, 387–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gambrill, E. (2000) ‘The role of critical thinking in evidence-based social work’, in Allen-Meares, P. & Garvin, C. (eds.), The handbook of social work direct practice, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, pp. 43–63.Google Scholar
Gerhardt, S. (2004) Why love matters: How affection shapes a baby’s brain, London: Brunner-Routledge.Google Scholar
Holten, J. D. (1990) ‘When will mother blaming stop?’, Journal of Feminist Family Therapy, 21, 1, 53–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horvath, A. (2001) ‘The therapeutic alliance: Concepts, research, research and training’, Australian Psychologist, 36, 2, 170–176.Google Scholar
Howe, D. (1995) Attachment theory for social work practice, London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, D., Brandon, M., Hinings, D. & Schofield, G. (1999) Attachment theory, child maltreatment and family support, London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Howgcgo, I., Yellowlees, P., Owen, C., Meldrum, L. & Dark, F. (2003) ‘The therapeutic alliance: The key to effective patient outcomes? A descriptive review of the evidence in community mental health case management’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 37, 2, 169–183.Google Scholar
Isaac, R.J. & Armat, V.C. (1990) Madness in the streets: How psychiatry abandoned the mentally ill. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, H.C., Renaud, E.F., Schmidt, D.T. & Stanek, E.J. (1998) ‘Social worker’s views of parents of children with mental and emotional difficulties’, Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 79, 2, 173–187.Google Scholar
Johnson, L. & Wright, D. (2002) ‘Revisiting Bordin’s theory on the therapeutic alliance: Implications for family therapy’, Contemporary Family Therapy, 24, 2, 257–263.Google Scholar
Juffer, F. & Rosenboom, L.G. (1997) ‘Infant-mother attachment of internationally adopted children in the Netherlands’, International Journal of Behavioural Development, 20, 93–107.Google Scholar
Kagan, J. (1989a) ‘The idea of temperamental types’, in Kagan, J., Unstable ideas: Temperament, cognition and self, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 107–142.Google Scholar
Kagan, J. (1989b) ‘Inhibited and uninhibited children’, in Kagan, J., Unstable ideas: Temperament, cognition and self, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 143–175.Google Scholar
Laing, R.D. & Esterson, A. (1963) Sanity, madness and the family, London: Tavistock Publications.Google Scholar
Lorentzen, S.H., Sexton, H. & Hoglend, P. (2004) ‘Therapeutic alliance. cohesion and outcome in a long-term analytic group: A preliminary study, Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 58, 1, 33–40.Google Scholar
Macdonald, G. (2001) Effective interventions for child abuse and neglect, Chichester: Wiley.Google Scholar
Main, M. & Solomon, J. (1986) ‘Discovery of a new insecure-disorganiscd/disorientcd attachment pattern’, in Brazelton, T.B. & Yogman, M. (eds.), Affective development in infancy, Norwood, NJ: Ablex, pp. 95–124.Google Scholar
Martin, D., Garske, J. & Davis, M.K. (2000) ‘Relation of therapeutic alliance with outcome and other variables: A meta-analysis review’, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 3, 438–450.Google Scholar
Maslach, C. & Leiter, M.P. (1997) The truth about burnout. How organizations cause personal stress and what to do about it, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
McCubbin, H.I. & Patterson, J.M. (1983) ‘The family stress process: The double ABCX model of adjustment and adaptation’, in McCubbin, H.I., Sussman, M. & Patterson, J.M. (eds.), Social stress and the family: Advances and developments in family stress theory and research. New York: Haworth Press.Google Scholar
McCubbin, H.I., Thompson, A.I. & McCubbin, M.A. (1996) Family assessment: Resiliency, coping and adaptation. Inventories for research and practice, Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
McCubbin, H.I., Thompson, E.A., Thompson, A.I. & Futrell, J. (1999) The dynamics of resilient families. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Miller, W.R. & Rollnick, S. (1991) Motivational interviewing: Preparing people to change addictive behaviour. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
O’Connor, I., Wilson, J. & Setterland, D. (2003) Social work and welfare practice, 4 th edn., Sydney: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Posada, G. (2004) ‘Through Columbian lenses: Ethnographic and conventional analyses of maternal care and their associations with secure base behavior’, Developmental Psychology, 30, 4. 508–518.Google Scholar
Prochaska, J.O., DiClemente, C.C. & Norcross, J.C. (1992) ‘A search of how people change: Application to addictive behaviour’. American Psychologist, 47, 1114–1202.Google Scholar
Rapp, CA. (1998) The strengths model. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Read, W.J. & Epstein, L. (1972) Task centered casework, New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Reder, P., Duncan, S. & Gray, M. (1993) Beyond blame. Child abuse tragedies revisited, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Roisman, G.I., Padrón, E., Sroufe, L.A. & Egeland, B. (2002) ‘Eamed-secure attachment status in retrospect and prospect’, Child Development, 73, 4, 1204–1219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Saarnio, P. (2000) ‘Does it matter who treats you?’, European Journal of Social Work, 3, 3, 261–268.Google Scholar
Scott, D. & O’Neil, D. (1996) Beyond child rescue, Sydney: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Singer, L.M., Brodzinsky, D.M., Ramsey, D., Steir, M. & Waters, E. (1985) ‘Mother-infant attachment in adoptive families’, Child Development, 56, 1543–1551.Google Scholar
Spratt, T. & Callan, J. (2004) ‘Parents’ views on social work interventions in child welfare cases’, British Journal of Social Work, 34, 2, 199–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sroufe, L.A., Carlson, E.A., Levy, A.K. & Egeland, B. (1999) ‘Implications of attachment theory for developmental psychopathology’. Development and Psychopathology, II. 1–13.Google Scholar
Timms, N. (1983) Social work values: An enquiry, London: Routledge Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Trotter, C. (1999) Working with involuntary clients, Sydney: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Van der Feltz-Cornelis, C., Van Oppen, P., Van Marwijk, H., De Beurs, E. & Van Dyck, R. (2004) ‘A patient-doctor relationship questionnaire (PDRQ – 9) in primary care: Development and psychometric evaluation’, General Hospital Psxchiatn’, 26, 2, 115–120.Google Scholar
VanderVen, K.D. (1981) ‘Patterns of career development in group care’, in Ainsworth, F. & Fulcher, L.C. (eds.). Group care for children: Concept and issues. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
VanderVen, K.D. (2005) ‘Patterns of career development in group care’, in Fulcher, L.C. & Ainsworth, F. (eds.), The best of group care practice (forthcoming). New York: Haworth.Google Scholar
Wampold, B.E. (2001) The great psychotherapy debate: Models. methods and findings, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Waters, E. & Beauchaine, T.P. (2003) ‘Are there really patterns of attachment? Theoretical and empirical perspectives’, Developmental Psychology, 39, 3, 417–422.Google Scholar
Weatherburn, D. & Lind, B. (2001) Delinquent-prone communities, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Otherb, S.A. (2006) Social work in a risk society: Social and political perspectives, Basingstoke: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Werner-Wilson, R., Michaels, M., Gellhaus Thomas, S. & Thiesen, A. (2003) ‘Influence of therapist behavior on therapeutic alliance’. Contemporary Family Therapy, 325, 4, 381–390.Google Scholar