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Social Work with Families

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Eneh, J., Nnama-Okechukwu, C., Uzuegbu, C. & Okoye, U. (2017). Social work with families. In Okoye, U.,
Chukwu, N. & Agwu, P. (Eds.). Social work in Nigeria: Book of readings (pp 185–197). Nsukka: University of
Nigeria Press Ltd

Social Work with Families

16 Eneh Jecinta, Nnama-Okechukwu Chinwe & Charity

Uzuegbu & Okoye Uzoma

he word “family” is derived from a Roman word “famulus” meaning

T servant (Cliquet, 2003). He stated that the family is generally regarded

as a major social institution and a locus of much a person’s social
activity. According to Lamanna and Riedman, (2012), the family is an
institution where the individual takes first step, first experiences, first joys and
sorrows then leaves the family and faces a big world. It is imperative to note
that the family is distinguished from other small groups by some peculiar
features. Historically, the nature of the family has changed over the years. For
instance, in traditional Nigerian society, the family was never regarded as man,
woman and children rather, the family was grouped along kinship lines and
kindred. These groupings usually depend on the needs of the society at any
given time. The way the family is defined has total implications for societal
policies, programmes and process (Briar-Lawson, 2016).

However, in whatever way we define it, what is important for us to know is that
a family is created when two or more persons try to construct an intimate
environment. By this we mean an environment that is filled with shared goals,
commitment and also a level of trust and accountability to one another
(Constable, 2016). Most families are formed as a way of meeting various needs
such as physiological needs, emotional needs; safety needs and other needs that
can be met by the family. Apart from meeting these needs, families are also
formed to provide emotional sustenance and social support for members of the
family. Families also serve as a link to the past and should have the ability to
provide continuity between yesterday and today. Families also serve as a
linking force and pathway to the future as a result of socialization that goes on
in it (Okoye, 2017). The various functions of the family as stated by Anastasiu
(2012) include;

Regulation of Sexual Behaviour

The knowledge and understanding about the regulation of sexual behaviour is
provided to the individual within his family. In this sense, No society or
community, leaves the individuals to direct their sexual behaviours as they
want, rather there are a whole set of written and unwritten rules and norms that

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forbid certain ways of sexual behaviour. Sexual behaviour in most of the

societies is influenced by certain religious beliefs, values and norms.

Reproduction
This is the second function that fulfils the family within the society. Every
society needs a new generation of people in order to replace old people and also
develop. Although replacement maybe achieved through migration and
conquest of the other societies, but it is not usually enduring. If there is absence
of reproduction, then a society will disappear after a while.

Economic co-operation
This function has an important role within the family. In the traditional society,
family constitutes the basic economic unit. This has not changed today as the
family still has the main objective of satisfying the basic needs, such as food,
clothing, housing, health care requirements, monetary resources and comfort.
Families are regarded as the basic units of every society which are responsible
for producing and nurturing human resources for every nation. These resources
in turn produce wealth (Okoye, 2017).

Education
Education is very important in any society and this has been recognised by most
people.. The first education a child acquires is in the family through the process
of socialization. The educational qualifications are provided to an individual
through his family, parents make efforts to send their children to schools and in
improving their educational qualifications.

Affection, protection and emotional support

These factors are vital for the existence of the individuals. In order to develop
the aspects of uprightness, morality and values, an individual requires affection,
cordiality, protection and emotional support. The family members possess these
responsibilities of improving self-confidence, and support in relation to
difficulties and problems. In the absence of psychological requirements, a
person can encounter lot of problems in leading to operative growth and
development.

Social status
Family contributes in granting of a social status to an individual. Wherever a
person goes, he illustrates his identity on the basis of the family that he belongs
to. Factors such as, caste, class, creed, religion, background, and ethnicity are
conferred to the individual by the family that they belong to. Acquisition of
good education and sustainability of the living conditions are the main
objectives of an individual; he is required to work hard in order to achieve these,
and he acquires all the support and assistance by his family members.

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Changes in contemporary family structure in Nigeria

In the beginning of family life, families lived in an extended family arrangement
and members depended on each other for basic survival and support. The
extended family system developed in these early times because many
individuals were needed to meet family responsibilities and needs. Having
additional members makes it possible for many tasks to be accomplished. For
example the family thrived on farming and that being the case; many hands
were needed on the farm in order to boost production. Many hands were also
needed to fight aggressive neighbours in times of war. Therefore, the extended
family system developed out of necessity at that particular point in time.

However, in contemporary times, the situation is no longer the same and forces
of industrialization and urbanization have brought with it changes that have no
place for the extended family system (Okoye, 2017). In the same vein, division
of labour have made it possible for family responsibilities to be carried out by
other people thereby limiting the need for extended for system. The following
are some for the changes that has taken place in the contemporary family
structure:

Scholars such as Luxton (2011) have noted that the functions of the family have
changed drastically from what it used to be. For instance, we are aware that
many parents do not have time to train their children. Some parents are not even
sure of what is expected of them as regards their children and some cannot
differentiate between what is permissive and what is fair (Okoye, 2016). Some
parent not sure of what constitutes child abuse. All these worries reflect on the
family and society. Scholars believe that changes in the function of the family
are as a result of response to industrialization and specialization.

In our society today, there are institutions that take in those functions that were
normally in the domain of the family. Such as security of citizens (police and
other forces) education of young ones (schools of all types) care of the sick and
the feeble (hospitals) moral and religious instruction (church) and so on. All
these used to be done in the family but now it is no longer so. Even recreational
activities have been taken outside the domain of the family. The family is no
longer directly responsible in carrying out certain roles that used to be their
exclusive rights. These have all weakened the family. However the question is
what can be done to strengthen the family even in the face of these recent
trends? We conclude therefore that families need to be helped and social
workers appear to be in a position to do that. Social workers can help families
to enjoy all that society has to offer and still remain intact.

Changing role of women

Another change that is occurring in the structure of the family is the changing
roles of women. The changing role of women is one of the most dramatic and

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often cited social metamorphoses in our society today. Women today are
changing based on the way they see themselves and also the way others see
them. Women have now chosen their own path different from what society had
previously chosen for them and all these in one way or the other affect family
lives.

Today women leave the home to work outside while some go to pursue
psychologically and financially rewarding careers. Others do so in order to
obtain more material things in order to complement and enrich the basic
necessity of family living. Many people in our society are no longer certain of
what role women should play in the family because many women now earn
higher than their spouses. Also modern technology had freed women from a lot
of household chores and duties that ordinary fall within their domain. Even the
act of child bearing which used to be exclusively for women is no longer so
with the advent of test tube babies.

All these notwithstanding social workers believe that the traditional role of
women can be properly harnessed so as to make for better and proper family
living and fulfilling family lives.

Marriage and divorce

Several social strains have made social scientist to become concerned about the
future of the family. For example, marriage is no longer a basic requirement for
people to start having families. Also scholars believe that the rate of divorce is
increasing even in Nigeria where divorce is seen as a sort of taboo. Scholars
believe that commitment to marriage in no longer strong. In other words, if one
is not committed to marriage, then it is less difficult to get out of it. In our
society today, it is not uncommon to see people who are twice divorced and
twice remarried.

Age at marriage
There is also the view that the age at which people get into marriage is
increasing. People now marry at a much older age. Various reasons have been
given by scholars for increase in the age at marriage. The first one is the need
for women to get education before marriage. Most women would prefer to have
little education before getting into marriage so as to come into the marriage with
‘something’. One of the reasons why this is important is because of the financial
situation that arises in the marriage which may include training of children in
school, feeding and clothing them, rent payment etc. All these are necessary for
family wellbeing. The second one is financial involvement in marriage: The
marriage ceremony involve a lot of financial commitment in Nigeria and one
must be ready financially in order to get involved.

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Birth control and fertility

The issue of birth control and fertility is believed to be one of the changes
occurring in our contemporary family structure today. Commitment to child
bearing is becoming deemphasized in marriage especially in developed
countries. In other words, people go into marriage not necessary to have
children but for companionship. In Nigeria also, it is no longer uncommon to
have a husband and wife deciding on the number of children they would have
before they even get married. This was not so before.

Expanding elderly population

As a result of improvement in health care, better feeding habit and cleaner
environment, life expectancy in Nigeria today is increasing HIV/AIDS
notwithstanding. It is no longer uncommon for young people to have both
grandparents alive. Also there is movement away from extended family to
nuclear family. What all these point to is that taking care of elderly persons is
posing a problem. In traditional Nigerian society, taking care of the aged was
not a problem. Most men marry and leave their wives in the village to care for
their parents. Most women today are career oriented and usually earn their
living outside the home. All these have affected the care of the elderly.
Urbanization have also made people to migrate to urban areas in search of jobs
and while over there the pattern to living does not make room for elderly people.
However, even when the elderly in brought to live with the family problems
usually occur especially in the issue of child up bearing and all these affect the
family adversely (Okoye, 2012).

Family institution in Nigeria

Man is a gregarious animal in that he lives in social groupings. This very nature
of man not wanting to live in isolation but instead in association with fellow
humans necessitated the need for man to create the institution of the family
(Farooq, 2013). The family institution is the bedrock of any society.

The Nigerian family institution is patriarchal with extended family members

having more right than usual in comparison to western family institution
(Labeondan, 2005).The family relationships are mostly guided by strict system
of “seniority” and male tended egoistic values. As a result, emphasis has always
been placed on male members of the family because of their rights to family
inheritance, extension of family lineage and continuation of family’s name.
Embedded in the family system are social norms passed down from one
generation to another. Most of these societal norms cut across the nation
irrespective of one’s age, educational achievement, religious affiliation and
other features.

However, with industrialization impacting on all facets of life, the Nigeria

family is no exception. The effect is that the traditional type of family institution

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(extended family) practiced in Nigeria is gradually giving way to other types of

(nuclear) family institutions. The popular family types in Nigeria include:
i. Nuclear family: This is the type of family structure experienced in
modern day society. It consists of a two generation relationship of
parents and children living together and more or less isolated from their
extended family.
ii. Nuclear dyad family: Refers to a husband and wife family with no
children. It is more a companion relationship where children are not
involved.
iii. Single parent family: Consists of one parent raising one or more
children single handedly without a partner/spouse.
iv. Blended family: A family unit composed by a married couple and their
offspring including some from previous marriage.
v. Extended family: Is a family made up of a nuclear family and their close
relatives such as children, grandparents, aunts and uncles and is
traditionally practiced in Nigeria.

Problems encountered by the family institution in Nigeria

The family today in Nigeria is facing a lot of challenges. Some of these
challenges include

Financial problems
Many family problems originate from insufficient financial resources, while
others may originate from misunderstanding about what things money should
be spent on (Okoye, 2017). For instance, most Nigerian families live below the
international recommended standard of $1 (N350) per day and as a result find
it difficult to have the basic three meals per day.

Changes in family circumstances

This could be as a result of loss of job, bereavement or death of a family
member. For instance, if the dead member is the sole income earner for the
family will result to drastic economic hardship for all the family members.
Divorce or separation can affect family circumstance especially for the children
whose parents are separated or in divorce courts.

Differences in opinions, personalities, beliefs and values

These differences may affect a member’s behavioral pattern. This may pose a
problem for the family for instance when a spouse engages in cheating behavior
pattern or exhibits financial infidelity

Issues relating to sexuality:

This problem most often is not discussed in public and is not seen as a major
problem but in real sense maybe a major causative effect to many problems in
most families. For instance when a spouse is not sexually satisfied by the

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partner, this is not discussed in public but it could cause problem (Blickenstaff,
2005).

Government support for family in Nigeria

The major agency that is assigned with the task of providing services for
families in Nigeria is the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social
Development (FMWSD). This Ministry provides services for various
categories of people in the country namely parent, women, children, youth,
elderly and the challenged. These services are provided through three
departments namely: Social Welfare Department, Gender Affairs Department
and Child Department. Some of these services include:

Marriage counselling services

The marriage counselling services are provided for married persons to enable
them sustain in their marriages. The social workers in the social welfare
agencies provide counselling services to the couples. However in cases where
the couple has decided to divorce, they are referred court. Based on the need of
the couple the worker refer them to the appropriate agencies to take care of
them. Some of the needs may include finance, skill acquisition, family planning,
and others.

Family life education

Family life education (FLE) is an educational programme designed to
strengthen individual and family life. It is designed to assist young people and
their physical, emotional, and moral development as they prepare for adult
hood, marriage, parenthood, aging, as well as their social relationships in the
society (WHO 2009). It includes teachings on how families work, the
interrelationship of family and societies, human growth and development of life
span, sexuality education, time management of daily life, parenting, the effects
of policy and legislation on families, and HIV/AIDS education (Olatunji 2008).
The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development organize the
FLE programmes through the social welfare departments. Churches and NGOs
also prepare the youth for family and adult living through their various
programmes.

Child welfare services

Child welfare services are provided for children under the age of 18 years. The
services are provided by the Child department. The services provided for the
children include-child maintenance services, adoption, fostering and child
justice services. In the child maintenance service, the agency helps children
from divorced or separated homes to get money for maintenance from their
fathers. In the course of divorce or separations involving a minor, the agency
charge the father some fees for the maintenance of the children. The father pays

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money to the agency monthly and the wife comes to the agency and collect the
money for the maintenance of the children.

Also under Child welfare services, the Ministry provides some kind of shelter
or homes for children in need of care and protection. For instance, in some states
in Nigeria, there exist Children Reception Centre that provides care and support
for vulnerable children pending their reunification with their families. Some
NGO’s like SOS are also involved with family-based child fostering in Nigeria.

Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents
other than the biological mother or mother. Adoption is permanent and seeks to
give children in need of care and protection a permanent family environment
where they can be cared for by parents who are willing and ready to take up that
responsibility of providing a loving home for such children. In Nigerian,
adoption services are required to go through the formal process (Okoye, 2009).
There are however several bureaucratic process in formal adoption leading to
couple seeking for illegal means of adoption from baby factories and other
illegal means. This has led to the proliferation of legal baby factories in the last
few years with some state government banning both child fostering and
adoption. In Nigeria, adoption may be effected either under statutory law or
customary law. But the rules regulating it differ from State to State.

Under the child justice, services are provided for children who are in conflict
with the law to ensure that they get fair treatment. The cases are normally tried
in the family court. In situations where a child commits an offence the social
welfare worker is to assign to carry out a social investigation of the child and
the case and write a report to the court. The presiding magistrate use the report
to guide his decisions. When a child is found guilty, he is disciplined depending
the gravity of his offence. In serious cases, he is placed in approved institutions
(depending on the nature of disciplinary measures recommended) for
correction. The approved institutions include
i. A children attendance centre
ii. A children centre
iii. A children residential centre
iv. A children correctional centre and
v. A special children correction centre

Social work and family centred practice

The Family Centred Practice (FCP) is based on handling the major difficulties
encountered by contemporary families of which the individual is a member.
FCP is a way of thinking about human being, in relation to their intimate and
larger environment, translated into approaches to helping (Briar-Lawson,
2016). In other words, in a family centred practice, the family is the centre of
the field of action and the unit of interest. This does not mean that the individual

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is not important, rather it means that humans (individuals) are heard and
understood in the context of the intimate and powerful human system to which
they belong (i.e. the family).

In family centred practice, the social worker in concerned with the person in the
environment (Cleary, 2017). The social worker who is involved in family
centred practice take on a variety of roles and many also need to work with
other systems that have influence on the family in order in achieve their
objectives. These other systems may include the school, the hospital, as well as
other systems that exert influence in the family. Family centred practice takes
place across a range of settings and in various fields of social work such as
hospitals, child welfare, schools, prisons, social welfare institutions and so on
(Maluccio, Pine & Tracy, 2002).

In the early days of social work, scholars were more involved in casework
(individual) treatment which was the traditional social work role. This later
changed and social workers started the treatment of the family as a unit because
they found it to be more effective in handling problems that arise in the family
(Nichols, 2013).

Also the move from individual to family social work was also necessitated by
the fact that social workers found that they cannot be totally concerned about
one person whereas there are two or more persons interacting and influencing
one another. Thus, in order to provide needed help, it became necessary to
acquire the different perspective and problem solving and formulation and this
was how the idea of intervening with the family as a unit was born (Constable
&Reed, 2015).

Note that the transition from individual treatment to family treatment was not
clear cut. In other words, we cannot say where family treatment started or where
individual treatment ended. However, social workers need to acquire more
skills and techniques so as to cope in family practice and treatment (Garbarino,
1992).

In family treatment, the individual in question (the presenting problem) is

usually seen as the main symptom bearer of the family problem. However, the
objective of the social worker in family treatment is to keep attention away from
the symptom bearer so as to involve everybody (all the family members) in
finding a lasting solution and also making necessary changes (Briar-Lawson,
2016). Seeing family members together is useful because it provides the social
worker an opportunity to observe various family patterns as members interact
around the problem. This will enable the social worker to have complete picture
of the family and also the problem (Sexton & Datchi, 2014).

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 Eneh, Nnama-Okechukwu, Uzuegbu & Okoye

As the social worker gets to see all family members together, comprehensive
view of the problem emerges unlike when he sees only one family member and
gets only one person’s view of the problem. This view usually represents the
particular way is the individual is experiencing the problem from their unique
position and not as it affects every family member. According to Constable and
Lee, (2015) and Devine (2015) to understand the way people interact and
perform as members of the family, it is necessary for the social worker to look
at the following in family practice:

The interactions
By this we mean the way family members relate and interact among themselves
(togetherness). By this also, we mean the way family members relate to others
outside the family.

Interpersonal relationship
This looks at whether there are camps in the family (may be parents relating
together more than they relate with the children and vice versa). It also looks at
whether there is mutual respect in the family and also if there are exclusive roles
for specific people in the family

Communication patterns
What is their communication pattern like? Do they hear each other or are their
factors that inhibit them from hearing each other in the family.

Role
Who is playing what role? Who is actually the head of the family? This is
because it may not be the man. Are children being treated as children or as
grown-ups? This is important because in some families children at times are
bread winners and are not allowed or given opportunity to become children.

Various competencies required of a Family Social worker

In working with families the social worker must understand problems and how
they emanate from various sources such as; the family structure, the family
communication pattern, financial source and from all other environmental
influences that bear on the family. It is important to point out that the structure,
their communication pattern, financial source, place of residence and their
social group all determine the type of problems they may experience. Some of
these competencies needed include:

Sufficient knowledge of human development

This will enable the social worker to make in-depth psychosocial assessment of
individuals. One is expected to have considerable knowledge of human
function. By this it means that the social worker should detect signs of puberty

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and other stages of human development to be able to give advice and

explanations of accordingly.

In-depth knowledge of family functioning

Just as the social worker must be skilled in human development, he should also
have adequate knowledge of family dynamics so as to be able to diagnose
factors that affect the functioning of families. The structure of any family
determines the kind of dynamics that is going on in the family. This being the
case, the social worker must be in a position to identify issues that are peculiar
to any family structure so that his intervention will be properly channelled.
Social workers need to understand the interaction patterns in any family
structure for effective intervention so that the intervention will have lasting
impact on members of the family (Constable, 2016).

Skill in selection and application of family model

In order for a social worker to become a good family worker, they must have
mastered one or more specific treatment approaches from a wide range of
available approaches. Some of these approaches include:
i. Communication model
ii. Psychodynamic model
iii. Structural model
iv. Experimental model
v. General Systems model
vi. Behavioural model

The social worker must be in a position to understand these models and teach it
to members of the family if need be so as to maintain harmony and help them
have fulfilling lives (Nichols, 2013). Apart from these, the social worker should
be skilled in such issue as family planning methods, sex techniques, child
rearing techniques, family budgeting techniques etc.

Conclusion
There are numerous family situations that are can be handled by the social
worker in a family and they include the following:
 Those families in which some members are acting out character
disorder.
 Families where there is a hostile parent resulting in disagreements
always.
 Families where someone has a chronic illness or a handicap that is
creating problem for the entire family.
 Families where there are problems of role functioning or blocked
communication.
 Families in which there are individuals who cannot tolerate individual
treatment

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 Families in which chaos reigns and order must be reinstated

For the social worker to handle these cases effectively, they must grasp the
meaning of the membership structure of the family. In other words the social
will have to find out the functions of the various sub-group system and their
relationship tendencies. It is also necessary to know the social interactions and
the functional performance of individual members in carrying out their family
roles as well as interpersonal relationship of these discreet areas of knowledge.
All these will help the social worker to understand the family dynamics and
make the helping process easy.

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