Family Beyond Family: The Surrogate Parent in Schools and Other Community Agencies (Howorth Social Work Practice

Here is a guide for educators and others in human services seeking to bring order and meaning to chaotic lives through the creation of opportunities for surrogate family experience. Professionals are often confronted with students and clients whose family circumstances are troubled. In some instances, these individuals seek and may benefit from family-like relationships with teachers, clergy, athletic coaches, recreation leaders, performing arts directors, guidance counselors, and others. Family Beyond Family helps professionals become more conscious and knowledgeable about participation in such experiences. It is full of guidance to help sensitize professionals to the presence of troubled individuals and explores means for constructive response. Valuable strategies are provided for integrating responses into the mainstream of activity rather than addressing underlying needs separately in a problem-oriented fashion.

Author Sanford Weinstein draws upon theory and observation from the literature of family therapy, group dynamics, human development, and education. He presents new theory and practical principles for building surrogate family opportunities into usual school and community activities, such as sports and recreation programs, church projects, performing arts ensembles, and curricular and extracurricular school activities. Chapters examine and discuss:

• foundations of family-like experience
• building family-like experiences into nonfamily groups
• a theory of education for family surrogate experience
• authority, the peer group, the individual, and culture
• a model for integrating family surrogate experience with institutional purposes
• ethical and philosophical issues about family surrogate experience
• special populations
  
  Family Beyond Family is intended for anyone working with groups in educational or social service settings. This book is particularly valuable to those who work with individuals from disrupted family circumstances who may be at risk for drug and alcohol abuse, emotional disturbance, sexually transmitted disease, teen pregnancy, school dropout, and delinquency. It is also appropriate for teacher training courses in all specialties of elementary and secondary education, and for social workers, psychologists, and professionals providing group-oriented services.