Family members may not all be present when a genogram is being developed.The family can see diagrammatically what their family looks like and can participate in mapping the family history, patterns of relationships, and the familial support systems they can access.Encouraging or supporting Aboriginal families to engage with services such as Link Up may help them learn more about their heritage. Many Aboriginal families have histories involving Stolen Generations and for many Aboriginal families talking about people who have died can be difficult. It is important to remain respectful, culturally sensitive and aware of reasons why a child or family may not know a lot of information about their family. Sitting around a table involving the whole family in drawing a genogram may be less alienating and more inclusive. It is easy to miss an opportunity to connect with a person when one is involved in taking notes to record an interview. Drawing the genogram together with a child and family can provide an opportunity for them to tell their family story.
The genogram should be re-visited at key decision making points, notably at substantiation, commencement of Children’s Court activity, upon the making of a Children’s Court Order and at each annual case plan review and at termination of an Children’s Court Order or case closure. Genograms support case planning, protective intervention, the development of cultural plans, connection to culture, identity development and legal intervention. A genogram is required where protective concerns are substantiated. Once all available information has been mapped, the child protection practitioner can gather additional information to complete the picture.įollowing substantiation, genograms should be reviewed regularly with the family and at key decision points, for example during case plan or AFLDM meetings, where extended family and other significant people from the child’s support network may be present to assist in creating a more complete picture. Genograms are beneficial in identifying placement options within a family when a child is in need of alternative care and can also highlight gaps in knowledge about the family.
A theoretical understanding of social versus psychological art is outlined. Ways to overcome these challenges and to utilize the benefits were discussed. Challenges were the unfamiliarity of art language and fear of being “diagnosed” through art. The findings point to the usefulness of including creative genograms in family social work contexts to intensify information, engagement, and stimulation and to re-perceive calcified problems through new visual terms. This participatory research gathers the self-defined, phenomenological experience of family social workers who experienced creative genograms firstly on themselves and then administered it with their clients: Examples are analyzed within the text. Creative genograms enable families to phenomenologically self-define recurring themes and issues, thus combining both historical, but also, experiential data on the same page.
Genograms are widely used in family therapy as a way of visually mapping out systems and recurring family patterns. Research on Social Work Practice, Ahead of Print.