Hi all,
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/2183663.pdf
Just reading the recently published Dept of Communities Louise Casey report on the 120,000 'troubled families' that are apparently a significant financial burden on the Exchequer (See link above). Beyond the questionable methodological issues (16 families interviewed in a two month time frame with generalised findings to 120,000 families) what is interesting is the total lack of any analysis of the impact of poverty, poor housing, unemployment and the relationship between social deprivation and other forms of familial deprivation. In fact these words do not feature anywhere in the report. Perhaps she thinks it's a coincidence? Or perhaps it's another politically motivated effort to characterise a socially excluded underclass of people as irresponsible, morally deficient, bad parents? She talks about mental health problems but only as a vehicle to illustrate how this impedes people's parenting capacity rather than questioning the 'Causes of the causes' as Michael Marmot suggests. It's a profoundly psychological analysis in that it takes account of inter-generational patterns of neglect and abuse but denies or buries the social.
Perhaps people on this list might have some ideas about ways to contest these findings and how to offer a more rounded analysis of the ways that macro processes interact with family functioning?
I know that of course this report will attempt to deny the impact of wider social forces but it would be good to think of constructive ways of engaging with this material. As a BPS Section that some of us are members of is there an opportunity to write a statement of response, all be it safe in the knowledge that it will make no significant difference? It might however offer an alternative analysis that those of us working these families can use to argue and contest in our local situations. The work I have been engaged in with the Great Yarmouth Father's Project has enquired into similar areas and is developing a quite different set of conclusions about the relationship between parenting and social processes. It would be good to hear the perspectives of other people engaged in working with families.
Best wishes,
Danny
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