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Professionals' understanding of partnership with parents in the context of family support programmes
Author(s) -
Houte Sabine,
Bradt Lieve,
Vandenbroeck Michel,
BouverneDe Bie Maria
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
child and family social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-2206
pISSN - 1356-7500
DOI - 10.1111/cfs.12067
Subject(s) - general partnership , psychological intervention , context (archaeology) , intervention (counseling) , meaning (existential) , variety (cybernetics) , family support , welfare , psychology , public relations , nursing , medicine , political science , psychotherapist , paleontology , artificial intelligence , computer science , law , biology , physical therapy
Partnership has become a dominant concept in current thinking about the parent–professional relationship within a variety of interventions aimed at child welfare, including family support practice. However, despite the burgeoning policy and research attention, the meaning of partnership in practice remains unclear. Based on interviews with professionals in a family support intervention in F landers (the D utch‐speaking part of B elgium), this paper offers an insight into professionals' daily interactions with parents. The analysis reveals a tension between professionals' commitment towards parents on the one hand, and the way professionals take up this commitment in an expert role on the other. Consequences for professionals' relationships in child and family welfare interventions are discussed, as well as some implications for the realization of proper partnerships that acknowledge the power imbalances that exist in such partnerships.