Working with families is difficult and complex.

Working with children, young people and their families can be seen as difficult and complex for many different reasons. However, before these topics can be discussed and explored fully, it is important to completely understand the difference between the words ‘difficult’ and ‘complex’. ‘Difficult’ implies that things are not easily or readily done, where it requires much effort much effort, labour and skill to be performed effectively. In the same way, ‘complex’ implies a hard to deal with situation, but also involves many interconnected parts or complicated arrangements that consist of emotional attachment.

Social work is rarely working with one individual, as stated in O’Loughlin and O’Loughlin (2008); it will involve working with the whole family which is constantly changing making it complex and diverse. It may consist of parents or carers who share the same race, class, culture, or sexuality, but alternatively it may not. Members within the family help to determine our behaviour, roles, rules and stereotyping. To add to this, people are constantly entering and leaving the family system either by marriage, divorce or death. These complexities are shown in ecomaps or genograms. It is important to understand that the child’s welfare is paramount, but in order to achieve positive outcomes for the child, effective work will need to be done within the family. Relationships within a family are known as a system with the family being viewed as a whole, rather than as many individuals. Within family relationships, everyone seeks to uphold the equilibrium so if one member seeks to change, the others seek to resist. However, difficulties include maintaining good relationships and knowing boundaries between professional and personal...

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...children, young people and their families can be both complex and difficult. Social work practice is one of the most challenging as it involves work with a diverse range of both professionals and service users. However, there is more that one single reason for this. As all professionals, agencies and parents continue to work together in various different cases, a variety of skills are required including: communication, preparation, intervention skills, assessment of significant harm, research of current legislation and decision making skills, all of which contribute to the complexities and difficulties of social work. It could be argued that these difficulties are highlighted most in many public cases of child abuse; moreover these cases can be seen to be changing social work practice, affecting the difficulties and complexities of working within this profession.