The one factor that is characteristic of these case illustrations is our acceptance of greater responsibility. It is quite clear that in our practice we have to begin to move out more firmly to certain clients. We accept the parent's right to make his own decision, but we question the wisdom of having him base it solely on his impulse to resist help and not include his wish to help his child. The community gives authority to the family agency. This is not the authority of the court or the protective agency, but the more subtle one that goes with professional skill and knowledge of the dynamics of human behavior. We are still, often, too hesitant about accepting a role that is essentially a preventive one. The limits imposed on us by the client's right to make his own decision about using help is a valid and essential part of the process. One could, however, pursue this idea to its ultimate end and maintain that a family has a right to pursue its own path to self-destruction. But when the lives of young children are affected, we cannot limit ourselves to such a passive role. To do so would mean that the problems of children are not our concern until the point of crisis and emergency has been reached, a development that we have encouraged by our passivity. There is a need for more concerted and aggressive efforts on our part so that we are more truly offering a preventive service to the community. A client's decision to use help will be influenced, we believe, by the degree of firmness and persistence with which we approach him. Furthermore, we need not fear that we shall force our help on the client too much, since this is a manifest impossibility anyway. A lack of conviction in offering service, as evidenced by our willingness to withdraw at the first rebuff, can only leave the parent more comfortable in continuing in an unhealthy situation. We need to be more aggressive in our approach, so that if we finally have to accept a client's refusal of our help, we are sure we have used, to the fullest extent, every available means to demonstrate our ability and desire to be of help to him.