Abstract
When beginning with a situation involving the dysfunction of a child, the clinical social worker should take care to enter and engage the relevant family and school systems in a manner that gives the best chance for effective treatment. Using an ecological-systems perspective, the authors discuss problem development as a process, and present a model that searches for accessible variables and establishes an early “narrow contract.” These moves earn the clinician a place in the system, credibility, and the leverage to work for change.
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The model of practice presented here is partially based upon work done in 1977–1983 with students of the Columbia University School of Social Work in a student unit based at the Kings County Hospital Center, Brooklyn, New York. The unit was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health Community Mental Health M.S. Program (Grant#5T01-1389505).
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Bryant, C., Zayas, L.H. Initial moves with school-family conflict: Entering, engaging and contracting. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 3, 87–100 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00757216
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00757216