Dynamics of professional parental status disclosure in child protection work

Professional parental status disclosure in intensive family intervention work

“…Despite these differences, it can still be said that, in the case of both groups, workers were in touch with their motivations to speak or not speak about their parental status with parents to varying degrees. I argued in regard to the analysis addressing the interviews with the social worker participants, which holds true for this analysis, that while it is important for professionals to be helped to develop a coherent understanding of self-disclosure and provided with guidance around advantages and disadvantages of its use, they should also be encouraged to more closely attend to their own investments regarding the matter as part of supervision arrangements (see Archard, 2020a). Greater openness in services and teams around the issue of selfdisclosure may not be easy to foster given the mixed messages there are around being inappropriate and overly familiar with families by disclosing on the one hand and being somehow disingenuous or aloof by not disclosing (which is likely reflected in a lack of service policy or practice guidance about the issueor clarity within it).…”

“…143-146, 2006. However, during this period, it can also be said that there has been something of a discernible shift in the literature from this standpoint in terms of the degree of emphasis accorded to the potential and actual benefits of self-disclosure (Archard, 2020a). The role self-disclosure can play in normalising families' problems has been emphasised, and the extent to which families may view workers as more authentic, even credible as professionals, when they do disclose personal things about themselves, including about being a parent, has been highlighted (de Boer and Coady, 2007).…”

“…Despite these claims, it can still be said that professionals currently working in child protection and child welfare settings may still avoid self-disclosure (and parental status disclosure) and/or perceive it as unhelpful or unnecessary. The separate analysis completed as part of the study from which this analysis is drawn (Archard, 2020a) revealed that a more open stance regarding parental status disclosure did not tend to be invested in by the child protection social workers interviewed. For many of the social workers, who were in their 20s, early or mid-30s at the time of the study, conceding one was not a parent to parents was viewed as an act that may lead to one's professional authority being weakened.…”

“…The search strategy used was not as comprehensive as it would have been were professional self-disclosure (or parental status disclosure) the principal focus of the research (Archard, 2019). In the prior contribution that addresses the child protection social worker participants (Archard, 2020a), there is discussion addressing the way in which differing psychotherapeutic orientations are connected to the way selfdisclosure is viewed in social work practice.…”

“…The question of whether and how to respond to parents asking whether one was a parent or not was an emergent theme in interviews, and analyses of the social worker and family intervention professional groups were undertaken to address this issue. A prior contribution dealt with material from the social worker participants' interviews (Archard, 2020a). The study was based on a psychoanalytically informed approach using principles drawn from Hollway andJefferson's (2000, 2013) free association narrative interview method and the framework underpinning this method, which combines aspects of discursive and psychoanalytic psychology.…”