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‘Similar but Different’ Conversations: Working with Denial in Cases of Severe Child Abuse
Author(s) -
Essex Susie,
Gumbleton John
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.297
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1467-8438
pISSN - 0814-723X
DOI - 10.1111/j.0814-723x.1999.00115.x
Subject(s) - denial , project commissioning , service (business) , publishing , child abuse , psychology , balance (ability) , criminology , public relations , sociology , medicine , political science , law , suicide prevention , poison control , psychotherapist , business , medical emergency , marketing , neuroscience
This article describes a particular aspect of a service called ‘Resolutions’ that has been developed at the NSPCC Child and Family Centre in Bristol, England. The Resolutions service works with families where parents and/or carers are disputing responsibility for serious abuse of their children, but where child protection agencies deem at least one of them culpable on a balance of probabilities. The service's general approach to developing partnerships with families is briefly considered, but the article concentrates on a particular approach. This is where parents and/or carers who are disputing abuse of their children roleplay a ‘similar but different’ family. This enables key issues in relation to child abuse to be discussed by the parents and/or carers. It also facilitates the gaining of greater understanding that helps them ensure the future safety of their own and other children.