ABSTRACT
Throughout this book, it has been made clear by many authors that work in fostering, adoption, and kinship care, in common with many aspects of mental health care, is essentially of a multi-systemic nature. In chapter 17 I paraphrase Winnicott by saying that “there is no such thing as a looked-after or adopted child”, meaning that whether or not contact with the birth family is enacted in practice, the original family is always an integral part of the child’s existence and is looked after or adopted along with the child. In addition, however, a significant number of professionals are also involved in the lives of these children, young people, and their carers, with differing responsibilities and for varying periods of time. The practitioners belong to a range of agencies, including health, social care, education, youth justice, police, and the legal system, each with their own ethos and beliefs about their role, preferred outcome, and authority for decision making on behalf of the children and their families. It is rarely possible to work with a child or family effectively without involving their network. Furthermore, it is often the case that the problems being presented are most appropriately addressed by working with the professionals, both with and sometimes without the members of the family. This is because the difficulties may be located in the wider system as much as they are being enacted within the family (see Emanuel, chapter 18).
