Family Roles In Social Work

One family treatment objective would be to have clear, established roles in the family. Using homework, each member could record their reflections about the roles they play within the family throughout the week. These roles could include daughter, mother, grandmother, sibling, wife, etc. Then together as a family at the follow-up session, they would discuss these reflections. The social worker would encourage the family to discuss stereotypes, additions to the role description, and alternative interpretations. This activity would encourage discussion about roles, power, boundaries, and hierarchy within the family. A measure to evaluate success would be if each member attended the follow up session with reflections on two or more roles …show more content…
SFT was developed by Salvador Minuchin and was presented in his book, "Families of the Slums" in 1967 (Aponte, 2009; Perosa, 1996). While SFT was developed with one purpose in mind, this has changed over time. Minuchin originally proposed that SFT could best meet the needs of "troubled inner-city youth and their families" (Aponte, 2009, p. 117). This target population, and more specifically these families with Level I and II needs, were deemed a fit for SFT because of the perception that these families lack organization and structure (Aponte, 2009). However, over time theorists came to recognize that other types of families have disorganized and dysfunctional family structures and could benefit from SFT as well (Aponte, …show more content…
SFT adheres to primary assumptions about human and family development. Firstly, family structure and boundaries are transactional (Perosa, 2009). When a behaviour or role within the family changes for one member, another family member is impacted and their behaviour and role also changes as a result (Perosa, 2009). The assumption is that for every action, there is a corresponding reaction, and changes made by individual family members impact other members and the family dynamic as a whole. Human and family development is influenced by the actions or in actions of each family member within a family unit. Secondly, an assumption of SFT is that change is a natural occurrence (Navarre, 1998). This means that even though family structure and organization may have been established, restructuring and change is inevitable and functioning families can adapt and adjust (Navarre, 1998). If members view change as positive and a natural part of family development, it may positively impact human development as