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A review by amyvl93
Behind Closed Doors: Why We Break Up Families – and How to Mend Them by Polly Curtis
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I'm always keen to read books about the areas that I work in, and I find that children's social care is an area that we just don't talk enough about as a country, so a book written by a national journalist about the system was a must-read for me.
Curtis dips into the system in a way that I think is accessible to those who haven't worked within this space before - covering everything from social work decision making to the legal system that wraps around it. She speaks to both families impacted by these decisions, social workers who make them, solicitors & judges within the family courts and those working for other partners - to understand how our system (doesn't) work and the impact it has on people.
One of the things that really stood out for me as a blind spot that Curtis highlights is the way the system places significant burdens on women and that fathers of children are entirely absent - and are seen as threats, even when they may be able to provide a child stability. I was also interested by the highlighting of the differences in experiences between those who are middle class and those who are working class - with one example of a woman being able to mobilise what seemed to be her entire community to prove that she was a competent mother, in a way that may be inaccessible for other parents.
As others have said there's not a lot of solutions in here - whilst Camden is highlighted as an area of good practice a number of times, there didn't seem to be a lot of other examples of good practice highlighted (which does exist outside of the capital too!). However, as an overview of our current system, I'd really recommend this.
Curtis dips into the system in a way that I think is accessible to those who haven't worked within this space before - covering everything from social work decision making to the legal system that wraps around it. She speaks to both families impacted by these decisions, social workers who make them, solicitors & judges within the family courts and those working for other partners - to understand how our system (doesn't) work and the impact it has on people.
One of the things that really stood out for me as a blind spot that Curtis highlights is the way the system places significant burdens on women and that fathers of children are entirely absent - and are seen as threats, even when they may be able to provide a child stability. I was also interested by the highlighting of the differences in experiences between those who are middle class and those who are working class - with one example of a woman being able to mobilise what seemed to be her entire community to prove that she was a competent mother, in a way that may be inaccessible for other parents.
As others have said there's not a lot of solutions in here - whilst Camden is highlighted as an area of good practice a number of times, there didn't seem to be a lot of other examples of good practice highlighted (which does exist outside of the capital too!). However, as an overview of our current system, I'd really recommend this.