Book Reviews : Process of Casework
| DOI | 10.1177/026455057502200114 |
| Date | 01 March 1975 |
| Published date | 01 March 1975 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
29
Scream
Quietly
or
the
Neighbours
Will
Hear
Erin Pizzey
’
Penguin
Books,
45p
In
this
small
but
forthright
book,
Mrs
Pizzey,
who
has
achieved
prominence
as
the
founder
of
Chiswick
Women’s
Aid,
highlights
a
problem
long
.
known
to
probation
officers:
the
’
plight
of
&dquo;battered
wives&dquo;.
She
offers
considerable
case
material
as
a
means
of
illustrating
her
points
and
neither
the
law
nor
the
social
services
emerge
unscathed.
It
appears
from
what
Mrs
Pizzey
has
to
say
that
she
,
has
a
very
poor
opinion
of
social
j
service
departments
and
the
middle
!
class
nature
of
their
prejudices.
One
may
share
some
of
her
misgivings
’
about
the
former
but
it
seems
in-
creasingly
doubtful
as
to
whether
there
is
any
but
an
ever
diminishing
number
of
social
workers
with
prejudices
peculiarly
middle-class.
As
a
probation
officer
of
long
experience,
this
reviewer
recognises
the
justice
of
many
of
Mrs
Pizzey’s
strictures,
as
fair
comment
upon pat
practice.
The
&dquo;domestic&dquo;
problem,
especially
where
the
husband
is
&dquo;un-
co-operative&dquo;,
has
always
been
the
point
of
maximum
impotence
in
intervention
terms
and
Mrs
Pizzey,
however
emotive
her
reactions,
has
actually
done
something
practical.
She
is
to
be
commended
on
that
alone.
It
would
be
unfair
however
to
confine
comment
to
so
narrow
a
scale.
She
has
opened
up,
for
good
or
ill,
the
necessity
for
a
closer
examina-
tion
of
what
we
have
been
all
too
eager
in
the
past
to
dismiss
as
sacro-
sanct :
the
marital
relationship.
Violence
in
purely
domestic
circumstances
is
just
as
much
a
matter
for
legal
and
social
interven-
tion,
where
necessary,
as
elsewhere.
&dquo;Battered
wives&dquo;
have
often
had
to
choose
between
further
suffering
and
homelessness,
not
only
for
themselves
but
for
their
children.
Mrs
Pizzey
provided
something
that
was
lacking
and
revealed
thereby
some
of
the
extent
of
the
problem.
It
is
up
to
those
she
criticises
to
see
where
and
how
far
the
problem
extends
and
to
provide
wider
and
better
opportunities
for
giving
what
further
aid
is
needed.
The
need
is
there
and
the
occasion
for
its
recog-
nition
has
been
given.
It
remains
to
be
seen
what
legislation
is
necessary
and
how
best
social
agencies
can
be
enabled
to
implement
it.
At
least
Scream
Quietly
has
given
us
all
that
little
bit
less
of
an
excuse
for
indifference.
KLH
US 74
Inner
London
Probation
Service,
£1
This
is
the
report
of
the
latest
group
of
probation
officers
from
Inner
London
to
visit
the
United
States.
It
is
certainly
of
great
interest.
Perhaps
the
chapter
on
Conclusions
and
Recommendations
may
be
of
the
greatest
importance,
since
Mr
Pearce
(their
Chief
Probation
Officer)
says
in
his
Foreword
&dquo;I
will
be
asking
the
Probation
and
After-Care
Committee
to
give
careful
attention
to
the
recommendations
with
which
this
report
concludes&dquo;.
Some
of
them
are
familiar
in
other
parts
of
this
coun-
try,
but
the
suggestion
of
a
suppor-
tive
work
programme
for
&dquo;un-
employable&dquo;
men
and
women
is
somewhat
revolutionary.
Vocational
work
schemes
in
prison
establish-
ments,
if
really
pursued,
could
be
also
useful
in
providing
badly-needed
dialogue
between
prison
staff,
prisoners
and
probation
officers.
The
use
of
offenders
and
ex-offenders
in
rehabilitation
and
treatment
is
not
a
new
idea,
and _
the
availability
of
telephones
in
certain
cases
to
those
on
remand
has
already
been
accepted
and
implemented.
If
a
regular
pro-
gramme
of
reciprocal
exchange
visits
is
arranged
(as
suggested)
between
Inner
London,
Canada
and
the
USA
the
Inner
London
Service
should
have
little
difficulty
in
recruiting
staf£!
WLH
Process
of
Casework
Jean
Nursten
Pitman,
JE3.50
and
£2
Various
texts
have
been
written
on
casework
theory-Hollis,
Strean
and
_Turner
spring
readily
to
mind-but
there
has
long
been
a
need
for
material
on
authentic
case
studies.
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