Strong Bonds Fact Sheet:

Professional Issues : Family-Aware Youth Work Practice

This document is intended as a tool for youth workers and/or organisations to encourage reflection
on their level of and commitment to family-aware practice with young people, particularly those
with complex needs. The use of the term ‘family-aware’ highlights the need for comprehensive
consideration of the role of family in a young person’s life. The young person remains the central
client in a family-aware approach, and it is not suggested that a youth worker become a family work
expert. Rather, this approach recognises how workers can optimise outcomes for young people by
recognising, legitimising and facilitating ongoing family connections.

‘Family’ is defined broadly in an attempt to capture the – Supported in their efforts to protect and nurture the
full extent of opportunity for positive connections for young young person
people. The use of the term ‘family’ may include:
– Provided with relevant information regarding stages of
– biological parent/s, adoptive parent/s, stepparent/s, adolescent development and associated behaviours
siblings, extended relatives
– Assisted in maintaining and strengthening their
– those providing care eg. foster parents attachment to the young person

– those identified be young people as significant providers – Listened to, respected and communicated with in an
of care and/or support open and direct way
This document includes a set of practice principles of – Helped to identify their problems, strengths and solutions
family-aware youth work. It also provides examples of how with regard to their relationship with the young person
workers can apply these principles in their work with young
people. – Helped to access relevant and appropriate supports
and resources
When workers engage in family-aware practice, there are
many benefits for young people and their families. – Welcomed as part of the solution, not the source of
Benefits for young people include that they are: the problem

Eight principles of family-aware youth work are outlined

– Acknowledged as being in the process of developing a
below. These draw on the literature regarding risk and
range of skills and abilities that will help move them into
protective factors, developmental attachment theories and
adulthood and it is recognised that they need support to
strengths-based practice with young people.
do this

– Helped to understand their place within the family, the 1. Physical and psychological safety for young
family’s stage of development and how this interacts with people and their family members takes priority.
their own stages of development
The physical or psychological safety of young people and
– Helped to improve relationships with family members their families is paramount.

– Helped to explore and understand the importance of Family-aware youth work practice recognises that
family connections under certain circumstances, the family home is an unsafe
environment for a young person. It also recognises that a
– Helped to identify and strengthen meaningful young person’s behaviour may place family members at risk.
connections
Workers with young people will need to be able to
– Helped to maintain continuity of family connections effectively deal with complex family situations that impact on
through difficult times a young person’s health and wellbeing.

– Assisted to prepare for independent living beyond the In these situations the need for protection from certain
duration of the professional relationship with a worker. individuals or situations should not be at the expense of
maintaining other positive family relationships.
Benefits for families include that they are:

1. Contacts given are current at the time of writing (June 2006).

Page 1
Professional Issues : Family-Aware Youth Work Practice

To apply this principle in their work, youth workers could: – Help young people express and respond to grief and loss
related to their past and present family connections
– Familiarise themselves with effective methods of
extensively exploring family relations with young people – Act as a conduit between young people and their families
in times of separation, as appropriate.
– Be able to facilitate the involvement of those family
members where the relationship is safe in a young
person’s life 3. There are key protective factors in the family
domain that help to promote a young person’s
– Be able to distinguish between manageable and/or health and wellbeing that need to be considered
developmentally damaging conflict and abusive within the context of effective youth work.
situations
Work with young people, particularly those who have
– Be able to promote safety, and in some cases reduce complex needs, has often focused on minimising family
abusive behaviours, in the context of enduring risk factors at the expense of efforts to identify and/or
relationships. enhance family protective factors and/or strengths. One key
protective factor for health and wellbeing in young people
is a sense of belonging or connectedness to family. A
2. Early developmental experiences, including warm relationship with at least one parent or other family
attachment relationships and traumatic events, member is integral to a young person’s development
have a significant influence on young people’s and functioning. Where relationships with the immediate
ongoing development. family are poor, supportive relationships with an extended
family member or another caring responsible adult who is
A young person’s behaviour needs to be recognised by
prepared to play an on-going role in the young person’s
workers, families and the young person as a ‘language’
life has been found to be protective.1
communicating past experience and current needs. Young
people with insecure attachment styles or a history of Strengths-based practice is a positive and empowering
trauma, for example, are prone to behaviours that can lead way to assess individuals and families and to promote
to conflict, broken relationships and a consequent lack of change. Families have a unique set of strengths and values,
healthy connections. Behaviour does not always indicate and building on these strengths assists families to develop
an inherent characteristic of the young person and need the capacity to create positive changes. Without minimising
not be labelled negatively, e.g. troublemaker, delinquent. the impact of trauma and/or risk, strengths-based practice
Understanding and addressing the function of current allows the exploration of alternative explanations and
behaviour and how it relates to psychological, physical and reasons for behaviours that may help young people make
social needs, as opposed to isolated or reactive responses, the most constructive sense of their experiences.
is a more effective long-term strategy for enhancing a young
person’s health and wellbeing. Young people may also be assisted to identify the limits
to their parents’ or families’ capacities, and this may enable
There also needs to be clear recognition by all parties them to accept their situation, grieve losses, and find positive
of the level and nature of hurt and pain that has occurred ways to meet their needs in other relationships.
in some families. Appropriate responses can validate the
young person’s experience. In some circumstances, this may To apply this principle in their work, youth workers could:
involve accepting and moving on from irretrievably damaged
– Identify and assist the maintenance and/or enhancement
family relationships and dealing with the associated grief
of connections to as many extended family members as
and loss, or creating a therapeutic psychological or physical
possible
‘distancing’ from some family members for a period of time.
Alternative, functional connections should be facilitated as a – Build an understanding of the nature of positive
matter of priority. experiences and strengths within families, and develop
To apply this principle in their work, youth workers could: methods of reframing that may allow the young person
to see parental efforts in a more positive light.
– Conduct assessments that provide the basis for
understanding current needs and behaviours rather than – Develop strategies to help a young person come to terms
make assumptions and apportion blame with family difficulties and facilitate connections with
other significant people
– Respond to the behaviour and the young person
separately, and work on the underlying reasons for – Familiarise themselves with strategies for dealing with the
the behaviour young person’s feelings and emotions regarding family
background
– Help families understand the ‘language’ of young
people’s behaviour – Have effective contingency strategies in place if the
young person needs further help with dealing with
– Integrate where possible systemic responses to
complex issues regarding family.
behaviours with crisis responses

1. Rayner, M. & Montague, M (2000) Resilient Children and Young People, Children’s Welfare Association of Victoria, Melbourne.
Page 2
Professional Issues : Family-Aware Youth Work Practice

4. Relationships between family members and a a young person. Further professional training or educational
young person need to be considered within the supervision may assist them to develop the skills and confidence
scope of age-appropriate developmental behaviour. to undertake this work.

Adolescence is renowned as a developmental stage To apply this principle in their work, youth workers could:
where conflict is common between young people and their
– Provide a respectful, predictable and consistent relationship
families, particularly parents. Conflict may occur as part of
a number of changes associated with the young person’s for the young person over the duration of their involvement
efforts at separation and individuation. – Ensure there are clear boundaries to their relationship with
A critical component of identity development in young people
adolescence is the need for a secure base from which to
– Facilitate, help maintain or encourage more enduring
physically and psychologically explore new identities. This
connections that may include supporting family members to
secure base is instrumental in the creation of an adult
identity, and needs to exist in some form even in the most manage a consistent and supportive relationship with the
extreme cases of disconnection. In the case of young people young person
with complex needs, it needs to be remembered that
– Familiarise themselves with effective methods of exploring
they still have development-related needs and difficulties,
family relations with young people
and their cognitive, moral, emotional, social and identity
development needs should be taken into consideration when – Facilitate the young person’s understanding of the
developing interventions. characteristics of a positive connection and how to explore
Individuation of the young people n the context of this over their lifespan
continuity of relationships should be a key long-term goal of
– Identify and address areas for their skill development in
youth work.
providing family-aware practice.
To apply this principle in their work, youth workers could:

– Have a comprehensive understanding of youth 6. Family-aware practice communicates the message

development and the types of supports that young that families can and should be part of the solution in
people require to successfully negotiate this stage most circumstances.
Historically, the focus of youth work on the rights of young
– Develop the capacity to identify the difference between
people has meant that often family has been seen as irrelevant
behaviour that can be understood in the context
or, in many cases, the cause of a young person’s predicament.
of development, and behaviour that signals more
Families are often not engaged in providing relevant information
entrenched difficulties to services, involved in their adolescent’s care or supported to
– Develop an understanding of youth and family care for their young person.
development and their interaction, including the Resilience research highlights the benefits of connectedness
interplay between a young person’s cognitive capacity/ between young people and their families. There is a growing
temperament/attachment experiences and the quality of realisation that concentrating solely on the young person is an
their family relationships. ineffective method for producing lasting change.

Workers can support families to understand the stages of

5. Workers have an important but relatively brief adolescent development and the tasks associated with each
role in the lives of young people and families, and stage. When a young person has complex needs the navigation
as such have a responsibility to identify and/or of these tasks can be more difficult and family members may
facilitate more enduring relationships. experience feelings of grief, shame, guilt and hopelessness
as a result of the decisions the young person is making. New
Building a trusting and valued relationship with a young roles may need to be negotiated that help families deal with
person is an important aspect of youth work. Youth workers these feelings while supporting the young person. Secondary
need to genuinely care about young people, but also have consultation or referral to a family worker may be appropriate.
clear professional boundaries around their work. These
boundaries include not only practical strategies but also a To apply this principle in their work, youth workers could:
shared understanding of the time-limited and professionally-
– Understand family members may have different and equally
bound nature of a youth worker’s role. Thus, the importance
valid perceptions of experiences and that sharing perceptions
of more enduring connections beyond the young person-
worker relationship is highlighted. can build understanding and connection

Exploring family relationships is done in – Understand that parents often develop their capacities over
acknowledgement that no one is expected to negotiate time and may be able to provide appropriate care when
difficult times without support. Workers may intuitively given support and information
recognise the importance of enduring connections but feel
they lack the appropriate skills to address family issues with

Page 3
Professional Issues : Family-Aware Youth Work Practice

– Start from the presumption that family members have 8. A family’s cultural background is a valuable aspect
the young person’s best interests at heart and have done of its identity, and cultural sensitivity and understanding
their best with the resources available to them are paramount when working with young people and
their families.
– Help young people to understand the limits to what a
family may provide, and explore alternative supports It is a worker’s responsibility to explore and gain
understanding and to take a stance of respect towards families’
where family relationships are irretrievably damaged or
experiences. Different issues may arise for young people in newly
dysfunctional.
arrived families2, as these young people are often exposed to
different social norms and expectations in Australia than those
7. The right to privacy and confidentiality must that accord with their families cultural or religious traditions.
be treated with the utmost respect for both Intergenerational conflict over financial issues, independence
families and young people, while recognising and sexual issues is common amongst migrant and refugee
that communication between young people families. It is important to gain an understanding of the attitudes
and their families is an important component of and beliefs of all family members in these situations and to be
connectedness. sensitive to cultural issues and family traditions.

Young people have the legal right to privacy and To apply this principle in their work, youth workers could:
confidentiality when working with community services
– Explore family background and dynamics with young people
and may provide verbal or written consent for a worker to
obtain/release information from/to other people, including and families in a manner which demonstrates interest and
family members. respect for cultural diversity

Often workers do not seek consent to have contact with – Offer information about contemporary Australian viewpoints
family members for fear of damaging trust and rapport on adolescent development and parenting practices where
built with the young person, or out of concern for the young appropriate, and assist the young person and family to
person’s need for empowerment and independence. These integrate this knowledge
concerns are often unwarranted and, if approached, young
people understand the benefits of the worker’s approach – Provide information regarding current laws and legal issues
to family members. Concerns about having contact with where appropriate.
families may also relate to a worker’s lack of confidence
in dealing with families, perceived lack of organisational
support for such an approach, workload constraints or
constraints associated with program funding guidelines.

To apply this principle in their work, youth workers could:

– Consider asking young people for consent to receive

information from parents/family if they contact the
service, for consent to involve parents/family in the
assessment process and for consent to provide parents
with general information and referral where appropriate.

– Provide timely, respectful, non-judgmental and supportive

responses to parents/families who make contact with the
service, even where consent to discuss the young person
is not provided. This may involve providing general
information or referring to another worker or service.

– Coach young people to develop communication and

other relationship skills.

2. Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues, http://www.cmyi.net.au/FamilyandCommunity, 2005.

Strong Bonds
Jesuit Social Services
PO Box 1141
Collingwood Victoria 3066

Tel (03) 9415 8700

Email [email protected]
Web www.strongbonds.jss.org.au