Working with uncooperative or
resistant families
James Blewett
Research Director
Making Research Count
King’s College London
4th November Hillingdon SCB Conference
Language is important
• What do we mean by “resistant”—resistant to
change, resistant to working with professionals?
• “Uncooperative” with whom? How do we
measure cooperation?
• “Hard to help?”
A professional reality
• A significant number of families who use children’s
social care services do so on an involuntary basis
(Balloch, 35%; Thoburn, 17%)
• Nevertheless this remains an under researched area.
Much of the research has relied on parents and
practitioners perceptions/ case records
• Therefore it is not always clear whether families
were not receiving services or were actively resisting
intervention
Key issues
• It is crucial we understand the meaning/
function and of uncooperative or resistant
behaviour
• A key component of any assessment is an
understanding of the dynamic in the
relationship between family members and
professionals
Families and services
• Serious case review research has highlighted
how some practitioners can be deflected by
family members who are skilled at hiding
information, misleading professionals and can
be very manipulative (Brandon et al, 2009;
2010)
• Some family members can behave in ways that
are frightening for professionals
However
• Families themselves often report difficult
experiences with professionals in safeguarding
• Research undertaken by the Office of the
Children’s Commissioner (June, 2010) echoes
much of the research in this area over the last 20
years
Potential “stand off”
• The potential there is for a ‘stand off’ position between
service users and professionals concerning problems,
needs and services
• Perceived failures of understanding by professionals and
disagreement about their needs lay behind the family
members’ perception of resistance
• Yet similar feelings were common to both the families
and the workers: both groups felt they would be prejudged and both could feel defensive from the outset
The impact of professional
involvement
• The traumatic impact upon young people and
adults, particularly at the start, of being involved
with the child protection system
• The fear of the consequences, the sense of
suspicion and mistrust and the formality of the
processes
Barriers to accessing services
• The barriers to using services, which the families
and young people identified, underline many of the
good practice issues addressed in the review
• fundamental issues of respect and experience of a
double standard in behaviour which reinforced
powerlessness and stigma
• Good support would be undermined by frequent
changes of worker, with consequent changes of plan
• Frustration at not getting early access to services
On the positive side
• There were clear messages about what was
wanted from social workers and the value of
workers who understood, cared, were
knowledgeable and worked openly.
• Both families and young people and social
workers valued relationship based practice
Professional relationships
• Complex relationships often reduced to linear
processes (Munro, 2010)
• The paradox that tight procedural systems can
have the unintended consequences of undermine
professional expertise and authoritative practice
Working with complexity
• The meaning of “truth and lies”(Harvey, 2010)
• The role and context of the home visit
(Ferguson, 2010)
• Engaging and sustaining relationships with
adolescents
The impact of systemic issues
• Capacity issues in terms of volume and expertise
• “churn” at the front line
• Uncertainty and instability
• The importance of promoting professional
resilience
What helps (Fauth et al, 2010, C4EO)
1. A detailed assessment is essential, even if
difficulties exist.
2. Practitioners be aware of families with changing
and unstable membership.
3. Information should be organised and analysed.
4. Direct Observation Essential in complex cases.
1. A detailed assessment is essential,
even if difficulties exist.
• Gathering a social history
• The importance of it being a multi agency
process
• Reflecting the views of family members
• Understanding the history of professional
involvement
2. Practitioners be aware of families
with changing and unstable
membership.
• The role of men and “fathering figures”
• Domestic violence and the “absent” father
• Extended family can be a source of stress as well
as support
• The fragility of relationships in stressed family
systems
3 Information should be organised
and analysed.
• Keeping a focus on the child (Significant harm)
• Understanding the impact of psycho –social
histories of parents
• Being aware of environmental factors on the child
and family
• Being clear about what needs to change, what needs
to happen to achieve that change (Brandon et al,
2009)
4 Direct Observation Essential in
complex cases.
• Crucial part of any assessment
• Can be gained from one than more source
• Easy to by pass or undertake tokenistically
• Needs to be rooted in a framework for
understanding parenting and of child
development (training need)
Conclusions
• Acknowledging different “operational perspectives
(Cleaver, 1995) Avoiding ultimatums—not seeing
compliance as an end in itself
• The importance of sustained relationships with
families
• Not losing sight of the child’s experience
• The importance of holding onto the values of
partnership and both ethical and sensitive practice