Written by a psychologist who has worked with families and foster children for 11 years, Treating Families and Children in the Child Protective System is designed for therapists, social workers, family preservationists, court officers, attorneys, judges, and others caught up in the interplay of child protection. Using theory and compelling case studies, the author posits child abuse as an ultimate form of family injustice, requiring intervention at every level of the system. The author proposes a critically optimistic stance, approaching each case as a family-friend with practical and powerful tools to direct the overwhelming power of the system into a force for the restoration of family justice. Treating Families and Children in the Child Protective System is a journey through the praxis and culture of CPS, mapped by therapists working with the clients it is intended to serve. Using theory, strategies and compelling case studies, the author argues that child abuse and neglect are ultimate forms of family injustice and that no intervention can succeed if it does not restore justice to the relationship between victims and offenders. Instead, CPS often supplants the natural family with foster care, thus avoiding these issues and in many cases creating an entirely new level of injustice for child and family. While at times helpful, family preservation strategies typically focus on case management or solution focused cures, failing to address the deeply engrained family injustice expressed in the abuse of children. The author offers neither a simple critique of the system and exoneration of families, nor a disparaging attack on those who mistreat their young. Instead he proposes that critically optimistic therapists, evaluators, court officers and caseworkers approach each case as family-friends with powerful tools to make real and lasting change thereby directing the overwhelming power of the system into a force for the restoration of family justice. --- from the publisher Contents: Table of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. Turning Points Chapter 2. Justice Themes in Family Therapy Chapter 3. Curative Factors and Obstacles to Change Chapter 4. Contrition, Forgiveness, and The Restoration of Justice Chapter 5. The Power of Apology Chapter 6. I Never Heard You Cry Before Chapter 7. Navigating the Child Protective System Chapter 8. Family-Friendly Therapy and Evaluation: Priorities and Process Chapter 9. Tracks and Strategies in the Foster Care Crisis Chapter 10. You Can't Fight the System Chapter 11. Defending September Chapter 12. Ringing the Bell: Integrating Contrition into an Existing Program of Chapter 13. Epilogue References Quotes: A profound and eminently readable treatise that provides clear guidelines to practitioners of child and family therapy who interact with social agencies. Wes Crenshaw is an expert to be studied and modeled -- Jeffrey K. Zeig, Ph.D., Director, The Milton H. Erickson Foundation Readers will find themselves and their clients, both in their successes and their failures, with a better understanding of what went right or what went wrong. I recommend this book with enthusiasm -- Paul B. Pedersen, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Syracuse University and Visiting Professor, University of Hawaii Don't abandon hope, ye who enter into the world of very difficult families and the so-called child protective system! Take Wes Crenshaw as your guide. Smart, savvy, and impassioned, he provides a moral compass and the theory of strategic humanism, beautifully illustrated with poignant, real-life case examples, to help clinicians and caseworkers navigate the many perils that one is likely to encounter. Highly recommended! ---Michael F. Hoyt, Ph.D., Senior Staff Psychologist, Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, San Rafael; Author of Brief Therapy and Managed Care In one of the most useful books to appear in a long time, Wes Crenshaw shows how to implement a host of ingenious strategies while still retaining the genuineness and authenticity necessary for working with this very difficult population -- Michael P. Nichols, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, College of William and Mary; Author of The Lost Art of Listening About the Author: Dr. Wes Crenshaw, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and holds board certification in Family Psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). Dr. Crenshaw directs the Institute and has over 11 years of experience providing therapy to families and adults. He specializes in working with adolescents and young adults on issues of sexuality, interpersonal conflict, eating, oppositional behavior, substance abuse, and academic achievement. He is trained and experienced in conducting parenting and custody evaluations for the courts, and has a unique specialization in foster care and adoption therapies. He has published papers in numerous peer-reviewed journals and has served as a training consultant and supervisor for numerous agencies in Kansas, Colorado, and Virginia. |