Introducing Resilient Therapy to the Family Courts

Derek Blincow Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist Helen Thomas Psychiatric Social Worker and Head of Systemic Psychotherapy and Angie Hart Professor of Child Family and Community Health and Psychodynamic Counsellor Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Brighton. Seasoned family law practitioners will perhaps recognise the cut-and-paste quality of many of the professional reports which fatten their bundles. Under the heading 'welfare checklist' and particularly under the subheading 'physical emotional and educational needs' the starting point is frequently '[the child] needs stability security certainty and continuity of care'. We are aware of how the care system frequently fails to deliver just those ingredients the reports deem so necessary. Public awareness of the damage suffered by children because of the care system has been heightened through the press and also the recently published White Paper Care Matters: Time for Change Cm 7137 (TSO 2007). The latter proposes improvements designed to remedy the system's most glaring deficits.

In this article the authors argue that optimal therapeutic assessment needs to happen in order to assure the court that everything...

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