Book Cover -- Half-Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Series Editor's Foreword -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- NOTE -- CHAPTER 1 Turning Points -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 2 Justice Themes in Family Therapy -- EARLY THINKING IN FAMILY INJUSTICE -- SYSTEMS AND THE THERAPIST AS ADVOCATE -- SOCIAL ACTION AND STRATEGIC HUMANISM -- RESTORATIVE JUSTICE AND THE FAMILY THERAPIST -- CONCLUSION: AN APPROACH IN CONTEXT -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 3 Curative Factors and Obstacles to Change -- PERSONAL INFLUENCE -- The Dangerously Powerless Therapist -- Value-Free Therapy -- Enacting Benevolent Power -- The Paradox of Power in Larger System Interventions -- Conclusion: Benevolence and Expertise in Balance -- THE BELIEF IN FREEWILL -- Psychobiology -- Diagnosis -- Environment -- The System -- Conclusion: The Power to Choose, No Matter What -- UTILIZATION -- Utilization of the Past -- Self-Utilization -- Countertransference -- Friend or Phobe?: Critical Optimism and Family Nature -- The Problem of Constructivism -- Conclusion: Making Therapy Relevant -- CONTEXTUAL CHANGE -- Circularity in the Misunderstanding of Family Context -- The Outplacement of Children -- Conclusion: Family as Friend -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 4 Contrition, Forgiveness, and the Restoration of Justice -- LEVEL 1: ISOLATED -- LEVEL 2: ARTIFICIAL -- LEVEL 3: ILLUSORY -- LEVEL 4: SYMBOLIC -- LEVEL 5: SUBSTITUTE -- LEVEL 6: THE COMPLETE CONTRITION PROCESS -- Estimating "Readiness" and Treatment Length -- Didactic on Forgiveness -- Openness and Honesty: Evaluation and Practice -- Defining the Offense as a Spiritual Pain and Injustice -- Addressing Experiences of Injustice among Other Family Members -- Defining the Offender as Experiencing a Spiritual Pain -- Spiritual Pain and Injustice toward the Family -- The Ritual of Apology and Repentance.

Reparation as the Enactment of Apology -- Consequences and the Safety Plan -- Recontextualizing the Offense -- Restoring the Offender -- CONCLUSION: CONTRITION IN CONTEXT -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 5 The Power of Apology -- LEIA AND THE TERRIBLE CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCE -- Ask Him -- I Give to You from My Spirit -- The Humungous Box -- TO HEAL ME ALSO: JUSTIN'S CASE -- The Puppetmaster -- No Piece of Cake -- What Really Hurt -- A Sign of Meaningfulness -- A Long, Winding, Bumpy Road -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 6 I Never Heard You Cry Before -- WHAT HURT WORSE -- TO FAIL AT FAILING -- LOOKING INTO THE EYES OF YOUR DAUGHTER -- CHAPTER 7 Navigating the Child Protective System -- OFFICERS OF THE COURT -- Attorneys -- The Judge -- CASAs -- THE CHILD PROTECTIVE SYSTEM (CPS) -- Caseworkers -- The Power of Information -- Foster Homes -- Supply and Demand -- Missionaries -- The Innkeeper -- The Professional -- The Civilians -- Kinship Placements -- Group Homes -- Adoptive Homes -- THE FUNDAMENTAL FLAW -- A TALE OF TWO PLACEMENTS -- CONCLUSION: THE BABY AND THE BATHWATER -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 8 Family-Friendly Therapy and Evaluation -- THERAPIST OR EVALUATOR -- Witnesses: Fact, Expert, and Expert Treater -- A HIERARCHY OF PRIORITIES -- The Child -- The Family -- The Nonoffending Family Members -- The Offender -- Society -- The Mental Health Provider -- LEVELS OF FAMILY RECONSTRUCTION -- Reconciliation -- Reintegration -- Reunification -- TESTING AND EVALUATION -- Category 1. Formal Evaluation -- Category 2. Semiformal Evaluation -- Category 3. Informal Evaluation -- WORKING WITH THE CPS "TEAM" -- The Cohesive Team -- Overt Suppression of Dissent -- Pseudomutuality -- CONCLUSION: BEST INTERESTS, BEST PRACTICES, AND BEST OUTLOOK -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 9 Tracks and Strategies in the Foster Care Crisis -- THE PYGMALION COMPLEX -- THE RANSOM OF RED CHIEF -- THE STOCKHOLM SYNDROME.

THE UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER -- WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS: AGING OUT -- CONCLUSION: FOSTER CARE AND THE JOURNEY TOWARD JUSTICE -- NOTE -- CHAPTER 10 You Can't Fight the System -- RED CHIEF EMERGES -- CAPITULATION AND REDEMPTION -- RISK AND REUNIFICATION -- NOTE -- CHAPTER 11 Defending September -- INTO THE FRAY -- THE LABYRINTH -- IN EXILE -- DEAD ENDS AND DEADBEATS -- TODAY WELL LIVED -- NOTES -- CHAPTER 12 Ringing the Bell -- THE KANSAS CITY PROJECT -- OVERVIEW -- TOWARD A PARADIGM SHIFT -- INTEGRATING AND EVOLVING THE CONTRITION MODEL -- CASE EXAMPLES -- CONCLUSION: A PROGRAM CHANGED -- CHAPTER 13 Epilogue -- NOTE -- References -- Index.

Written by a psychologist who has worked with families and foster children for 11 years, Treating Families and Children in the Child Protective System is designed for therapists, social workers, family preservationists, court officers, attorneys, judges, and others caught up in the interplay of child protection. Using theory and compelling case studies, the author posits child abuse as an ultimate form of family injustice, requiring intervention at every level of the system. The author proposes a critically optimistic stance, approaching each case as a family-friend with practical and powerful tools to direct the overwhelming power of the system into a force for the restoration of family justice.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.