Reviews : Changing Men: A guide to working with adult male sex offenders
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| Author | Philip Moore |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059404100116 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
42
throughout
the
book
It
is
tempting
to
draw
an
analogy
between
the
dilemmas
with
which
the
authors
grapple
and
those
facing
court
welfare
officers
every
day
in
working
with
family
members
in
dispute.
Is
there
a
dichotomy
between
practice
which
identifies
with
a
legal
context
and
that
which
sees
issues
m
social/interactional
terms?
If
the
future
of
court
welfare
practice
is
a
child
put
at
risk
by
the
dispute
between
idealogical
parents,
to
whom
can
it
be
entrusted
and
who
will
make
the
decision?
Are
the
differences
between
these
two
views
as
sharp
as
the
process
of
defining
them
for
an
outside
audience
has
made
them
appear
or
is
there
room
for
compromise
or
signs
of
emerging
homogeneity?
How
can
these
’parents’
work
together
in
their
’child’s’
best
interests
and
does
it
matter
that
they
have
different
views
about
best
practice?
Like
many
a
court
welfare
officer
before
them,
the
authors
decide
against
a
recommendation
but
take
a
neutral
stance
m
their
conclusions
They
speak
positively
about
richness
and
diversity
yet
worry
about
consistency
and
equality
of
opportunity.
Even
now
Home
Office
officials
could
do
worse
than
pick
up
a
copy
of
Court
Welfare
in
Action
to
advance
their
understanding
of
the
past
and
guide
them
to
a
more
consistent
future.
Mike
Day
Senior
Probation
Officer,
Inner
London
Changing
Men: A
guide
to
working
with
adult
male
sex
offenders
Notts
Probation
Service,
1993;
£20
This
workpack
is
described
as
a
’manual’
by
its
numerous
authors,
all
of
whom
have
a
connection
with
Nottinghamshire
Probation
Service
I
associate
the
word
’manual’
with
‘Do-It Yourself
guides
to
car
and
home
maintenance,
which
invariably
leave
me
with
a
feeling
of
frustration
because
the
diagrams
bear
little
resemblance
to
what
I
am
attempting
to
repair,
or
because
the
relevant
part
is
depicted
from
an
obscure
angle
necessitatmg
painful
contortions
to
obtain
a
clear
view.
An
even
more
irritating
problem
is
that
I
do
not
have
the
appropriate
skills,
tools,
or
the
time
to
do
the
job
to
a
professional
standard.
The
authors
of
this
manual
argue
that
they
have
found
a
set
of
tools
which
are
appropriate
for
the
work,
and
that
they
have
developed
the
necessary
skills
to
use
them.
The
finished
piece
represents
the
culmination
of
ten
years
work
by
individuals
drawn
from
a
range
of
disciplines,
and
the
theory
and
methodology
is
clearly
laid out,
although
I
find
it
rather
earnest
in
style.
Of
course,
working
with
sex
offenders
is
a
very
serious
business,
and
a
sober
tone
is
appropriate,
but
there
must
surely
be
scope
for
at
least
a
couple
of
laughs
in
a
year’s
programme
without
engendering
too
much
concern
about
staff
collusion
with
clients.
To
their
credit,
however,
the
Nottinghamshire
workers
have
managed
to
create
sufficient
time
to
give
the
work
the
attention
it
merits.
Compared
with
many
other
’offender’
packages,
a
year
might
be
considered
to
be
extravagant
by
some
managements
but,
I
would
suggest,
~
it
constitutes
a
more
reahstic
period
of
11
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