Working with Families of the Poor [Paperback]

Patricia Minuchin (Author), Jorge Colapinto (Author), Salvador Minuchin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572303735 | ISBN-13: 978-1572303737 | Publication Date: July 22, 1998

This eagerly awaited volume draws upon the authors' many years of experience in the inner city to provide vital guidance to therapists working with poor families. While standard counseling models are often limited to individual persons and their problems, this book emphasizes the importance of understanding individual needs within a larger family framework, and considering the family itself within broader organizational and community contexts. Weaving in numerous case histories and examples of practical interventions, the authors demonstrate how their inventive approach can be used to draw out clients' strengths and to make the most of limited social service resources. Readers will learn new techniques to gather information, reframe family assumptions, handle conflict, and explore alternative patterns of interaction. In addition, the authors show therapists how to increase the level of collaboration between poor families and the multiple agencies that provide assistance with foster care, substance abuse counseling, perinatal programs, residential and psychiatric centers for children, and home-based services.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This beautifully written book will be a valued text for introductory and advanced social work courses. Drawing upon both systemic and ecological models, the book integrates individual, family, and larger systems. Perhaps most important, it addresses the diverse contexts in which social work practice actually occurs." --Joan Berzoff, MSW, EdD, Professor and Codirector of Doctoral Program, Smith College School of Social Work

"Bravo! These innovative pioneers in strength-based systems approaches with inner-city children, families, and agencies have met a critical need in training and practice. Without a systemic perspective and intervention skills, dedicated professionals can become as overwhelmed and discouraged as their clients in dealing with multicrisis situations, persistent environmental challenges, and fragmented social services. This outstanding volume provides a solid framework and practical guidelines to transform service delivery and strengthen vulnerable families. It will be required reading in my family therapy courses, and I highly recommend it for family support groups." --Froma Walsh, PhD, Professor, School of Social Service Administration and Co-Director, Center for Family Health, The University of Chicago, Author, Strengthening Family Resilience, Past President, American Family Therapy Association

"This masterfully written book presents a clear and practical approach to working with underprivileged families. The authors guide practitioners through the complexities of contemporary human service structures, describing effective macrosystemic examples of interventions on behalf of families in treatment. The book is also a useful text that could help social service students, workers, and supervisors develop and implement family-centered and family-friendly programs." --Ramon A. Rojano MD, MPH, Hartford Human Services Director; Creator of the Community Family Therapy Approach; Faculty, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, Central Connecticut State University

"This book reminds us that family networks are remarkably resilient and durable, and that even under great stress, these networks may be sources of solutions, help and healing. If there is one theme woven throughout the book, it is about the power and potential of connections: between, among and within familiel; between the helper and the helped; between individuals, networks and systems; and among systems. The authors illuminate a promising pathway toward respectful and affirming help for families struggling to do well by and for their kids in tough circumstances." --Ralph Smith, Vice-President, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, Maryland

About the Author

Patricia Minuchin, PhD, is Co-director of Family Studies, Inc., in Boston, Massachusetts, and Professor Emeritus at Temple University. A development psychologist, she has written primarily about families in relation to individual development and on the impact of larger systems on the functioning of poor families and children.

Jorge Colapinto, Lic., is a family therapist and consultant for social service agencies. He is a former member of the staff of Family Studies, Inc., and currently directs the Foster Care Project, Ackerman Institute for the Family, New York, New York.

Salvador Minuchin, MD, Director of Family Studies, Inc., was formerly Director of the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center. He has worked extensively with poor families and social agencies and has published a number of classic books on family therapy.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Guilford Press (July 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572303735
• ISBN-13: 978-1572303737
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,745,018 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book that Witnesses a Great Travesty, December 22, 2007

By 

Sean M. McLaughlin "Sean Michael McLaughlin -... (Lansing, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Working with Families of the Poor (Paperback)

In this book the authors make a heart-felt plea for a more wholistic, integrated approaches to lower socioeconomic families. Sadly, this book is now out of print, which testifies to the reality that public mental health agencies have little qualms about asking clients to change but are completely unwilling to heed their own counsel. Now almost ten years later, little has changed as we continue to look at people as individuals versus "person in environment" (PIE) through our narrow approaches. Unless we are willing to change, as this book describes, then how can we ask our clients to do likewise?

Rev. Sean Michael McLaughlin - Pastoral Counselor and Executive Director of Ferrar Family Services.