What is a family? If the answer is not straightforward, why was the requirement to work with a family part of the practice component of the Goldsmiths course?

The nuclear two-parent family living with their dependent children (not too many of them) is now no longer the norm, in spite of what certain politicians would have us believe: for example, one in five families with dependent children is now headed by a lone parent. In the examples of practice which follow we have illustrations of a range of family structures.

For the purposes of the course, the working definition of ‘a family’ was ‘two or more related people of different generations living in the same household’. Even this is a rough and inadequate definition, in that ‘the family’ can be a powerful reality even when its members are dispersed. As Sigurd Reimers comments, “it is often of greater value to focus on the quality of relationships rather than household composition”. So why work with a family? The response must be that the early dependency relationships, in whatever family structure, exercise an abiding influence on the way we live our lives and the families we go on to create. As Mary Cody writes, “the family is the major source of support and stress”.

The centrality of systems theory

Part 1 on direct work with children and young people stresses the centrality of attachment theory; in this chapter systems theory, and its relationship to attachment theory, is fundamental, as is a sharp awareness of structured power relationships. These can accrue to almost any aspect of difference and are perhaps most frequently seen in the way gender power is exercised in families. At some level this is a feature of all the work which follows, but most particularly in Michael Atkinson's work with the Reid family.

Both commentators stress that ‘thinking systems’ is not only appropriate but essential if intervention is to be relevant and effective. In the practice examples we see each author attempting to ‘think systems’ and apply that thinking in practice while grappling with a range of complex, and often dysfunctional, situations in which children may well be in need and/or at risk.