|| Trust and Betrayal in the Treatment of Child Abuse
||Laurie K. MacKinnon
||The Guilford Press, © 1998
72 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012
This 260-page book by an Australian therapist is based upon her experiences
in working with families who are involved with child protection. The focus
is on developing an effective therapeutic relationship with clients in these
very difficult cases.
The book begins with a discussion as to why child protection cases are so
hard and how therapists are at risk to buy into their clients' pathology
and resistance to child protection. The author sees the therapist's role
as that of a power broker between child protection and the family. She describes
the differences between families who are self-referred and those who are
referred by child protection, and the additional difficulties with a "welfare"
family. She next addresses the dynamics and values of working class families,
their beliefs about family control and the use of punishment, and how these
may differ from middle-class families.
Following this, the author describes her method of earning the parents'
trust in therapy, and emphasizes the necessity of not unfairly aligning
with child protection. She also covers the importance of intervening with
child protection when necessary. The last chapters address creating and
maintaining family motivation for therapy, getting the parents' description
of the abuse event, and developing healthy and useful family discourse.
The book concludes with a brief description of the research project upon
which the book is based.
Case histories are presented throughout and practical suggestions are given,
such as instructions on how to prepare the family for an apology meeting
with the victim. The author notes that child protective workers seldom know
how to effectively work with men and fathers and that the concept of "helping"
in itself can create problems. She disputes the pathology theory held by
many professionals and, throughout, treats parents with dignity and seriousness.
This book is recommended for therapists who work with this population as
well as for child protective workers.
Reviewed by LeRoy G. Schultz, Emeritus Professor, West Virginia University.