Justice For Families

i dont know what to make of this
why do they keep on having children?
surely it would be better if they want to be parents to there children they should fight for the ones they already have?
as for social services telling someone they need therapy for three years is just ridiculous
it would be interesting to hear why this is happening, what have the parents actually done?

"as for social services telling someone they need therapy for three years is just ridiculous"

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This issue comes up often in similar cases. The argument is made by social services, often backed by psychiatrists/psychologists, that 1/2/5 years of counselling/therapy is needed for parents to ‘address’ their problems – and that such a length of time is ‘beyond the timescale of the child’. Therefore the child must be adopted.

This is a fallacy. There is no scientific way in which any professional can predict with any accuracy how long a therapeutic process will take to resolve any particular combinations of problems. It all depends on the level of motivation of the ‘client’; the skill and experience of the therapist; the nature of the ‘alliance’ between the client and the therapist; and the theoretical orientation of the therapist.

I have seen in many cases psychodynamically inclined psychiatrists (although they are rare these days), psychologists (almost as rare) and psychotherapists (unfortunately still prevalent) opine that 1/2/5 years of 3/4/5 times per week psychotherapy is necessary for the client to ‘deal’ with his/her issues.

This is good for the business of such psychotherapists – although social services and the LSC will no longer pay such bills (and very few parents can afford to). Therapists with other orientations (e.g. person-centred, cognitive-behavioural, humanistic and solution-focused) will have very different views about the timescales required for positive change.

There is absolutely no evidence basis in counselling/psychotherapy outcomes research to justify specific opinions about the required timescales for required therapeutic progress. Any such expressed expert opinion needs to be challenged by experts with knowledge of counselling/psychotherapy outcomes research.

absolutely
all theses therapists are well away of timescales, there is no way anyone can foresee how therapy of any kind will progress or how long it will be beneficial and needed