| Abstract: | The field of child welfare law exemplifies opportunities and challenges facing the proponents of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) and preventive law (PL). The field has held itself out as promoting a therapeutic standard and goal for children, and it explicitly embraces a psychological PL theory. Nevertheless, it has failed to embrace contemporary mental health thinking about children and families (family systems theory) and reflects an outmoded, psychoanalytic, medical model that has contributed to an antitherapeutic child welfare system inconsistent with PL principles. Adopting a family systems approach requires a paradigm shift toward respecting and empowering the family as a unit. This approach is consistent with TJ/PL principles and provides a better fit between the legal system and social reality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved) |
