Brothers and Keepers
| Author | Yvonne Craig |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455057502200102 |
| Date | 01 March 1975 |
| Published date | 01 March 1975 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Brothers and Keepers
YVONNE CRAIG
Social Worker, Justice of the Peace
LIKE BRENDAN BEHAN’S character in &dquo;The Hostage&dquo;, I am a sociable
worker! I delve in realms of reconciliation, and rely on time-tested
biblical references for an understanding of brotherhood to help me
bridge the generation and professional differences between those who
’
care for people in trouble, whether they be members of the Probation,
Prison, Social or Alternative Services. So, in the context of this article,
the &dquo;keepers&dquo; are regarded as brothers, with the suggestion that only a
far-sighted, deep-thinking and generous evaluation of the experience,
skills and potentialities of prison officers by the Probation Service will
create the professional partnership necessary for the implementation of
the proposed new Young Offender Service. Relationships with voluntary
workers .need a similar approach.
Such a view makes some of my associated social scientists regard
fellowship with establishment, as well as anti-establishment, workers to
be as intellectually deviant as my magistracy. For the present sociological
thing is polarisation, or demystification, although the fashionable preju-
dices of the former are currently crippling our NCCL, and the verbal
confusions of Laing and Rex have undermined rationality, rather than
encouraged public confidence in the judgement and capabilities of the
social manipulators, themselves and ourselves. - -
I venture to hope that my case for a united approach to our inter-
vention, prevention and rehabilitation procedures might also contribute
to the widening and deepening of the comradeship of those working in
the courts. As a student of Eileen Younghusband, I had early been
drilled in the need for warm, collaborative relationships with all other
workers in the field, and a multidisciplinary approach to common
problems. So, in my early days of club and casework amongst Bermond-
sey juvenile delinquents, I quickly formed friendships with the Beat
Bobbies; similarly, in my more recent hospital work with parents, and
children who have terminal disease, I have explored all possible resources
to supplement those of the frightened and exhausted family.
In each of these sensitive areas, and others, some colleagues, through
their professional perfectionism, and personal frustration, have spent
much time attacking and recreating theories and methodologies, trying
to resolve contradictions in roles and systems. Of course this has to be
done: I have nothing but admiration for those of my friends whose
intellect has equipped them for these intractable tasks of analyses and
restructuring, even though, in practice, it so...
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