The Family Theory System - Dissertation Example

?“Strong communities sharing similar needs can be a critical resource for children, supporting and, where necessary, overcoming difficult family and social circumstances." (National Children's Strategy) Communities certainly play significant role in family bonding and development, social community is a place where social, regional and national issues can be discussed with utmost confidence. It works for the benefit of its individuals, well-beings of its members, their health and safety, indigenous and cultural issues, criminal justice systems and restorative justice. A community thus helps in promoting social justice, human rights and bringing positive social change. What are communities and how do they function? A community is described as social network of family and friends. The use of term ‘community’ by M.K.Smith is , ‘associated with the hope and the wish of reviving once more the closer, warmer, more harmonious type of bonds between people’ ( M. K Smith, 2001). Community has been explored in three different ways, ‘Place, Territory, place or locality where people have something in common and share element is understood geographically. Interest: They are linked together by factors such as religious beliefs, sexual orientation, occupation or ethnic origin. Communion: attachment with a place.’ (Willmott, 1986; Lee and Newby, 1983; and Crow and Allen, 1995) as cited in M.K.Smith 2001. According to Sarason, in psychological sense a community is ‘the perception of similarity to others, an acknowledged interdependence with others, a willingness to maintain this interdependence by giving to or doing for others what one expects from them, and the feeling that one is part of a larger dependable and stable structure’( Sarason 1974, p. 157). A community generates a feeling of belongingness and psychological stability as stated by McMillan & Chavis's (1986) the sense of community is "a feeling that members have of belonging, a feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that members needs will be met through their commitment to be together”. They proposed four important features that generate the feeling of community in psychological sense are Membership, Sense of belonging; Emotional safety and Personal investment, Influence, Integration and shared Emotional connections are also important aspects of a community. Communities thus strive on solidarity, commitment, mutuality and trust and they come together for greater cause. Social communities are more dynamic functional unit and are into educating people, youth care, child development and humanitarian services, stress management and helping distressed people and providing assistance. Communities work on Social systems according to Social Psychology; there are certain theories on which social systems run. One of the theories is the family theory system. The Family Theory System finds its origin from the work of Ludwig Von Bertalanffy on General Systems Theory that the organisms are complex, organised and interactive. It explains the way the components of a system interrelate with each other to form a single unit. Similarly, the families sharing a common history show some degree of emotional bonding and thus forming a group in a community. Family systems theory allows one to understand the organisational intricacies of the families, and the pattern that guide those intricacies. The family support system works on the assertion that the members of a family carry out the daily confrontations of a family this helps them in adjusting to their needs. In order to understand the family, one must concentrate on the family as a whole unit not at the individual members, the way they interact with each other and their collective history makes this study unique. The families organise themselves into various smaller units or sub-systems to accomplish any task or goal. The Family System Theory studies about the various approaches of working with the families, this study has led to understanding the impact of traumatic events, various health issues, adolescent troubles, substance abuse, kinship support and the need of early intervention on individual and the families. Bowen Theory’s also works on the theory of human behaviour; it views family as an emotional unit and uses system thinking to describe complex interactions in that unit. It works on the principle that people solicit each other’s attention, approval, support and react to each other’s needs, expectations and distress (Bowen Theory). Family Systems Theory or Bowen’s Theory is based on three main assumptions, according to Corey, which are as follows. ‘Firstly, that individual’s problematic behaviour may serve a function or purpose for the family; secondly, that the problematic behaviour is maybe a function of the families’ inability to operate productively; and thirdly, unusual behaviour may be a symptom of dysfunctional patterns handed down from generations’ (Corey, 2001:384-481). Considering all these three assumptions, the Family Systems Theory aims to explain an individual’s behaviour through the terms of their family interactions. Such a behaviour and pattern are studied and the solution is looked in Family Therapy, which is based on The Family Theory System. Family therapy is defined as a type of psychotherapy that engages all the members of a nuclear or extended family for its sessions; a pair or team of therapists may conduct these sessions. Although some forms of family therapy are based on behavioural or psychodynamic principles, the most widespread form is based on Family Systems Theory. This approach regards the family, as a whole, according to Clark, R.Barkley, ‘as the unit of treatment, and emphasizes such factors as relationships and communication patterns rather than traits or symptoms in individual members’ (Clark, R. Barkley). The family system theories are ‘rapidly becoming one of the most popular and effective methods of problem solving’ (Prest & Protinsky, 1993). In the discipline of social psychology family systems are considered one single unit thus if one area is affected the other parts echo the damage done. Sarah Tucker discusses about applying therapeutic community principles to community care, in her book she advocates, ‘the active engagement of clients in their own lives and promotes the development of a shared sense of responsibility between client and carer’. She explains, ‘A Therapeutic Community Approach to Care in the Community focuses on the practical implications and use of dialogue, language, and education in community care’ (Sarah Tucker, 2000). She insists that the contribution of debate is important in community care. As discussed earlier society and community work together to make the life of individual better, the family is the smallest unit in a community. The members of the family are individual entities, children are the most important part of this unit therefore community plays major role to shoulder the responsibility of bringing up children. A very well known African proverb says, ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ this adage epitomises importance of community in bringing up kids and young people, the responsibility of children is not solely entrusted on the parents but on the community at large. Community, therefore work as the network of families united together for a greater cause, they work to ensure child safety. Community sets some norms and values for the parents to follow in bringing up children; they also help in supporting parents in their roles. Community factors influence parents-children interactions in myriad ways; it includes the way parents interact with their children and seek help from others when needed. The professional services provided by the Community can improve parents’ mental health and their competence in the roles of parenting. They also offer a temporary respite from the stress of parenting, other strategies include making children independent, extending support and personal interactions to the neighbours’ thus increasing personal and collective responsibility for children protection. The goal of the communities is to foster positive culture and environment in bringing up the child and its development. Community members also work in preventing the problems faced by the youth; they promote resilience in the youth in order to overcome the adversity. This involves various programs, educational strategies and innovative partnerships that provide real life illustrations of resilience building. The National Children’s Strategy, Our Children--Their Lives, (November 2000), summarizes its strategy, which is a 10-year plan of action, after thorough consultation with parents, children and groups working with children. ‘The strategy calls on the statutory agencies, the voluntary sector and local communities to work to improve the quality of all children’s lives’. Communities need to work in a direction to ensure that every child is safe, loved and cared for and is able to fulfil potential as participating citizen. The mission of the community should be to promote child, family wellbeing prevent child abuse and neglect of any sort, and to enhance responses to those children who have experienced abuse and neglect. Communities need to work from the grass root level. Firstly, ‘by supporting the health and wellbeing of all children and families by spreading knowledge about successful parenting strategies and other factors crucial to children’s early development. Secondly, raising awareness that everyone has a role in creating child friendly communities thirdly, by providing education to children and their families and lastly working towards prevention of abuse and neglect.’(The National Children’s Strategy, Our Children-Their Lives, Nov 2000). References Bowen Theory, Bowen Centre for the study of the Family http://www.thebowencenter.org/pages/theory.html [retrieved12 March 2011] Chavis, D.M., Hogge, J.H., McMillan, D.W., & Wandersman, A. (1986), Sense of community through Brunswick's lens: A first look, Journal of Community Psychology, 14(1), 24-40. Clark, R. Barkley, "Psychosocial Aspects of Paediatrics & Psychiatric Disorders: Psychosocial Assessment of Children & Families", In Current Paediatric Diagnosis & Treatment, edited by William W. Corey, G. (2001), Theory and Practice of Counselling and Psychotherapy, 6th Edition. Brooks/Cole Publishing, Stamford. Crow, G. and Allan, G. (1994) Community Life. An introduction to local social relations, http://www.infed.org/community/community.htm [retrieved 12 March 2011] Lee, D. and Newby H. (1983) The Problem of Sociology: an introduction to the discipline. Unwin Hyman .London. http://www.infed.org/community/community.htm [retrieved 12 March 2011] Prest, L.A., Protinsky, H. (1993). Family systems theory: A unifying framework for the co dependence, The American Journal of Family Therapy, 21 (4) Sarason, S.B. (1974), The psychological sense of community: Prospects for a community psychology. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Smith, M. K. (2001) 'Community' in the Encyclopaedia of Informal Education, http://www.infed.org/community/community.htm [retrieved 12 March 2011] Tomison, A.M. and Wise, S. (1999), Community-based approaches in preventing child maltreatment, National Child Protection Clearinghouse Issues Paper No.11. Australian Institute of Family Studies, Melbourne. Tucker Sarah, (2000) A Therapeutic Community Approach to care in Community: dialogue and Dwelling Jessica Kingsley Publishers. The National Children’s Strategy, Our Children-Their Lives, Children Right’s Alliance, Nov 2000 http://www.childrensrights.ie nationalchildrenstrategy/ [retrieved 12 March2011] Willmott, P. (1986) Social Networks, Informal Care and Public Policy, London: Policy Studies Institute. http://www.infed.org/community/community.htm [retrieved 12 March 2011] Read More