Split loyalties: the conflicting demands of individual treatment goals and parental responsibility

Article Abstract:

Author's Abstract: COPYRIGHT 1999 The Howarth Press, Inc. A growing awareness of the high incidence of child abuse over the past two decades has resulted in a proliferation of preventive service agencies and a societal mandate for heightened scrutiny by mental health professionals of parenting practices. Therapists who work with families at risk increasingly walk a fine line between the individual needs of the parent and the obligation to safeguard the welfare of the child. This article presents case material in which parental responsibility and parental fitness become a central theme of treatment as a result of a child custody dispute. The article explores the intersection of personal values and morality, with legal, ethical and therapeutic considerations that arise in the context of parental responsibility. The author argues that, consistent with feminist therapy, there can and should be a place for morality in resolving therapeutic issues concerning parental responsibility. However, the author questions the extent to which the feminist commitment to empowerment of the individual can co-exist with the therapist's evaluative role concerning parental responsibility and parental fitness. Keywords. Parental responsibility, morality, empowerment

Psychological aspects, Parent and child, Parent-child relations

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Beyond the rule book

Article Abstract:

Morality is discussed in relation to the practice of feminist therapy. Topics include therapy as applied epistemology, the need for moral education in therapist training, self-examination, and processes of decision making.

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