Introduction to Working with Families

hello viewers am professor Anuradha from the Department of Social Work Shree Padmavati my lavish with the alum Tirupati welcome to this lessons on working with families we all know that family is primary social system which occupies the place of crucial importance in our life it's the basic source for realization of our personal satisfaction an instrument for social change and ultimately the source for evolution of mankind in India family relationships shape and guide the behavior of members working together and generating solutions for predicament is the hallmark of our Indian family however in the later part of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st we find that families have been profoundly transformed in almost every part of the world and India is no exception social worker is presented with variety of issues and the level of individual families and their members which may be reflection of the changes that are taking place in the Indian family system it's therefore imperative to understand the significance of family as context for Social Work practice and also to know about the process and skills that are involved so to begin with what our objectives on completion of this chapter you should be able to explain the importance of family as context for Social Work practice and explain the process of family-centered social law practice and also enumerate the skills and techniques of working with families now we'll start with family as context for social practice family is primary system responsible for meeting the needs of its members therefore it is system most apt to influence the functioning of its individual members described as an agency for socialization family as vital institution is now in process of rapid formation changes are taking place in its composition size role relationships and poverty Strabane daeun family is undergoing transition from an institution which mainly served society's needs to you unit that meets the needs of only its members hence family-centered intervention is essential to promote and protect the values and rights of individuals families and rights of families with respect to their environment family as multi-client system family is fundamental experience with multiple person interactions hence while working with families it is first necessary to understand family as social system this means that social worker must understand not only the persons who are members of the system but also the subsystems that exist within the system and the system itself this includes understanding the relationships among the individuals and the subsistence in terms of structure and functions family Systems Theory the influence of systems thinking in the evolution of family theory was evident from the 1970s in recent years there has been increased attention on the family systems interaction with its broader physical and social environment thereby reflecting an expansion of the family perspective as it is influenced by the ecological perspective family put system's perspective focuses attention on the family as discrete entity rather than as collection of individuals according to Hartman and late in 1983 living systems are assumed to be open systems with boundaries that are to some extent permeable and open to new information from their environments which in turn determined the system's potential for growth and change they strive towards cultural balance or crisis integrity and sustain adaptive balance with their environment in order to survive consistent with the general systems paradigm family is used as an open transactive and adaptive system capable of either self-directed or externally directed growth and change ecological systems approach to working with families an ecological systems approach is basically an eclectic approach which integrates the various theories of human behavior especially concepts from ecology and the general systems approach when ecology is used as matter of practice in the context of family-centered interventions the unit of attention according to this theory includes the individual the family the salient environment and the transactional relationship among these systems from this ecosystems perspective persons in their environment are not viewed separately but examined reciprocally in terms of their interaction thus ecological model is theoretical foundation for family-centered approach family resources and support while working with families family members personal resources the family systems internal resources social support and coping mechanisms have been found to be pertinent areas of focus family resources include its individual members and the collective strength of all members available during difficult or stressful situation personal resources of the individual family members include demographic and social cultural characteristics members physical health and five psychological resources such as self-esteem sense of control or mastery and personal characteristics specimen family resources had that have been frequently elaborated and examined empirically our family cohesion adaptability and communication social supports have also been extensively studied as sources in stress management social support as it pertains to family stress response will focus on supportive exchanges within the family system supportive exchanges between the extended primary social network and extending supportive resources through encouraging family participation in broad range of mutual and self-help groups thus familial supports are those resources that are available within the family while social supports are the supports available to the family familial support may be the support provided by the members in the family and their immediate relatives while social support is supporter provided at school work organizations such as churches and temples friends neighbors and so on familial and social support may be seen in terms of concrete support emotional support infirmity of advice providing Direction closeness frequency of meetings and the duration of relationship now let us see what we understand by family-centered intervention model in family-centered intervention the family is perceived not only as context for social work practice but it is actually viewed as client or field of action unlike in casework family-centered intervention all the members of the family are seen together this is so because human beings are viewed in relation to their intimate and larger environments thus the main focus in family-centered intervention is person in environment wherein the concern and focuses on those transactions between the family members and their environment family-centered approach is process of working with families based on set of practices and philosophy in which families are recognized as having unique concerns strengths and values so let us see now what is the focus of this family-centered approach what are the themes the circular pattern of interaction between the family members and their environments assessment and intervention in areas such as family structure communication organization rule governing processes and their ecological or network relationship interventions focused at working with family interactions as whole rather than individual characterization strong assumption that resources for change are present in the powerful family system and intervention is focused more on structure and process in the family relationship system than the actual content of family communication will now turn onto the Hartman and lead family centered model Hartman and late have drawn up model of family-centered intervention practice which is based on ecological and systems perspective and it's relevant for working with families in context of India so what are the basic premises of this model to intimate and powerful human systems namely the family of origin which has developed over the generation over time and the current family system or network of intimate relationships as it exists today have deep and far-reaching effects on its members the family is also transaction system which is in constant interchange with its external environment and constantly developing at intergenerational levels through time change in one part of the system has an impact on all the other parts of the system problems or difficulties faced by individuals are perceived as results of deficits in the environment or dysfunctional transactions between systems rather than disease processes within the individuals thus the family-centered interventions according to this model are those transactions among the persons the family and the environment which individuals families and even the largest social systems and other systems focus and they are enmeshed to it now let's look at some of the principles of working with families these principles were given by Johnson in 1998 what are those principles social history of the family unit has to be developed so that social work against necessary understanding of the family caring understanding relationship be developed with the total family unit and not just with certain individuals within the unit problems are to be owned by the family not blamed on individual family members while working with single parent or blended families it is important to consider the influence of the absent parent and finally understand the differences in family functioning and structure within different cultural groups so viewers in the section 1 we have looked at the rationale for working with family as context for social over practice and we have also looked at some of the models that are relevant when we are involved in family-centered social practice now we'll go on to the process of family-centered social work practice working with families whether it is short term work with families or long term work with families it proceeds in many phases like any other helping process it involves the initial or the beginning phase the middle or the intermediate phase and ending or the termination phase the time and content depends on the nature of issues that had to be dealt at the family level and also the tasks that have been set forth to work with the families because it's collaboration of the social worker with the family now in this particular family-centered Social Work practice we will look at the model enunciated by and Norton in 1990 and it's actually very flexible and process oriented framework which can be adapted to many helping situation so here an attempt has been made to adapt that model of framework to general family-centered social practice so now let's look at the stages of the family-centered Social Work practice the beginning phase in social work family enters the intervention system through the problem of one of its members the early sessions begin with the social workers attempt to gain an understanding about the client's family situation configuration this phase is basically an assessment phase and it depends on the social worker skill to build working relationship with the client and the family it's so because family members enter the helping situation with gambit of feelings and experiences related to the problem at hand so social workers characteristics are very important and influenced the helping process if the genuineness of the social worker to initiate develop and maintain working relationship is important because it makes them feel accepted and respected so that they can feel free to talk about their thoughts feelings and reactions about the problem and developing such relationship is not easy it's complex and intricate so social worker has to make an attempt to understand the forces that exert on the Family so sing various roles played by the family members and also to understand the dynamics in terms of authority and structure during this phase social worker can use techniques such as exploration and open questioning and there is it the necessary information while increasing the family members to get involved and helping the family to examine given situation the social worker stresses the need to focus on the facts feelings and opinions related to the situation social worker can use assessment tool such as genogram and eco map to describe deviance and also help members to understand the connection between their thoughts and feelings when the whole family is involved in the exploration process family members start identifying with their feelings and reactions and start thinking about their goals this beginning phase is important because it leads to the initiation of the problem-solving process the ecological perspective based work involves that the social worker tries to understand the relationship that the family members have with their environment because help and guidance cannot be provided without an adequate understanding of the various aspects related to the problem the relationship between the family members their behavior patterns nature and type of communication present etc has to be discussed and their relationship to the environment has to be elaborated another important thing is this is also time when the practitioner clarifies the nature and purpose of the helping situational and the social worker here while working with the families enlists the participation of the family in the enabling process because mutual agreement has to be established between the social worker and the family unit irrespective of their roles and their roles are made very clear the caring attitude of the social worker use of paraphrasing and other skills enhances the motivation of the family members and instills in them sense of work this is also phase where structuring of work has to be done and when we say structuring of work we mean create conducive environment for the family because it should create an environment where it promotes effective communication with the family members and also helps to maintain focus on the tasks that need to be achieved another important skill here required is clarification during this assessment process social worker has to share his or her understanding about the family situation at regular intervals so social workers commence questions explanations all these promote shared understanding between the social worker and the family unit another important thing is process orientation is very important in the intermediate phase because in family-centered practice process oriented approach helps to increase the family members to speak to reflect and explore and it also helps to understand the interplay between their thoughts and feelings now let's go on to the middle phase of family-centered Social Work practice this is actually the core phase of the helping process it's the stage where we help the family members to think of ways to deal with the problem the social worker can explore with the family members about the problem situation what it means to them and scope is provided for ventilation of their emotional reactions and this is also phase we help them to develop skills required to focus on their problem and so the essential skills that are required or the areas of concern while working with families here are helping in them to develop skills of communication problem solving and learning so that they can perform their roles effectively and sometimes even behavior modification techniques are used and another thing is the role of the social worker the social workers rule must be that of acceptance empathy and genuineness the social worker has to role play these qualities and when we are talking about problem-solving in the context of family it is related to communication so as mentioned earlier should help the family members to communicate effectively and engage in an effective problem solving process another important area in the middle phases when we are trying to help the family members they should learn to develop competence in their roles because when one person is facing problem there is shift in responsibilities in connection with the other person so some families which have flexibility may shift and adapt to new roles and responsibilities by those families that have rigid family structure may find it difficult to adapt to their role changes and social worker helps the family members explore the changes that have taken place after the problem has arisen it special reference to how the family has been coping since the onset of the problem then we turn on to the ending face the ending face is characterized with termination as we all discussed when we are talking about the case for process usually what the social worker does is he or she prepares the family for termination in advance the social worker enables the family members to reflect on the tasks or goals that have been achieved through the helping process and the major task here is to review the progress made focus on unfinished tasks if any and plan for the future unfortunately though termination is vital and important process it is fairly neglected component in practice so social workers have to make special and sincere efforts to help the family to deal with their final act of termination and assured them about the availability though he or she may not meet the family on regular basis after termination of the case so that's about the process of family-centered social law practice now let's have quick look at the skills and techniques of family-centered social practice and these skills and techniques have been outlined by Hartman and late and they form very solid basis while we are working with the families so now let's look at those skills and techniques first thing is attending we have seen the skill earlier in the case for process also giving adequate and full attention to the family as unit is very very important in other words we have to make the family members feel that we are available for the family as unit and another important thing is engaging what do we mean by engaging engagement with the family means joining with the family this technique is particularly important because it conveys message to the family by the social work of that we want to connect with the family and in the Indian context it's very important because in India people come only as the last resort to seek the help in the family context and another skill very important one is structuring the social worker has to create conducive atmosphere for facilitating smooth participation of working with family members in the sessions in other words it means making physical arrangements setting realistic rules and limits maintaining focus planning all these are the aspects of structuring empathy it's core technique skill where we demonstrate to the family that we have accurately perceived what the Romney members are feeling along with the source of that feeling when they talk about the issues reflecting when we say reflecting we are repeating back to the family as unit anything phase work or any expression that the family members have spoken because when we use this technique it conveys to the family members that we are attending to them it helps to clarify issues and also gives the family members an opportunity to listen to the words that have spoken another important skill is paraphrasing by paraphrasing we mean stating very briefly the meaning that we have understood in the clients message this is followed by open questioning when we see open questioning we encourage the family members to share more fully or clearly about an issue tracking sequences refers to tracking the behavioral or action sequences which are related to problem situation because this technique is actually very interesting but involves lot of time and considerable activity but it needs to be used very patiently on part of the social worker if it is essential hypothesizing is another skill this means the social worker formulates tentative assumption about problem situation which is related to the clients problem and also related to the further sessions so it helps to keep the sessions focused and it also deals with lot of mass information that comes from the clients direction when we say direction the social worker uses his professional knowledge and experience and provides direction to the client in terms of suggestions and advice another skill is clarification which means it refers to the promoting change in the family's understanding about the emotional or conceptual meaning of behavior relationship even's or any environmental events confrontation it means the social worker faces one or more members of the family with the reality of an event and emotion or behavior family members are also taught problem-solving skills and the purpose of this skill is to facilitate the family members to create the necessary circumstances to achieve their goals summarizing is another one skill which refers to gathering together of the client statement so that you can identify specific thoughts feelings either two reinforcement patterns and connections activity oriented interventions are another important skill because we make extensive use of procedures and skills especially activities related to verbal exchange and they have proved to be very effective by working with family members and finally use of assignments is also found to be very effective the of assignments directories and tasks is very helpful in extending the change effort in the daily life of the clients so we can give importance to this also so to summarize in this lesson we have looked at the importance of family as context for Social Work practice we looked in detail about the stages that are involved in the family-centered model and lastly we have looked at the skills and techniques that are involved by effective work with families you