ABSTRACT
In spite of all the best efforts of a good caseworker, and sometimes because of those efforts, casework can get too fancy. Solution-based casework attempts to help the caseworker and supervisor resist the subtle pressures of our system to organize the family's reality on our terms. Casework almost always involves family situations in which the original developmental challenge (problem) has become "fuzzy" in definition and the attempted solution is creating a risk for family members. The developmental tasks for the family of young children often begin with the decision to start a family and continue until the children enter school. The adolescent family is the next major shift in family life cycle development, occurring between the time the first child reaches puberty and the time the last child starts to leave home. As the adolescent children grow and mature, the family prepares to launch them into independence.
