Authoritative Social Care Intervention
in Engaging Resistant, Challenging
and Complex Families
‘Authority
is not a dirty word. Indeed, it
must be brought officially from behind the
arras of social work training onto the public
stage, not just of child care law but also into
the practice of all social workers. We regard
it as an essential ingredient in any work
designed to protect abused children’.
(London Borough of Brent, 1985: 295)
PARENTS’ RESISTANT AND NON-COMPLIANT BEHAVIOUR
Behaviour which produces damaging effects, physically or
emotionally, in other people and involves proactively using such
behaviour to sabotage efforts to bring about change or
alternatively passively disengaging.
Non-compliance involves parents and carers lacking any
commitment to change but working subversively to undermine
the process through concealment, superficiality, dishonesty or
incapability.
In both cases when a parent is considered hostile or
threatening, any presumption that he/she is different with
his/her children must be rigorously tested.
(Coventry Local Safeguarding Child Board, Working with
Resistant and Non-Compliant Families, para. 3.29)
NON-COMPLIANCE, DECEPTION AND HOSTILITY:
RECURRING THEMES IN SCRs
 Resistance to professional intervention
 Lying and deceitfulness
 Failure to attend day nursery or school
 Refused access
 Whereabouts unknown
 Violent behaviour
 Pressure from within the family not to disclose
 A period of silence
TACTICS USED BY PARENTS AND CARERS TO HIDE THE CHILD AND/OR THE
PERPETRATOR OR THE SIGNS OF THE HARM PERPETRATED ON THE CHILD
 Mobile families
 Blocking the worker’s way into the home
 Stage managing visits by restricting workers sight of and contact with child
 Using the physical space of the home and objects in rooms (TV, dogs, tables)
to control where workers and children sit. Distracting the workers.
 Using clothing and substances (e.g. chocolate) to hide injuries
 Coaching children to suggest all is well
 Dirt and smell used to disgust workers and prevent them from moving or
touching the child
 Using part of the home to hide abusers or children.
THREE CATEGORIES OF RESISTANCE
(Wild 2010)
Threatening
Belligerent
Emotional
‘The capacity of workers to protect children can
be seriously diminished as they do not, in any
meaningful sense, have a relationship with the
children because the abusers are controlling and
orchestrating what happens. Just getting out of
the house unscathed becomes the defining
criterion of a good intervention’.
(Ferguson, 2011: 167)
STRATEGIES
Know the case history
Rehearse
Be confident
STRATEGIES CONTINUED (C4EO)…..
 Dealing openly with the power dynamics.
 Demonstrating empathy and relationship skills, balanced with an authoritative
approach.
 Not permitting adults’ problems to eclipse children’s needs.
 Being able to distinguish between families genuinely engaged and those
exhibiting ‘false compliance’.
 Recognising that non-engagement or hostility hamper practitioners’ decisionmaking capabilities.
 Countering over-optimism.
 Organising and analysing information for assessments as well as gathering it.
 Observing parent–child interactions and capturing the voices of children.
 Recognising that good supervision is essential.
WHAT STOPS US FROM INTERVENING?
Partnership with parents
Strengths-led approach
‘Problem families’ and ‘dangerous families’
Ambivalence about the use of authority
Reluctance to accept ‘damage’
‘A tendency by social and health care workers
towards
rationalisation
and
underresponsiveness in certain situations. In these
conditions workers focus on adults’ strengths,
rationalise evidence to the contrary and interpret
data in the light of this optimistic view’.
(Daniel Pelka SCR, p. 43, citing Learning Lessons
from Serious Case Reviews, 2009-2010, Ofsted.)
TOWARDS AUTHORITATIVE INTERVENTIONS
Authoritative practice means that professionals are
aware of their professional power, use it judiciously
and that they also interact with clients and other
professionals with sensitivity, empathy, willingness
to listen and negotiate and to engage in
partnerships. They respect client autonomy and
dignity
while
recognising
their
primary
responsibility is the protection of children from
harm and the promotion of their well-being.
AUTHORITATIVE INTERVENTIONS CONTINUED…..
Authority
Care
and
Control
Humility
Empathy
PRACTICE POINTERS
(Tuck 2013)
 Clear targets and timescales that are consistent with the child’s
needs and development.
 Low threshold for concern: parents can expect to be challenged
about poor parenting and further harm to their children
including chronic neglect.
 Focus maintained on the child. Risk assessment is seen as a key
mechanism for achieving this and ensuring that parents are
clear about concerns
 Parents’ capacity to change.
 High expectations of services and professionals.
DISCUSSION POINTS
How comfortable are you with having and using
authority?
How do you use your authority to work with challenging
or resistant parents?
Where did your skills originate? (For example, are they
your own, through team discussions, based on
research/evidence-based, developed from training?)
How useful have you found the skills you have acquired
in challenging resistant parents?