Parent Involvement Practices in Child Protection: A Matter of Know-How and Attitude

Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, Vol. 23, No. 2, April 2006 ( 2006)DOI: 10.1007/s10560-005-0042-5Parent Involvement Practices

in Child Protection: A Matter

of Know-How and AttitudeMarie-Christine Saint-Jacques, Ph.D.,

Sylvie Drapeau, Ph.D., Genevie` ve Lessard, Ph.D.,and Andre Beaudoin, Ph.D.ABSTRACT: Modern view of child protection services implies that to help

young people, simply intervening on their behalf is not sufficient. It suggests

that involving parents in the assistance process is essential in order to ensure

that they are most likely to play their role as parents to their children in the

fullest possible way. Although several articles have dealt with the issue of

parent involvement, very few have attempted to document the practices used

by practitioners to encourage such involvement. This article presents the

findings of a study on child protection practices for involving parents in a child

protection context. It is exploratory in nature, and uses a qualitative

methodology. The study population is made up of 38 child protection service

workers. An analysis of the practitioners discourse reveals that the behaviour

and attitudes used by them to encourage parent involvement are very diverse.

There also appear to be key moments in securing their involvement, that is,

making contact, setting objectives and means of action, and applying the case

plan. In addition to corroborating earlier studies on the issue of parent

involvement, our findings indicate that the majority of the caseworkers

interviewed practice an approach that aims to empower clients.KEY WORDS: Child Protection Service; Clinical Practice; Parental Involvement.Funding of this project was provided by le Fonds Richelieu de recherche sur lenfance.

Marie-Christine Saint-Jacques, Genevie`ve Lessard, and Andre Beaudoin are affiliated

with School of Social Work, Laval University, Quebec, Canada. Sylvie Drapeau is affiliated with Department of Foundations and Practices in Education, Laval University,

Quebec, Canada.Address correspondence to Marie-Christine Saint-Jacques, Ph.D., School of Social

Work, Universite Laval, 5444 pavillon Charles-De Koninck, G1K 7P4, Quebec, Canada;

e-mail: [email protected] 2006 Springer ScienceBusiness Media, Inc.M.-C. SAINT-JACQUES, S. DRAPEAU, G. LESSARD, AND A. BEAUDOIN 197In recent years, there has been a change in the social service philosophy in child protection services. The idea of taking over from parents

who are incapable of taking care of their children is now considered

passe. Several empirical studies have demonstrated that the presence and active involvement...