A Secure Base by Bowlby John

Author:Bowlby, John [Bowlby, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

PREVENTIVE MEASURES

This ends my description of the problems met with in violent families and the theoretical perspective in which I believe it useful to approach them. What actions then are called for?

Much skilled and devoted work has gone into helping families in which abuse has already occurred, and much thought given to problems of management (Helfer and Kempe, 1976; Lynch and Roberts, 1982). Since every study has shown how very difficult and time-consuming all such work is, we ask about prospects for prevention. Here lies hope. In what follows I describe a type of service which has been pioneered in the United Kingdom and which is now spreading steadily with encouragement from government. No doubt similar services are to be found in various parts of the United States also, but naturally I know less about them.

The service pattern which is so promising, at least for some families, is one known as Home-Start (which was begun in Leicester) (Harrison, 1981).6 It is an independently organized home-visiting scheme which offers support, friendship, and practical assistance to young families experiencing difficulties. It is staffed by volunteers who work in close liaison with the related statutory services and who also receive support and guidance from a professional. All visits are by invitation of the family and on their terms. There are no contracts and no time limits.

Each volunteer is a mother who undertakes to make regular visits to one or, at most, two families with the aim of establishing a relationship in which time and understanding can be shared. Every effort is made to encourage the parents’ strengths and to reassure them that difficulties in caring for children are not unusual, and also that it is possible for family life to be enjoyable. New volunteers, who are mainly between the ages of 30 and 45, attend a preparatory course, one day a week for ten weeks, and receive regular ongoing training afterwards.

There are many advantages in the visitors being volunteers. First a volunteer has time: in practice it was found in the pioneer scheme that the average time each volunteer was spending with her family in its own home was six hours a week. Secondly she meets the mother on a level of equality and feels free to contribute to household activities in any way that seems appropriate. Thirdly she can compare notes and talk about experiences with her own children. Fourthly, and very important, she can sometimes make herself available to be contacted during an evening or at a weekend.

The families visited are, of course, ones in which difficulties are either already present or appear imminent. Since the service is not aimed specifically at abusing families, a family participating need not feel labelled in any way. Nevertheless the service deals with a fair number of families who have one or more children on a register of children at risk of abuse. In the first eight years of the pioneer scheme no less than a quarter of the families visited were in that category.

Often visiting is started whilst a mother is still pregnant.

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