MAKING THE LINKS — A CHILD PSYCHOTHERAPY PERSPECTIVE WITHIN A SYSTEMIC TEAM UNDERTAKING PARENTING ASSESSMENTS FOR COURT

Abstract

In this paper I explore the complexity of the child and adolescent psychotherapist's role as part of a multi‐disciplinary team undertaking parenting assessments for the family courts. I describe the expertise that the child psychotherapist has in understanding the complex internal world of the child. I use a brief clinical vignette in order to elaborate on the specialist contribution that focuses on the individual child. I explain some of the psychoanalytic thinking that underpins the child psychotherapy approach to this work and how it can contribute to the thinking of the larger team, which is, in this work setting, systemic in its orientation. I describe the child psychotherapist's task as primarily to make a link with the child, to get to know him or her and try to understand what it is that is being communicated. This work is done mainly within the context of individual sessions with the child and will reveal what is in the child's mind in terms of expectations of how people behave and relate to one another. The next step is to bring this knowledge of the child's perspective to feedback meetings with the parents and co‐workers in the team, so that the team can add it to their assessment of the links between the parent and the child and the parents and other parents in the multi‐family group. The broadest level involves how thinking can be shared between professionals in the network to create more secure and enduring relationships for children and parents who have had disruptions and trauma in their lives.