ABSTRACT
A number of authors have described a family and its professional network as one large, interacting system (e.g. Britton 1981; Furniss 1983, 1991; Reder 1983, 1986; Dale and Davies 1985; Dimmock and Dungworth 1985; Dale et al. 1986; Imber-Black 1988; Hardwick 1991). Such systems arise in various ways. The family may keep turning to new sources of help without completing the treatment originally offered or is successively referred on by therapists who feel defeated by its problems. Sometimes, workers become so strongly entangled in the emotional life of the family that, when they refer to another agency, they remain involved in an attempt to influence the new worker (Main 1957; Selvini Palazzoli et al. 1980b). Specialisation of skills also means that various aspects of a problem need to be addressed by different professionals in a number of agencies. In the case of child abuse, it is primarily the nature of the problem that activates a large network of statutory and other workers who are deemed relevant to its solution. Anderson et al. (1986) refer to this as a ‘problem-determined system’.
