ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how the containment provided by the consultation process can help professionals to develop a coherent narrative about the experience of families for whom they are responsible. Consultation forms a substantial part of the work done by the Fostering and Adoption team at the Tavistock. It is generally sought when professionals disagree about decisions that have to be made. Removing children from their birth families is a painful experience, both for the members of the family and for the professionals who work with them. Professionals come from families too, and they may have very strong feelings about splitting up another family or, alternatively, leaving children unprotected in an intensely vulnerable position. Psychoanalytic theory helps people to understand how some parents are unable to perceive their own neglectful or destructive behaviour. Psychoanalytic literature highlights the different manifestations of traumatic experience in the consulting-room.
