1. Forgotten and Incarcerated, I am still their dad
Case Presentation
Serah Jones
Welcome to the case presentation ‘Forgotten and Incarcerated. I am still their dad.’
My name is Serah Jones, my role today is the Therapeutic Practitioner in OOHC working in a non-for-profit organisation in NSW called Marist180, working with children and families, where a child is currently residing in a residential group home. I am also studying at Alma Family Centre under the directors of Dr Miria Tisher and Dr Livia Jackson, and I’d like to thank them for their support over the last 2 years.
Can I ask, what attracted you to attend this presentation? / What would you like to walk away with?
We have 45 mins together so I am going to jump straight into it.
If you would like to contact me with your thoughts, feedback or reflections please contact me either via my LinkedIn Contact Page by searching ‘Serah Jones’ or sending me an .

2. Presentation Outline Brief Introduction to the program
Review the referral, genogram, and presenting problems
The Family Assessment Tool
Understanding the Crisis Point
Tools of Intervention
Working in Collaboration with different systems
Review of the areas of Inequality of the Case
Practitioner Challenges in the face of inequality
NSW Family and Community Services acknowledgement (FACS)
The outline of today’s adventure will include:
Brief introduction of the Program
Review of the referral from child protection, family genogram, and the family’s presenting problems
The Family Assessment Tool
Understanding the Crisis Point
Tools of Intervention
Working in Collaboration with different systems
Review of the areas of Inequality of the Case
Practitioner Challenges in the face of inequality
NSW Family and Community Services acknowledgement (FACS)
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

3. Context of the Case Study
Family Preservation and Restoration Program
Preservation Cases - 3 Months Intensive Family Support within the home environment
Restoration Cases - 6 months Intensive Intervention for Restoration Cases
Referrals would only come from NSW Family and Community Services where the children in the family were aged between years and at imminent risk of being removed
I was working in the Family Preservation and Restoration Program which was funded by our child protection body called NSW Family and Community Services (aka FACS). Referrals were for complex families who had a number of Child Protection Helpline reports but instead of removing the children, FACS identified these high risk families and provided intensive intervention to preserve the family unit.
Family Preservation interventions were for 3 months which included minimum of 2 home visits each week.
Restoration cases went for a duration of 6 months once the child was placed in full time care back with the family.
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

4. Presenting Problem at Referral and Intake
Child Protection Services;
Provide the Family with Support
Monitor Child-Safety and Risk of Harm
Assess Restoration of children with mother
Child Protection Services;
Provide the Family with Support
Monitor Child-Safety and Risk of Harm
Assess Restoration of children with their mother
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

5. Genogram
Case Narrative was ‘Mum’ and her long term partner, ‘Dad’, were high-school sweet hearts. Mum and Dad, had jobs, a home with a mortgage, and 2 children who were in a stable school environment. Life was relatively “normal”, until one day, Dad’s job began cutting back his shifts significantly due to corporate restructuring. Attempting to maintain a mortgage, bills, family, education and other household expenses overwhelmed Dad. Dad turned to drugs after he lost his job, lost his house, and then lost his family. Dad was incarcerated and ordered to participate in a drug and alcohol program at a Sydney Correctional Facility. This significantly impacted Mum, who also began to misuse drugs and consequently her children were removed from her care. Mum described this period of her life as a cyclone which she felt completely out of control.
FACS placed the Children in a kinship placement with their ‘Nan’ and ‘Aunty R’ who had parental responsibilities from the minister of Son 1 and Daughter 2. The Children moved into their Nan and Aunty R’s home, which also accommodated their mother who became pregnant with Son 2. The house had 9.5 people in it. It was over crowded, chaotic, and noisy.
Nan, had enough of the chaos, and wanted her life to change so she gave the realtor of the property 6 weeks notice to end the lease. Nan decided she was downsizing which did not include Aunty R, her daughter, or her grandchildren as the Nan felt her daughter was self-sufficient and raising the children anyway.
There was not an opportunity to explore Dad’s family at this point, as Dad was unreachable at the beginning of the intervention, and the child protection referral was to stabilize mum’s situation and assess the restoration of the children back into her care.
Only after engagement and trust was established did the mum disclose small amounts of information to add onto the genogram which took 6 months to obtain what you see today. There was another sister who lived overseas ‘London’ and no details of the father of ‘Son 2’ was ever granted. The mother avoided any conversation about who the biological father of Son 2 was.
I had to work with what we had to keep the children connected to their family system.
The next step, and part of the requirements of the program was to complete a family assessment using the NCFAS tool.
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

6. North Carolina Family and Assessment Scale (NCFAS-G + R)
The NCFAS stands for the North Carolina Family and Assessment Scale for Generalist Services and Reunification completed by the practitioner assessing the family functioning across 11 domains (eg Parenting Capabilities with subcategories ie Discipline) using a 6 point rating scale from ‘Serious Problem’ to ‘Clear Strength’. The NCFAS also assists with developing the family goals and assessing the progress of those goals throughout intervention.
The NCFAS assessment highlights the family’s strengths and at closure identifies what future recommendations may be of assistance to the family.
Once the intake assessment was completed, I was able to understand the crisis point of the family and the heightened level of anxiety the mother was experiencing due to the family situation.
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

7. Understanding the Crisis Point
Point of mothers stress and heightened levels of anxiety
Understanding the anxiety levels of the family and their stress was important for a comprehensive perspective of the family’s situation. Carter and McGoldrick’s paper states that the crisis point of the family is greatest at its transitional points, which is reflected on the Horizontal Axis as families are faced with developmental changes or unpredictable life events.
Dysfunction begins when there is interruption to the family life cycle and increases if multigenerational systems are changing simultaneously which is at the systems level, then we unpack the vertical stressors to understand the overall patterns, secrets and myths passed on from one generation to the next which then allows us to understand the crisis point.
Horizontal Stressor Level
-The mother was dealing with 3 x testing child development stages to deal with on her own – a Toddler, Pre-Adolescent and Adolescent.
- Dad, is sentenced to 18 months in jail was an unpredictable life event.
Systems Levels:
- Single Female mother who lost her partner for 18 months, finances have evaporated, extended family all living together and enmeshed in each others daily lives, child protection is involved, mum is recovery from drug misuse, risk of homelessness and poverty.
-The mothers grandparents were also moving away to a retirement village few hours north, who mum was very fond of and felt a closeness with, therefore mum was becoming more and more isolated.
Vertical Patterns:
Secrecy was a pattern in this family. Secrets included:
Dad being incarcerated was kept as a family secret to anyone outside of the family system
The secrecy of ‘who’ Son 2’s father was
Not disclosing family stressors to the pervious generation
Another pattern identified as a vertical stressors was that
3 Generations of women had their first child under the age of 17 year of age and responses from the previous generation when a mother was struggling was always out weighed by the hardship of their generation before; therefore empathy and positive praise was non-existent.
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

8. Presenting Problem at Referral and Intake
Family;
A Parent Incarcerated
Parent in relapse prevention from Drug misuse
Parenting Issues
Mental Health Concerns
Risk of Homelessness
Poverty
Mum
Jail
Teen
Pre –
Teen
Toddler
After the NCFAS tool was completed and understanding why the family was in crisis, above are the additional presenting problems needed to be addressed when the voice of the family was heard. (Read the list)
In line with the conference theme I will be focusing on presenting one component of the case working with the family and the father in jail.
The family spoke so fondly of dad, but the child protection system did not initiate any conversation with dad regarding the restoration process of his children.
I used different tools during the intervention to support the family and address the inequalities they were facing. I needed to collect evidence to support father inclusive practice in this case and support the child protection system to encourage dad’s voice to be heard.
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

9. Tools of Intervention Tools Theory /Models 1:1 Parenting Program
1-2-3 Magic and Emotional Coaching
Adolescent Development Education
If I had a magic Wand
Solution-Focused Theory
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Dad Diaries
Family Systems Theory
Father Inclusive Practice
Positive Verbal Reinforcement
Strength-based approach
Identifying patterns of behaviour eg soiling
Behavioural Analysis (A + B = C)
Curiosity
Art and Drawing
Narrative Therapy
On the screen I have listed a number of tools used in this case to address a number of the presenting problems as I wanted to give you some other ideas to use with clients that worked in this case. But for the purpose of gathering information on the mother’s and children's perception of their dad, I used concepts from solutions focused questioning, family systems theory, and Art and Narrative Therapy.
I worked with the 12 year old son and 8 year old daughter on their “Dad Diaries”, which was set up as a craft session. The children decorated a $3 journal from kmart, that they could write things about their day and refer to when they spoke to their dad because phone calls from the prison were time limited and they struggled getting past answering dads questions with “good, yep, nup, I love you, bye”.
The Dad diaries provided the children with a safe therapeutic space to talk about their emotions regarding dad to a complete stranger outside of their family system for the very first time. The 12 year old son said “I just want to hug him” and the 8 year old girl said “ I just want to jump on him and tackle”. The children sat for over an hour giggling and laughing about the happy memories they shared when their dad was in their life daily. It was like a weight lifted off their shoulders.
Questioning using solutions-focused included asking the mother “if you had a magic wand what would your wishes be?”. Mum replied financial relief, healthy children, and their dad back home. So, the mother feels that dad belongs with them.
The major piece of work in this case was using art and narrative therapy together. Marist180 organised a yearly annual art show where clients who have been faced with significant trauma which includes those from assulym seeker services, youth homelessness, OOHC children, and vulnerable families who are at risk of having their children removed, exhibit their art pieces to the public which was themed “hope for the future”.
I invited the family to participate, and the mother and daughter decided they would like to be included but did not know where to start…
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

10. 3 Houses Tool
So mum and daughter sat on the couch together and we used the 3 Houses Tool worksheet which included “House of Dreams” “ House of Good Things” and “House of worries”, the activity was done separately, before each of them presented their responses to each other. And here is what they wrote…In each house, both mum and daughter, mentions family and dad. Let me direct your eyes to the last house with pink writing, called the “House of Dreams”. In the daughter’s worksheet she wrote ”that we have dad back home tomorrow, by Christmas”.
Christmas Day, 25th December was significant because to the children, that was dad’s coming home day.
The house in the middle called “House of Good Things”, the daughter wrote that “ Dad is coming home”.
If I can direct you to the mothers houses in green hand writing, the mothers “House of Dreams”, the end house, she wrote that her dreams was to be a family whole again.
This “3 Houses Tool” became the foundation of what their art pieces where going to look like which their hope for the future was to be a family and dad was an important part.
So the more time that I spent with the mother and children, the conversations with extended family, I really could not understand why dad had not been consulted by the child protection system regarding the restoration of the children and why he was not included into these legal proceedings.
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

11. Narrative work through Art
On the screen are the final artwork pieces. This is the daughters artwork. This beach scene illustrates the last time the family went on a holiday together. This was the first time that the daughter described her family situation and she was going to put it on public display in Sydney’s Martin Place at the Wentworth Galleries.
Her artwork narrative was “My dad is in jail and he is coming out this year. The last time I hugged my dad was 9 months ago. This is a picture of my memory of my dad and our family spending time together. It is also a hope for the memory to be real again”.
On the right, was the mothers artwork to which she displayed her emotions of desperation, grief and hope to be a family again through her art.
While I was unable to change the family situation regarding dad being incarcerated, the family was now more confident in talking about their father and the daughter took her winners certificate to ‘show and tell’ to school the next day. Talking about dad in our intervention and allowing therapeutic space for the children to discuss dad, the evidence was clear, I had the evidence that this family, and a father in jail, needed a voice to bring them all together.
The mum, the children and the extended family all said that Dad was a good Dad and never once hurt the children. So with the evidence provided by the family, I put forward a case to child protection and informed them that good practise was to include dad and that we needed to go and meet him in the prison setting.
So, I picked up the phone and called the correctional centre. I enquired with the receptionist, they transferred me to his unit, and I left a message on the unit psychologists voic in hope I could open the channels of communication. After 1 phone call, and an stating why it was important we needed to meet dad. It was approved by the director of the facility and I visited dad and his psychologist in the prison. I provided him with information on our service, what we had worked on with his family so far, what challenges the mother was having within each child-development stage which then the psychologist agreed to work on further with dad to inform him of the challenges he was going to be faced with, I encouraged dad to do a parenting course with the chaplin as I was working with mum in a similar 1:1 parenting course with the mother and we asked for his permission to organise with child protection to visit him. He agreed and I arranged for the first meeting between FACS and dad to discuss the restoration of his children and what the legal proceedings were going to look like which initially FACS had not recommended restoration to dad due to his criminal records. But, we all can change.
“My dad is in jail and he is coming out this year. The last time I hugged my dad was 9 months ago. This is a picture of my memory of my dad and our family spending time together. It is also a hope for the memory to be real again.” 8 year old daughter
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

12. Working in Collaboration
Meeting Dad in jail
Working with the prison system
Working with Family and Community Services
Working with the primary & high schools
Working with the preschool
Working with Centrelink and Department of housing
Working with extended family
Over the 6 months working on this case, I pulled a care team together with all the services working with the family so everyone was on the same page supporting their clients needs with a family systems perspective and FACS became more confident with working with Dad and the systems and services supporting him which FACS did changed their perspective on his role in the restoration proceedings.
Interactive
- What inequalities of the case have been presented?
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

13. Review of the Inequality of the case
Child Protection System not prioritising to meet dad who was incarcerated to discuss the family restoration processes with him. Dad had no voice on what was to be the future for his children.
The correctional facility not allowing the children physical contact with their father whilst he was incarcerated. The children were punished as the justice system did not allow a parent-child bond to continue.
Reviewing the inequality of the case was that the
Child Protection System not prioristing to meet dad who was incarcerated to discuss the family restoration process with him. Dad had no voice on what was to be the future for his children.
The correctional facility did not allow the children to have physical contact with their father whilst he was incarcerated. The children were punished as the justice system did not allow a secure parent-child bond to continue.
I would be personally interested to know more about how the justice system works with parent-child attachment theory and the research coming out regarding disrupted attachment but unfortunately, due to the rules of the justice system at the time I was not able to physically connect the father and the children together for a cuddle.
Now, I was permitted into the facilitiy as a practitioner to shake dad’s hand, sit in a meeting room face-to-face but the children were not.
Interactive
What do we see as some of the challenges that we are faced with when working where there is injustice?
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

14. Practitioner Challenges in the face of Inequality
Working with Inequality is emotional and exhausting
Taxing on our own belief systems. We may begin to doubt our own values as we try to understand the injustices.
Our work intensifies as we advocate on behalf of those who have been unfairly discriminated against. We become their voice.
It can be frustrating, heartbreaking, and disappointing when we can not change a systems practices.
We need to put more energy into building professional relationships, cross-collaborating across different systems to explore why decisions have been made and brain storm ways on working through what we see as injustice. Curiosity is key as we try to search for answers.
Working with Inequality is emotional and exhausting
Taxing on our own belief systems. We may begin to doubt our own values as we try to understand the injustices
Our work intensifies as we advocate on behalf of those who have been unfairly discriminated against. We become their voice.
It can be frustrating, heartbreaking, and disappointing when we can not change a systems practices.
We need to put more energy into building professional relationships, cross-collaborating across different systems to explore why decisions have been made and brain storm ways on working through what we see as the injustice. Curiosity is key as we try to search for answers.
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

15. Christmas Day Genogram
After 6 months of intervention, all of the families goals were addressed and FACS submitted the Section 90 for restoration of the children back to both of their parents which included a 12 month supervision order. The connections were established between FACS and the correctional centre together with dad’ s community transition officer who assessed the family home, with the children in it, as a safe place for dad to return home on Christmas day which all started out with 1 curious phone call!
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

16. 2016 NSW Family and Community Services Shining Light on Good Practice
If you would like to read more inspiration stories about vulnerable children and families - each year the NSW Family and Community Services publishes cases they have identified as good practice within the child protection sector which the case I presented to you today was featured in an article called ‘Dreams can come true’. You can google search the 2016 NSW Family and Community Services Shining Light on Good Practice.
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017

17. References
Carter, B & McGoldrick, M. (1989). The Changing Family Life Cycle, Boston, Allyn & Bacon, pp 3-27
DeJong, P. & Berg I.K. (2002) How to amplify what clients want: the miracle question. In DeJong,P.& Berg, I.K. Interviewing for solutions. Wadsworth, Pacific Grove, pp
Laner, G. (1996) Narrative Child Family Therapy. Family Process Order, 35:4 Pp
Larner, G (2000). Towards a common ground in psychoanalysis and family therapy: on knowing not to know. USA Journal o f of Family Therapy 22, 61-82
Kinney, J., Haapala, D., & Booth, C. (1991). Keeping families together. The Homebuilders Model. New York: Walter de Gruyter
Fredman, G. (2014). Weaving Net-works of Hope with Families, Practitioners and Communities: Inspirations from Systemic and Narrative Approaches. Australian and NZ Journal of Family Therapy,
NFPN (2015). NCFAS for General Services and Reunification (NCFAS-G+R).
Weld, N. & Parker, S. Strengthening families, Protecting Children, Framework for Practice; The Three Houses Tool . QLD Government Retrieved from
      
Australian Association of Family Therapy 38th Annual Conference, October 2017