The Family as a Social Unit

€ Every family has a value and intrinisic worth in our society.

€ Each family is unique.

€ The family is the best environment for meeting the basic needs of children.

€ Children need families and have the right to grow Up in families.

€ Parents have the right to care and provide for their children ~ith dignity and respect.

€ Society has the obligation to strengthen families and enable them to remain intact.

€ Respect that all families, irrespective of problems that reduce their ability to function, have competencies that can be utilized to increase their strengths.

€ Trust that all families have the capacity to change and power for change resides in the family.

€ Families need to perceive that they are "in charge."

€ Conditions that threaten the functioning of the family and the well-being of children are associated with the lack of recources that create and reinforce the family's feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.

€ No family can exist in isolation. The family derives its energy from external resources.

€ Family functioning is best understood through observation of the ecological context in which it exists.

€ Services utilize naturally occurring supports.

€ Intervention begins where the family is. Senvice must be relevant to the needs and wishes of the family.

€ Families are engaged as partners.

€ Empowerment is the primary goal for strengthening the family "Joining with" rather than "doing to."

€ Services provided within the family's natural surroundings of the home increases the family's power in the service relationship.

€ Safety of the children in the family is the first concern.

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