Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-20T18:04:51.318Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Potential Impacts of Becoming a Parent on Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2016

Carolyn Cousins
Carolyn Cousins*
Affiliation:
Director, Tuned In Consulting, East Gosford NSW 2250, Australia
*
address for correspondence: P.O. Box 4276, East Gosford, NSW, Australia, 2250. E-mail: carolyntunedin@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There are many experiences in working with vulnerable children and families that require reflective practice on the part of the practitioner in order to identify issues of crossover between the personal and the professional, and areas of transference and counter transference. This article suggests a particular challenge is presented in the process of the practitioner becoming a parent themselves. Those who have been working with children and families for much of their careers may find becoming a parent presents a range of conflicting and challenging considerations that need to be unpacked throughout the process of transition. The author has a background of working in child protection for over 20 years and became a parent herself just over 4 years ago. She provides clinical and group supervision to a wide range of practitioners as an external supervisor. This practice-based reflection piece draws on the author's experience, with inputs from supervisees and the examined literature, to identify some key themes. The issues raised suggest a need for more research and greater thoughtfulness around the impact of becoming a parent on practitioners themselves and on their practice.

Keywords

child and family welfarecritical reflectionsocial work ethics
Type
Articles
Information
Children Australia , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 106 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Basescu, C. (1996). The ongoing, mostly happy “crisis” of parenthood and its effect on the therapist's clinical work. In Gerson, B. (Ed.), The therapist as a person: Life crises, life choices, life experiences, and their effects on treatment (pp. 101–117). Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.Google Scholar
Baum, N. (2010). Dual role transition among first time pregnant social work student trainees. Social Work Education, 29 (7), 718–728.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baum, N., & Itzhaky, H. (2005). Pregnancy as a secret in supervision. Arete, 29 (2), 33–43.Google Scholar
Bowlby, J. (1988, reprinted 2008). A secure base: parent – child attachment and health human development. London: Taylor & Francis.Google Scholar
Bundy-Fazioli, K., Briar-Lawson, K., & Hadriman, E. (2009). A qualitative examination of power between child welfare workers and parents. British Journal of Social Work, 39 (8), 1447–1464.Google Scholar
Dettlaff, A., Rivaux, D., Baumann, D., Fluke, J., & Rycraft, J. (2011). Disentangling Substantiation: The influence of race, income and risk on decisions in child welfare. Children and Youth Services Review, 33 (9), 1630–1637.Google Scholar
Dubowitz, H. (2007). Understanding and addressing the neglect of neglect: Digging into the molehill. Child Abuse and Neglect, 31 (6), 603–606.Google Scholar
Fenster, S., Phillip, S., & Rapoport, E. (1986). The therapist's pregnancy: Intrusion in the analytic space. Hillsdale, NJ: The Analytic Press.Google Scholar
Fook, J., White, S., & Gardner, F. (2006). Critical reflection in health and social care. Maidenhead: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Gibbs, J. (2001). The supervisor in child protection: the ‘Meat in the Sandwich’?. Conference Paper, 8th Australasian Child Abuse and Neglect Conference, Perth, Australia.Google Scholar
Grant, L., & Kilman, G. (2014). Guide to emotional resilience. UK: Community Care.Google Scholar
Gray, I., Field, R., & Brown, K. (2010). Effective leadership, management and supervision in health and social care. Exeter, UK: Learning Matters.Google Scholar
Hernandez, P., Gangsei, D., & Engstrom, D. (2007). Vicarious resilience: A new concept in work with those who survive trauma. Family Process, 46 (2), 229–241.Google Scholar
Morrison, T. (1990). The emotional effects of child protection work on the worker. Practice: Social Work in Action, 4, 253–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morrison, T. (2007). Emotional intelligence, emotion and social work. British Journal of Social Work, 37 (2), 245–263.Google Scholar
Munro, E. (1999). Common errors of reasoning in child protection work. Child Abuse and Neglect, 23 (8), 745–758.Google Scholar
Munro, E. (2011). Munro review of child protection: Final report a child-centred system. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/munro-review-of-child-protection-final-report-a-child-centred-system.Google Scholar
Pearlman, L., & Saakvitne, K. (1995). Treating therapists with vicarious traumatisation and secondary traumatic stress disorders. In Figley, C. (Ed.), “Treating compassion fatigue” Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatised (pp. 150–177). New York: Brunner-Routledge.Google Scholar
Racker, H. (reprinted 2002). Transference and Countertransference. London: Karnac Books.Google Scholar
Reynolds, V. (2011). Resisting burnout through justice doing. The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 4, 27–45.Google Scholar
Roberts, D. (2002). Shattered bonds: the color of child welfare. Children and Youth Services Review, 24 (11), 877–880.Google Scholar
Roy, N.R., Schumm, W.R., & Britt, S.L. (2014). Transition to parenthood. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Sanders, R., Lehmann, J., & Gardner, F. (2014). Parents’ experiences of early parenthood – preliminary findings. Children Australia, 39 (3), 185–194.Google Scholar
Schon, D. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Siegel, D. (2010). Mindsight: The new science of personal transformation. USA: Brilliance.Google Scholar
Thompson, N. (2000). Theory and practice in human services. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, N., & Pascal, J. (2012). Developing critically reflective practice. Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 13 (2), 311–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsui, M. (2005). Social work supervision: Contexts and concepts. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Waldman, J. (2003). New mother/old therapist: Transference and countertransference challenges in the return to work, American Journal of Psychotherapy, 57 (1), 52–63.Google Scholar
Woodcock, J. (2003). The social work assessment of parenting: An exploration. British Journal of Social Work, 33 (1), 87–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar