Group Care Practitioners as Family Workers

Abstract

This article sets out a rationale and provides a model for family work by group care practitioners. In doing so it points out that practitioners will need to avoid parent blaming attitudes and become family-centered rather than simply child-focused. Thus the critical issues to be addressed are how to ensure that a group care program is from an organization, policy, and practice perspective congruent with a family-centered model. If it is not, then a program is unlikely to be able to work successfully with birth parents and family members. Birth parents and family members will instead feel alienated and, as a result, are unlikely to cooperate with the group care program and the practitioner workforce. In fact, the program will have failed to incorporate family members into the care and treatment plan and to work with them as partners in this process even when it is in the best interest of a child or youth.