WEBVTT

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The other reason

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why it's hard to build therapeutic
relationships

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with parents
is that we just don't have a lot of time.

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Even when children,

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are on a child protection plan
and therefore our involvement intensifies.

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Social workers will often visit
once a fortnight, maybe once a month.

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And so whilst there might be telephone
contact

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or core group meetings, the statutory
per visit visit

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usually provides the best opportunity
for building a relationship.

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And within the statutory visit, we often
have to share some recent concerns

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that we might have had,
which the parents might accept,

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or they might object or minimize,
and that then creates a degree of tension.

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We might have to check the home
conditions,

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including looking at the bedrooms.

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And we also might need to
speak and see the children.

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So it's not uncommon for social workers
to be spending

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20 to 30 minutes,
a fortnight with a parent.

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Now, that's the amount of time
a social worker has to influence

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someone's thinking
way of dealing with their feelings.

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Patterns of behavior, addiction
and how they handle their relationships.

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And if you think about 20 minutes
is, 40 minutes a month.

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And I was working out the maths of this
before,

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earlier, earlier on this morning.

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And, that amounts to eight hours
a year, 20, 20 minutes

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a fortnight is 40 minutes per month,
and that's eight hours per year,

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eight hours out of a total of 8760 hours
in a year.

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In percentage terms, 0.1%.

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In other words, 99.9% of the time
a parent is influenced

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by other relationships
and their life circumstances and factors.