Family Systems Application to Social Work

Here is a valuable social work text which demonstrates how to apply family system concepts to clinical situations encountered in work with inner-city populations. Unlike traditional theories in clinical social work which are oriented toward the individual, this fascinating book offers a paradigm for social work that encompasses the client, his or her immediate and extended family, the community, the government, and the social worker. The family systems concepts in this refreshing volume are illustrated by case examples addressing the specific issues of AIDS and drug abuse, homelessness, foster care, wife abuse, care of the mentally retarded, and adoption issues. Social workers and social work students will gain a fresh perspective from these insightful chapters and will discover that it is not pathological people that make difficult populations, but difficult life situations that breed pathology.

Family Systems Application to Social Work teaches social workers and students to think differently about working with inner-city and other oppressed people by approaching clinical work with them from a family therapy systems viewpoint. The book begins with guidelines for teaching and training at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate levels. These teaching guidelines demonstrate how a background of system theory for family therapy is the ideal basis for social work with inner-city populations. Some highlights of the family systems therapy applications documented in this excellent book include couples therapy with an abused wife and her abuser; clinical needs of homeless men; sibling therapy for children in foster homes; the need for more family system oriented programs for dehospitalized adults in community residences; the importance of space and surroundings in doing home preservation work; long-term impacts of adoption; and effective ecosystem treatment of AIDS and drug abuse problems. Social workers and students will combat their personal biases concerning oppressed populations by adopting the family system approaches found in this insightful book.