Child Abuse and Neglect TREATMENT OF PHYSICALLY ABUSIVE FAMILIES

Cognitive behavioral therapy is typically the recommended course of therapy for physically abusive families. Children who reside in such families often experience PTSD as a result of their experiences, and CBT focuses on "re-exposure interventions, education about violence and cognitive restructuring, processing of emotional cues, social problem-solving skills, and parenting interventions" (Vickerman & Margolin 2007). In groups or individually, children are encouraged to re-visit traumatic experiences, talk about them, and to find alternative coping mechanisms to deal with negative emotions. Depending on the nature of the family relationship, family members may also be involved and subjected to individual or family counseling, to enable them to find alternative ways to deal with anger, other than lashing out at other family members.

CBT involves the restructuring of responses, and encouraging those who are aided to think: "I am not responsible for my parents' frightening behaviors" versus lashing out with anger (Vickerman & Margolin 2007). Parents are taught about alternative discipline strategies and to change their method of thinking about how they cope with their children (which was likely learned when they were children). "As part of ongoing safety assessments, the therapist must be alert for changes in the family situation that could elevate chronic states of tension and stress to...

The equilibrium that they have reached as an adult does not acknowledge the needs of others, often because their own needs have never been met. "Most neglectful parents want to be good parents, but lack the personal, financial, and/or supportive resources. Professional helpers must assume that parents want to improve the quality of care for their children. Interventions must be developed with that assumption.... Neglectful parents are typically psychologically immature, usually as a result of their own lack of nurturing as children" (Gaudin 1993). Interventions must often begin by 'parenting the parent' and require the social worker to treat the parent with sensitivity while still demanding that the parent assume adult responsibilities in relation to his or her children. This goes beyond teaching the parent new coping mechanisms and requires the social worker to strive to change the adult's as well as the child's 'way of being in the world,' rather than merely change the adult's violent methods of reaction to negative events.
TREATMENT OF SIBLINGS

Even if the child is not physically or emotionally abused, witnessing the abuse of a…