Court Welfare Work: Practice and Theory
| DOI | 10.1177/026455057902600302 |
| Published date | 01 September 1979 |
| Author | Harriet Bretherton |
| Date | 01 September 1979 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Court Welfare Work:
Practice and Theory
HARRIET BRETHERTON
Let me get my credentials out of the way first. They are nothing to
boast about but may go some way to explaining my audacity in tackling
such an austere and relatively unmined subject as court welfare work.
First, a plug for my employers, the Middlesex Probation and After-Care
Committee, who nearly three years ago, when I had produced a second
baby, agreed to cut my hours to eight a week. Second, grateful thanks
to my senior who came up with the answer to what you do with someone
who only works eight hours a week. Put them on custody and access
reports. This was a brilliant solution. The office had an ever willing
taker for those tiresome, time-consuming and distracting reports that fit
so badly into most probation officers’ workloads. When I first envisaged
a future of welfare reports, I too feared the worst, but part-time em-
ployees cannot be choosers and the alternative was full-time nappies.
I did have one or two bad cases to begin with but it did not take me
long to realise that the worst part was reading the affidavit. I soon dis-
covered that those debauched petitioners and vicious respondents were
even more anxious about me than I was about them. Before long, I
was not putting a brave face on it when I assured my colleagues that I
liked doing welfare reports. It was perfectly true. However, doubts and
questions soon began to assail me. What was I doing? Was it sensible?
Was it worthwhile? Was it the best way of doing it? Who was I trying
to help? I looked for others in the same line of work to compare notes.
I searched inexpertly for relevant literature. I finally concluded that
only the discipline of pen and paper would begin to order a chaos of
hunches, homegrown theories and vivid experiences. As a starting point
I ordered my questions. The key ones seemed to me: first, what is the
place of court welfare work within that modern and expanding industry
which has developed to enable couples to separate? Second, what are
the tasks and objectives of court welfare officers? Third, what theoretical
principles should govern their work?
Family problems
THE court welfare officer is primarily concerned with the disposition of
the children, though she is often aware that decisions about the children
will influence the distribution of property and income. The overt role
of the court welfare officer is to help the court reach a decision about
the children by providing information about the family background and
sometimes advice as to how the children are likely to develop in different
environments. The court welfare office will also try to offer appropriate
help to the parents and children. The value of the court welfare officer
for the courts and the families lies in her neutrality. According to our
legal system, a speedy divorce can only be obtained if the grounds are
&dquo;unreasonable behaviour&dquo; or adultery of the respondent. For either of
these grounds to be proved, it often appears that the couple’s differences
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must be magnified, facts disorted and attitudes misrepresented. The court
welfare officer can talk about the areas where the parties agree and can
allow them to acknowledge the good as well as the bad in the relationship.
The court welfare officer sees only a small proportion of separating
families with children. In the sample of divorce cases analysed by Eckelar
and Clivei a welfare report was available in 11.3 per cent of the
sample, or in 8.2 per cent of. uncontested cases and 53 per cent of con-
tested cases. These cases may not be typical of most separated families,
because by definition they are those where either the parents cannot
agree or the judge is not satisfied. However, I am not convinced that our
cases differ a great deal from the majority. It often seems a matter
of whim whether the judge, registrar or magistrate tries to sort out
difficulties and disputes on his own or after he has called for a welfare
report. There may be many more families than we realise who would
be helped if a court welfare officer were involved.
As in any social work situation, the court welfare officer would like
to know a lot more than she does about the social setting in which she is
working, the psychological processes affecting her clients and the out-
come of court decisions in terms of the clients’ welfare. Compared with
the wealth of research material in the criminal field, research work
related to the breakdown of marriage or cohabitation seems compara-
tively thin.
A beginning has been made in describing some of the characteristics
of the...
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