Why family structures are changing.

GCSE Health and Social Care

Contents page

Cover page- page 1

An introduction explaining three reasons why family structures are changing-

Page 2-6

Describe the structure of each family (family A)

Page 7-9

Analyse how each family group meets the needs of its members (family A)

Page 10-13

Research and describe the services used by each family to help meet their health and social care needs including an evaluation of the effects of such support. (Family A) page 14-15

Describe the structure of each family (family B)

Page 16-17

Analyse how each family group meets the needs of its members (family B)

Page 20-21

Research and describe the services used by each family to help meet their health and social care needs including an evaluation of the effects of such support. (Family B)

Page 22-26

Report

An in-depth analysis of the effects of two issues on the family members

Page 27-30

Describe how recent government initiatives aim to support families experiencing difficulties.

Page 31-34

An assessment of the role played by various organisations that provide support to families experiencing difficulties.

Page 35-40

A detailed explanation of three reasons why family structures have changed

The definition of a family is “The collective body of persons who live in one house, and under one head or manager; a household, including parents, children, and servants, and, as the case may be, lodgers or boarders.2 ref accessed 1-3-06

Divorce

What is divorce? The decree or writing by which marriage is dissolved. Families have changed in the last several decades. Instead of getting married, many people are living together or ‘cohabiting’. Some of these cohabitating couples eventually get married. Many of them break up. Very few stay together as cohabitants for long. The definition of a family is

“In the mid-1960s, only five per cent of single women lived with a man before getting married. By the 1990s, about 70 per cent did so. Some people think that living together will lead automatically to marriage, but that often is not the case.” Ref

The estimate of one-parent families in 1976 was 3/4 million, about 1 in 10 of all families with dependent children. Around half of all lone parents had two or more dependent children, so that, in 1976, more than 1/4 million dependent children were living in one-parent families. Ref

Grounds for divorce include adultery, desertion, cruelty, the gender divide that has began to grow in recent years has shown that women are now becoming more economically independent, instead of depending on men. In recent years divorce has risen due to the fact that recent changes in legislation have made it easier for women to leave marital relationships also there has been an over all decline in marriages as the statistics state above. One other reason why divorce has in creased is there is less stigma attached today unlike 20 years ago. Another lesser intense, but no less popular, reason for divorce is something called irreconcilable differences. Ironically this does not mean when a husband and a wife begin arguing. In fact, arguing seems to be a penultimate prerequisite for being married.

Cohabiting couples accumulate less wealth than married couples. Married men earn 10 to 40 percent more than single or cohabiting men, and they are more successful in their careers, particularly when they become fathers. Married women without children earn about the same as childless single or cohabiting women. All women who take time out of employment to have children lose some earning power—whether they are married or not. However, cohabiting and lone mothers often lack access to the father’s income, making it more difficult to balance their caring responsibilities with their careers. Ref Haskey, J., ‘Trends in marriage and cohabitation’

The effects these structures have on married couples and cohabiting couples are significant for the children and family structure, “Today, more than 20% of children are born to cohabiting couples. However, only about one third of those children will remain with both their parents throughout their childhood.” (Sarandakos, S., 2000)

All this means that children born to cohabiting parents are more likely to experience a series of disruptions in their family life, which can have negative consequences for their emotional and educational development. Children living with cohabiting couples do less well at school and are more likely to suffer from emotional problems than children of married couples. Ref Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 53, 1991,

pp. 79-101; Beller, A.H

Other affects on the family structures are there is an increase in the number of lone parent families. The effects on the children can be devastating the children grow up with no mother/father, so they don’t know how to behave properly, in sociological studies it has been suggested that children in lone parent families place little importance on school, they are more likely to turn to crime and they themselves are more likely to become lone parents too. Reconstituted families, this is two lone parents joining up into one big family however when doing this it has a number of effects on the family and children, the mother and father are constantly being competed against, as both have children are competing for the others attention. Also the parents themselves will have a limited amount of time with each other this leads to them drifting apart. Another type of family that divorce can lead to an increase in is shared care families these are families that have split up but they have children, however the children are shared, the effects this can have on the family include, competition for the love of each parent also if the children are old enough they will play each parent against each other this can make both partners very resentful, but it also gives the children the upper hand by playing each parent against each other.

Step families are very another effect of divorce, when two parents who are divorced meet up and re-marry this is a step family, but they also bring children into the family, this is very hard to work, but when they do the children usually feel as if they have lost their mother or father, and not as though they gained one again the children are constantly competing against each other and this can make things very difficult for the parents, it is especially difficult when the children are teenagers, they use this family to rebel and will try to take very little to do with the other parent, this leads to a lot of resentment, also it can lead to things being difficult for both parents especially if the one parent finds his or her children are have a hard time coping.

To sum up divorce has a number of effects on family structures, firstly divorce isn’t planned but because it is so easy people are beginning to use it more and more, however they don’t realise the implications it has on the rest of there families, it has steadily lost its stigma but is still seen as a destructive force in society. It can wreck children’s emotional lives and also lead to the parents feeling as though they are responsible, when in fact they cant be blamed it isn’t there fault, however as divorced has increased it has lead to more shared care and reconstituted families thus building up the typical nuclear family.

Contraception

A study was conducted of 269 women presenting to a National Health Service clinic in London, England, for pregnancy termination. 163 women (62.6%) had been using contraception--primarily condoms--around the time they became pregnant, but 86 failed to use the method correctly. Another 81 women (31.2%) had used contraceptives in the past, but not at the time of the index conception. 73 of these women were former pill users and 39 had used condoms. 39.5% of these women had discontinued use because of contraceptive side effects, particularly nausea. Finally, 16 women (6.2%) had never used a contraceptive method. . Ref From this you can see that over 50% of women were using contraception but it failed to do its main function only 6.2% did not use contraception this is very little out of the population that was represented and it also shows that contraception was in use and still is. Other reasons why family structures have changed is down to contraception and birth they have been steadily declining since the early 90s, driven by fewer teens having sex and more sexually active teens using contraception effectively to protect their physical health, their emotional health, and their opportunities for the future. Here is a definition of contraception “Contraception aims to prevent sexual intercourse from causing pregnancy.” However, no matter how much encouragement we give young people to say "no," many will still become sexually active with out the use of contraception this in turn is leading to many family structures changing.

There are a number of reasons why contraception is still not being used widely; firstly due to religion and its stance on contraception young people are increasingly worried about going against their beliefs. Contraception is still a very difficult subject that needs to be tackled in today’s society, people still feel awkward about going and asking for it, they think by doing this they are being judged. Schools are still very cautious on this subject and they feel that if they educate children on this it will only raise its awareness there by increasing sexual activity among younger teens. Peer pressure still plays a vital role on how young and older people feel towards sex; some people feel they have to lose their virginity at a young age as it supposedly makes them ‘cool’. There is a growing number in family planning the majority of people are leaving it until later on in life this has a number of implications of the effects on families for example, if couples are leaving it later on in life to have children then they wont find out if they are impotent, this leads to more families becoming childless however it will lead to an increase in families adopting. Also results on women constantly using contraception such as the pill or after morning pill can be devastating, with constant use it can have crucial effects on the reproductive system, it can lead to women not being able to have children, therefore forcing them to foster or adopt children also if couples cant have their own children then some wont want to adopt leading to an in crease in childless couples because of over using contraception. Another effect of contraception is the decrease in the number of births, this could be down to people using contraception or planning to have children later on in life however they are not thinking about the problems such as infertility as they get older. Statistics show that contraception use is increasing, here is one example “In 1988, 65 percent of females aged 15-19 reported using any method of contraception the first time they had sex. By 1995, 76 percent of this group reported using contraception at first sex.”

This shows that in just less than ten years there has already been an increase of over ten percent, the effects this has on family life is less shot gun marriages

Other vital points to take into consideration are alcohol and drugs abuse Teens are much more likely to have unplanned and unprotected sex when they are using alcohol or drugs. This backs this point up more than one-half of teens (53.3 percent) say the main reason teens do not use contraception is because of drinking or using drugs. Ref

All of the points above show that contraception is still not readily used and if this continues the effect on families will be devastating, there will be a dramatic increase in the number of lone parent families leading to a number of psychological effects on children, it has also been proven that if you are brought up in a lone parent family then your children are likely to become lone parents them selves.

Other effects this can have on the family include more cohabitation instead of marrying couples are living together and when they get bored they just leave the relationship leading to more people have different sexual partners and if people continue not to use contraception there will be cases arising where half brother and half sister are getting together due to some peoples ignorance, however this is an extreme case but it will begin to become more and more common as sexual partners increase and the use of contraception is ignored. Contraception is now a choice for women, there is no longer this idea of a natural family, the pill helps women to concentrate on there careers instead of worrying about getting pregnant. Another effect this has on families is couples or families having less children, years ago families had large number of families and unlike now they chooses to have few children this is down to other factor such as cost, but families with little numbers of children can effect families in different ways, for example in families were there is only one child they feel they are the most important and don’t compete for love or affection however they don’t know how to act around other children and as a result they are isolated but this is nothing new for them as they are use to it from their own home.

Finally as a result families are getting smaller either there is one or two children or none as a result of over using contraception nowadays women are now not concerned with getting married and having children they are concentrating on other goals such as careers this is why the next reason why family structures have continued to change due to the independence of women.

Position of women

From the seventies the position of women has steadily chanced due to the increase in laws and simply because many women are infuriated of being discriminated against only recently has the position of women is beginning to change rapidly, more and more women are now beginning to move into the work place instead of staying in the home in an article from The Times “More women than ever are launching firms, but they still have to conquer discrimination, finds Sandra O’Connell” The Sunday Times accessed January 22, 2006. this point is vital for the movement of women into the work place, it has held them back in the home for many years, but if they continue to move into work and away from the home they will begin to change the structure of the home, this will lead to more husbands or partners staying at home to help with the children this is a complete role reversal. “Women will fill seven out of 10 new jobs in London by 2016.” Ref if this statement is true then 7 out of ten men will be at home this will have a major influence in the structure of households.

Reasons why women are moving to work is because of current legislation that lets them be treated as equals but this has only come about in the last thirty years. Other reasons include, women are now standing up for what they believe and by doing so they are now beginning to catch up on men in the work place. There is a number of effects this has on the family structure, more and more women are now more concerned with their careers in stead of their family this was no the case thirty or forty years ago, in an article from the Irish news published 23rd of February it stated “A survey of 1100new and expectant mothers, only 2/5 planned to take advantage full advantage of their maternity leave, ½ said they would return to work because of the money” this shows us that instead of staying at home to bring their children up they are more focused on their careers, if this is the case it will have a number of impacts on the family firstly there will be more househusbands, this is a complete role reversal for the mother and father, it means the women are now the bread winners therefore they have the control in the house however it will lead to the father having a closer bond with the child. Also the number of women in work is increasing at a rapid pace, it will mean there will be less women having large number of children as they will not want to be taking off work for maternity leave. Other effects this has on the family is the family planning, women now plan to have children around there work career instead of the other way around. As this will cause women to have children later on their biological clocks could have run out by then therefore leading to them having no children or forcing them to adopt or foster.

In conclusion there are a number of implications each of the three points, divorce, contraception and position of women in work, have on the structure of the family, each will cause it to change in a certain way but all of them cause the family structure to get smaller, or in extreme cases some women will want to have a large number of children and choose to stay in the home. The majority of family’s are more focused on money instead of family, however when they get there money situation sorted out they then choose to focus on building up their family. On the other hand some couples would rather stay focused on their careers instead of having children this could lead to family structures changing a great deal in the next decade as more and more couples are focusing on careers, staying childless or not being able to have children either way the facts state that family structures are changing

Describe the structure of two different families real or fictional.

The first family consists of four members a typical nuclear family, John aged 2, Mary aged 14, and also the mother Ruth and father Joe aged 36 and 40. All of the names above are fictional.

John has quite a number of interests around the home he is like every other two year old very bold and adventurous, he loves to climb into cupboards and up on to the sofa, of course he gets a number of cuts and bruises, this brings me to the first service John uses, his family physician. John is a healthily child and has no major health problems. As he depends on both parents to meet all his need these vary considerably, Johns physical need include food, this is vital for his development he needs a balanced diet with plenty of nutrients in his food to ensure proper development he is feed at least four times a day, his hygiene must be look after very closely his immune system has not fully developed this means he is still able to pick up a number of illness, he must be bathed and have his nappies changed regularly however he has begun to learn how to use the potty and the nappies will soon come off, by ensuring this he will be free from nappy rash and other digestion problems. As John is still growing at a fast rate he need plenty of sleep this is about 14 hours for John a day, another vital necessity for John is shelter and warmth, as John is receiving these will continue to grow up in a stable environment safely protected by his loving family. Exercise is another need that John needs to ensure he gets, the majority of time as John is constantly on the move so he is getting exercise by himself by either crawling or walking but now he is quiet a good walker this will build up strength in his legs enabling him to climb up different things. One final physical need of John is fresh air and sun light, John needs these to ensure he will grow up properly, because if he is continually stuck in the house he will be breathing the same air which might not be that good for him as it can have infections in it from other family members. In order for John and everyone else to survive his physical need to be met this also applies for every one else.

Johns emotional needs are particular important to his development, he need constant “love and continuous affection, need for security, need for new experiences and play, the need for praise and recognition and the need for responsibility” ref an introduction to childcare and education, Carolyn meggitt, Jessica Stevens and Tina Bruce.

At this age John has social needs that he needs to interact with his parents and his siblings this is his way of socialising, as his parents talk to him on a regular basis this will enable him the chance to learn new social skills such as manners and responsibility even though he is very young his parents believe this should be taught from this age to ensure he is brought up in a stable and well mannered environment.

John learns something new every day from the toys he has or his parents, to ensure he is constantly challenged his parents will repeat things or try to show him new games and challenges such as pee-a-boo, when he learns what this game is about he will become bored and try to learn a new game like hide-an-go-seek. In order for John to develop his intellectual needs he need to be given game that will challenge him the games or toy such as fisher price try to develop his memory and hand to eye coordination.

Mary who is now becoming a young woman has very different needs, Mary’s physical needs include, regular physical exercise, this is very important Mary gets exercise from both walking to her friends house and to school most days . Peer relationships and acceptance become increasingly more important. Mary will need some guidance handling peer pressure and as she is close to her mother she has no problem talking openly about the problems she faces for example under age drinking and drug taking.

Mary is preoccupied and anxious about the physical changes in her body and may be overly critical of these changes and try to boost her body image.

Mary’s parents have noticed that she wishes for more privacy at this time.

Mary also wonders “am I normal” and “no one understands” thankfully her parents are full of confidence and support her.

Other physical needs of Mary include sleep; she need at least 8 hours sleep each night and also must maintain that she keeps a healthy balanced diet of five portions of fruit and vegetable.

Mary’s emotional needs are being wanted, at the age she is at she is constantly after acceptance by her peers, she realises that her parents accept her for who she is. Mary needs to be loved by her parents and her brother she need the warmth of a family, however she finds it hard to show her feelings to her family but deep down she knows she is loved wanted and needed.

Mary’s social needs include being with her friends, she loves to hang out with them at the local youth club or at school, they can play safely there and have no need to worry about any problems she might face on the street, however the peer pressure that Mary’s friends may exert on her can be bad, she can be influenced into things like drugs and underage drinking but thankfully this has not been a problem as yet.

Mary’s intellectual needs are very specific, while at school she is challenged constantly, Mary is coping well with school work and is managing both social and intellectual challenges, she understand that if she wants to have a good job she needs to continue to work hard at school, however there are certain subjects that Mary does not like and this shows in her results but these subjects are P.E and other non curriculum subjects that don’t count towards her final grade. If Mary continues like this she will be very successful in life as she is getting involved in stimulating activities outside of school this is a life long learning process that keeps the brain active.

Ruth who is obese, has been like this for a long time she was always over weight and has never been able to lose her excess fat, her doctor has told her she has a bad metabolism, Ruth has been on a strict diet for the past two months her weight is slowly coming down but she still has a sneaky snack, her main hobby is sitting watching T.V. or reading and writing, she has been encouraged by her husband to either go out and work or become more active, Ruth’s needs are very limited due to her size, her emotional needs are her most worrying from a young age she has been called names and this has carried on with her as she has become older, this is why she wont leave the house she is a very insecure person who is afraid of people passing comment about her, Ruth’s husband play a vital role in building her spirit but it has had no major effect on her confidence she is still very insecure, recently she has tried counselling but she feels she wont be able to get over the problem, she just hopes she wont pass this on to her daughter but so far this has not been the case. The only physical needs Ruth has are love, warmth, shelter, affection, fresh air and sun light, and most importantly a healthy diet but she doesn’t get very much of this due to her insecurity problems. However her child is proving hard to handle as he can easily out run Ruth, this will be a bigger problem as he gets older.

This is a preview of the whole essay

The social needs are being able to talk to people about her problems and being able to cope with the pressure of life also talking to people about her children is a need of Ruth’s, she needs to stay in constant communication with some one of her own age. Ruth’s intellectual needs are reading and writing, her mind needs to be stimulated which may be helped by accessing these resources such as the internet and various courses at her local institute. She loves to write stories but won’t publish any of them; this is down to her insecurity. Also T.V. plays a small part in fulfilling her intellectual needs but however this is only a small majority of TV, she loves to watch documentaries but like to watch her soaps as well, the majority of the time she watches it for inspiration for her own stories bring both real life and fictional characters into her books.

Joe has a very active life, his hobbies include making wooden beds, his trade is a joiner and he currently runs his own business, other than working he plays soccer on a Saturday with his mates and heads to the pub for a few drinks after it, Joe looks at his football as a means of stress relief from family life, even though he loves to spend time with both his children, especially his son. Joes intellectual needs include going to the pub for a few drinks also by playing football with his friends and by talking to his wife about certain issues involving work and other problems of life, Joe suffers from a learning disability, but it doesn’t affect his work, his wife looks after the financial side of things. Also when he goes to play football it gives him a chance to relieve the stress that is built up during the week this is one of his vital social needs, his social needs are talking to people his own age and being able to communicate with other people. Social needs include getting plenty of fresh air, a balance diet, getting exercise and plenty of sleep.

Joes is like most men, he rarely shows his emotional side and when he does it is only around his family, he is a relaxed person who rarely gets angry, but at the same time he doesn’t bottle his emotions up, when he is at work, this is when he sorts his head out it’s a chance to clear his mind and get his emotions in order his needs are wanting to be loved shown affection, security, warmth and happiness.

An in-depth analysis of how each family member meets the needs of its members.

In this section the needs of each family will be explained and how they are met by each member within their own family.

To start with John who is aged two has a number of needs, all of which need to be met by his family members, he is practically dependant on his family for his survival. John who needs to be fed at least four times a day, his mother is usually responsible for this, Ruth makes the food mix up and is the one who feed the child however when she is not about to carry this out Johns father Joe fulfils this, he knows were the food is and how to heat it to a suitable temperature for the child. The only need that john is capable of fulfilling is getting his own exercise, he is the one who decides were to go within his own house, from his adventure he has received a number of bruises and his mother nurses them better. The warmth from his family is mainly provided by his father as he is the one who pays for the heating, however as he is held on a regular basis by each family member he receives warmth from all his family but especially his mother. His hygiene is looked after by his mother he gets a bath at least once a day, this role is shared by his mother and father during the week but on occasions it is his sister who will bathe him, John loves his the water and loves to get baths. As john’s father works during the day it is his mother who changes his nappy but when his father comes home he spends his time bonding with him this includes changing his nappy. John gets quite a number of hours sleep and as it is him who decides to sleep he meets this need himself however it is his mother Ruth who has developed this routine for John, it ensures he is receiving enough sleep each day. John also needs to ensure that he receives sunlight and fresh air, his older sister usually looks after this as she tends to take him for walks in his pram. One final physical need john receives is shelter this is fulfilled by his father; it is him who provides the room and house which he can stay and live.

Johns emotional needs are met by all of his family members but again it is especially by his mother, his mother show affection on a daily basis to ensure John is a stable child, his mother constantly tell him “I love you”, she feels this will make sure he is able to express his own emotions when he is older, when his father comes home from work. He finds it easy to tell John how he feels and shows his affection by giving him hugs and holding him he also tells him how he feels, Johns sister Mary shows her affection to john by proving him with the security of a big sister. Mary has a very protective relationship with john, he is in a very protective relationship with his family and his family ensure they meet all of his emotional needs by showing their constant love toward him.

Johns social needs are met by all members of his family, he is socialised each and every day as he learns new things such words like, please, these are known as manners each family member makes sure that they reinforce there upbringing on him to ensure he is able to cope with society when he is older, he plays games mostly with his sister, she loves to play hide-and-go-seek with him, and he loves to play it, this is one way his social needs are met by his sister, his father usually plays football with him, even though he can’t really play but he loves to kick the ball and his father encourages him to play, he knows he enjoys it as he is laughing, but this only happens when he gets home from work. The most work is left up to Ruth she has to continually play and amuse John however she has introduced him to certain learning programmes on CBBC, this teaches john to sing songs and to draw they are great for keeping him entertained and teaching him new social skills even though it is mainly his family who meet his social needs the program keeps gives him a new face to look at but his mother is always there when he watches the programmes to ensure it is the skills that she wants him to learn. This is how his social needs are met by his family.

His intellectual needs are also met by his sister playing games with him, he know never to return to the same hiding spot also the TV plays a slight influence on his intellectual development, but it is his father who encourages him the most, at night he reads stories to him this has the most influence on his intellectual development, but in a few years time it will be crucial that they continue this trend. There are various toys like jigsaws, fisher price toys and all of these will help his social needs.

Mary’s physical needs are being met from mainly her little brother, as she spends time with him so much she is always running after him and getting vital exercise, neither her mother or father have encouraged her to take up any sports therefore she has not getting the required amount of exercise she needs. She is very conscious about her diet, her mother ensures she is only fed proper food and no junk, her father also encourages her not to eat too many sweets and to make sure she eats the proper foods in their house any way. As a teenager she tries to stay up late but usually gets enough sleep as her parents have a usual time for her to head to bed at this is 11 o’clock, this ensures her physical need of sleep is being met. She is now old enough to judge whether she is warm or cold enough therefore she meets the need of warmth by herself. Mary’s hygiene is very delicate she is now obsessed with her looks and how clean she is, she showers once every night, she is old enough to carry this out by her self however it was her parents who set this example from she was very young. As she likes to walk her brother she receives enough fresh air and sunlight also her parents have encouraged her to walk to school this to meets her physical needs.

Her emotional needs are very delicate she needs the proper attention from her parents but also the right amount of space to have her own time, her parents have always showed her love and given her to proper amount of responsibility, she feels trusted as she her mother like her to take her brother for walks and also she plays games. Her brother also shows love towards her as he loves to see her coming home from school and also when she plays games with him, this is how her family meets Mary’s emotional needs. Mary’s social needs aren’t really met by her family, her parents need to allow Mary to become more independent and even though she has talks with her mother it is her friend who tend to socialise her, the exert the most pressure on her, however she talks it over with her mother this show a sense of friendship with her mother, this is a social need that her mother fulfils for her. Her brother also meets social need by continuing to play games with Mary’s father doesn’t really know how to talk to her, therefore he can’t help with her social needs.

The majority of Mary’s intellectual needs are being met through the books her father provides, also her mother has a number of conversations that advance her intellectual ability, also the computer her father provided helps her to type and the games on it such as grammar, and spelling and math all help her development.

Ruth’s physical needs are very specific as she is on a diet she has encouraged the whole family to take up healthy eating however she her self has an occasional unhealthy snack, she needs to get more exercise and the encouragement she receives isn’t enough, she looks after what she eats but will not go out an walk or run simple due to the fact of her insecurity she cooks the food for every one on most days but her husband Joe will give her the occasional day off and her will cook or order in. She does not get as much sleep as she use to due to the child he has his own pattern of sleep but this interferes with Ruth’s, her husband tries to help out but he is out working and needs the most sleep, she copes with the lack of sleep very well but this is why her daughter takes the child for walks, it gives Ruth the chance to catch up on her sleep this is how Mary helps out. Her husband provides the shelter and warmth for her as he keeps the house running in proper order. Ruth showers and bathes regularly once a day; it is Ruth who looks after this physical need.

Ruth’s emotional needs are fulfilled by her husband and her children they all show her support, and affection, but it is mainly her husband who shows the most affection, he shows her support and love, he reads all her books and encourages her to publish them, he also tries to build up her self-security by publishing her books because they are really good and interesting but Ruth wont let him, she says “ its too late” so this is why she focuses so much on her children however she knows her family loves and supports her in every step she makes.

Ruth’s social needs are very unusual she depends on her daughter to have conversations with her, also she uses her novels and books for social needs but these only work so much, her husband Joe has encouraged her telling her to go out and get active but she is too self conscious therefore it is up to Joe to play games and talk to her on a regular basis.

Ruth’s intellectual needs are met through her books and novels she has great literacy skills which she intend to pass on to her children but when they will most value them, she uses TV to inspire the books she write but it only accounts for a few ideas, it is mainly her daughter who provides the ideas for her as she tell stories about school and her life. Also she looks after the financial side of Joe business this also is another way Joe fulfils Ruth’s intellectual needs.

Joe’s physical needs are met by Ruth as she cooks him a healthy meal after work also she makes his lunch, providing him with the correct type of food each day. He gets enough sleep as Ruth sacrifices hers so he can get up fresh for work each day, he gets his exercise from looking after his son John, by playing football, it is only a slight bit of exercise he gets form this. He gets enough fresh air from work but John likes to take him out side to lay football so John helps with this need. Other physical needs that Joe has include warmth, his wife gives him all the warmth he needs also his son will help as he is continually with him at the house.

Joes intellectual needs aren’t very big, even though he reads Ruth’s books he find them hard to follow but wants to show his support, Ruth thinks she is challenging him by writing the books so he can read but in fact they are only making him feel worse but this is still one way Ruth meets his intellectual needs. Also Mary helps with these needs by asking her dad for help with her homework. Over all the majority of Joes needs are being met by his family.

Joes emotional needs are met by his family by the fact they all appreciate him and show him love when he come home from work it is his time to relax and his family show him that they love him by preparing his meals and the fact hi daughter asks for help shows she values his opinion, he provides his own security by working so hard but his son shows love and affection every day he comes home.

Joes social needs are met mainly by his wife she is the one he talks to about it the business and how much money is going in and coming out, also his son john meets some of his needs but it is mainly Joe who is suiting Johns needs.

Joes has the least number of needs that are being met by his family, his social needs are very limited this could be down to the fact that his wife wont leave the house, Joe needs to get out more with people his own age. Ruth has most of her needs met within the house but it would help her development if she could go out and face people, she knows soon that because John is growing up she will have to take him to school. Finally Mary as a teenager she is receiving most of her needs within the family simply from the support she receives, however as a teenagers she tends to keep certain secrets from her parents, this is her way of protecting them form the problems she faces from out side.

A comprehensive description of the services used by each family member to meet their needs.

Family A have used a number of services over the years in regards to the needs of their family, firstly the main service used by any family is the NHS this is the National Health Service, it meets the majority of the health needs of each family member.

John who is still only a child was born in a NHS hospital; he has gone to his GP on a regular basis for his immunisation programme, he receives injections for polo, tetanus and meningitis at 2 months, 3 months and 4 months.

When John was only a few weeks old health visitors have been sent out to see how he is getting on this is continued for a few months to ensure he is growing up problem free. A voluntary organisation has organised weekly trips out to Ruth’s house, they understand her problem of facing people and being judged, they send out a voluntary worker to enable that mother and child continue to have a good stable bond, they organise her time to spend with her son during the day, so that he continues to be challenged and so that he develops.

Mary who is in her teens has had a few encounters with her doctor, she broke her arm last year when she feel off her bike, as it was a bad break the way in which they decided this was through X-ray, it was broken in two places and she required physiotherapy on her arm, the NHS provides physiotherapy as a free service, she went through 6 weeks of treatment and has since developed full movement in her arm the physiotherapist gave Mary a number of stretches and exercise she had to do every day, she also had to build up the strength by doing certain kind of weights. When Mary was three her parents let her attend a private nursery, by doing so they were paying for a well run service that made sure she received the correct attention and also that she was being well looked after.

One occasion Mary was badly influenced by her friend when she had just begun secondary school, she found it hard to make friends and began going about with the wrong group, the group had a bad influence on her by encouraging her to stay off school without her parent’s permission. When the school noticed that Mary and her friends seemed to missing the same number of days off school they called social services, the truancy officer then arranged a meeting with Mary and her parents, her parents had no idea she was doing this and were very disappointed at her.

When the social services officer explained the situation to Mary she soon realised that it was a bad mistake, since then she has found a new group of friends and is now getting into a sport programme at her local G.A.A this is a voluntary programme that allows young people of the same age compete against each other in Gaelic football, it also organises trips at the weekend to watch the county play against other counties and does so twice a month.

As there is a local voluntary disco run by the parents for children between the ages of 13-18 in the area by a group of parents there was one occasion when Mary was rushed to the accident and emergency centre for to much alcohol consumption, she had to get her stomach pumped in order to ensure she did not have alcoholic poisoning. When it was found out that Mary had got the alcohol from her parents house the educational social worker was called in to see what the problem was but it was clear that her friends again had an influence on her behaviour, she said that they were all doing it so she did. The social worker said to her parents that they must ensure that all medicine and alcohol must be locked away out of children’s reach. Since the occasion Mary realised that she was very wrong in what she did and did not think of the consequences of her actions. The social worker realised that this was a once off and did not follow up the case but still recommended that all alcohol must be locked away.

Ruth has accessed the NHS for the births of both her children she has been visited by the health visitor on a number of occasions the health visitor advised Ruth’s on their child's needs they include, growth and development, immunisation programmes, safety in and outside the home common illnesses, healthy eating, everyday difficulties e.g. teething, sleeping, feeding, temper tantrums where to find childminders, toddler groups, playgroups and day nurseries offer continuing support. Recently she needed to see her dentist about her wisdom teeth, they have been giving her trouble for a while and her dentist has instructed they are to be removed; she is still waiting on an appointment from her dentist. Two years ago when Mary was having back problems she organised to go to a private physiotherapist, she endured a number of sessions and it was her legs that were the problem, they had a abnormality at the knee which put more pressure on her back this was why she was fitted with special insole in her shoes to correct the problems with both her knees. A number of years ago Mary had an interest in complementary therapy, she took a course on reflexology and used her husband to practice on, he enjoyed it and found it very useful with certain injuries such as sore heads and muscles the reason why she took an interest was because she had used the service and it made her feel very good about her self the service was private and allowed her the chance to use a different technique of medical practice for the family it allowed them to feel good in that they knew Ruth was getting better from the treatment.

Joe has accessed the social services on a number of occasions in his life his learning disability use to inhabit his progress at school but he was assigned a care plan within school he use to be a bit of trouble at school because he did not understand things but as the years went on the care worker began to explain things to Joe, all he need was a bit of extra attention in the class and since then he had progressed to a suitable level of education. When his needs were being met by his care worker his behaviour soon began to change he showed that when he was able to understand certain areas of the curriculum he was not acting out and disrupting the other members of his class.

Joe also experienced helping out in youth clubs, he loved to help children in his spare time but this was a number of years ago when Mary was only a child of 4, he use to organise trips to the zoo for his area and he has recently applied for an application as a youth worker to help start a youth club which Mary can go to.

A detailed and critical evaluation of the effects of the support given on each family

Family A

Family A have used a number of services from each sector, from the NHS they include accident and emergency, maternity unit at the hospital, GP for immunisation programme and health services within school. From the social services there have been officers sent out from the educational office and also the child welfare office also they were accessed to help joke with his disability. The private sector was used for complementary therapies, private nurseries and also for the physiotherapy. The voluntary organisations used were mother child groups the GAA and voluntary discos run by parents.

As family A used a number of NHS services they both had positive and negative effects on the family, firstly Ruth who was always worried about her son, when he got the slightest cut or bruise she would run to the doctor, this was good in that her son was always receiving professional treatment and care, however as she was constantly at the doctors, they did not take the majority of her cases serious, this is a classic case of crying wolf, however this could have a number of effects on the child and parent, Ruth will become very dependant on her GP for the care of her children instead of using her own judgement she will become very dependant on the doctors opinion. Also the fact that the doctor tries to empower Ruth by giving her the power to decide what is best for her son but in fact this is not true the doctor is limiting the amount of empowerment by telling Ruth what is best for her son, also this service is not always available, there are opening and closing hours, while this is very effective in organising the treatment of other patients what happens if John has a serious injury out of working hours. Ruth will panic and will not be able to provide the proper treatment for her son. She is stuck in a state of dependency; this is relying on other to provide care for her children. This will then lead to lack of self esteem from Ruth, as she can’t make her own decision she will be unable to justify the proper health care for her children. Her children will observe this and become equality dependant.

The NHS also provide physiotherapy, this is a very useful service, it allow patients who come from a lower social status to receive the best care, while this will help improve the recovery period there is one major problem from it, the waiting lists, Mary had to wait a number of weeks before she could receive treatment and by the time she got the treatment her arm was left very weak, but as she received a number of weeks treatment she was able to build the strength up. The physiotherapist also gave Mary a number of stretches to do in her own time this how he/she will build on Mary’s self esteem, it is very good advice that will allow Mary to build the power in her arm. The dentist has a number of negative points they can advise patients not to eat the wrong foods however for Ruth her wisdom teeth needed to come out and as this is a NHS service the waiting list was very long also the area which the service is in means Ruth has to travel out side of her own town. A positive point is that Ruth will receive the proper treatment and care that she needs.

The private sectors involve the use of a nursery, this is very useful as it allowed Ruth to get on with her own work at the house also the people in it are professional and however as you are not there you do not know how the care workers treat the children, this is a coping service it allows Ruth to cope with her own life instead of focusing on her children constantly the advantage to the children is that they are in professional care and their social needs are being met as they a in constant communication with other children there own age. Ruth also need to access the physiotherapist however she has to pay, this is good that she receives the treatment there and then but there are different rates for each therapist and they can be extremely expensive. The benefits off the physiotherapist is they will help Ruth with her problem, the will advise her on different techniques on building up her strength and getting her full movement back to normal. The complementary therapies are a very natural way to receive treatment you do not need to take any tablets and it has been proven that they do work another good point is that the use of them is constantly rising this is why Ruth studied and practiced this type of treatment.

The voluntary sector has a number of good and bad effects; the mother toddler was very good for the family as it came to the house providing the essential advice to help create a better bond between mother and son the main benefit for her son is that he will learn how to communicate his feeling with his mother instead of bottling them up also he has the chance to know his mother and learn new skills from her such as new words or games. It empowered Ruth to talk and interact with her son. However they could only come once a week, they have a number of people they need to see this is a negative point about this service.

The GAA is a very effective service for young people it allows them the chance to not only get the required amount of exercise but also the chance to mix with other children their own age it helps build self confidence in young people and this proved the case for Mary. Although she met her friends there and they had a negative influence on her they lead to her skipping school and also led to underage drinking. The disco had a positive effect on the family as it gave Mary the chance to get out with her friends instead of hanging about the street at night also she got a chance to socialise on the other hand this is were she began to consume alcohol and this had a very negative effect on her family they began to worry a lot more about her activities out side the home but it gave May the chance to live her own life therefore empowering her.

The social services are very useful in helping families out, the educational welfare helped get Mary back to her original self and instead of forcing her to go to school they let her decide whether Mary’s friends were doing her any favours this is giving Mary the type of independence she needs at this age. When Mary got very drunk the social services were called in again, the welfare officer could not understand how she got her hands on spirits, the positive point for the family is that the alcohol and other substances are now locked away and aren’t as easy to access. However for the family it brought them into dispute Mary argued with her parent a lot about what she should be allowed to do. For Joe the care plan set up by the social services helped him very much it allowed him the chance to organise his life instead of wasting it basically the social services empower Joe enabling him to take over his own life, on the other hand Joe is stuck in routine and he finds it very hard to break this is a negative effect on the family as he tries not to stray from his organised days.

Describe the structure of two different families real or fictional (Family B)

The second family consist of one dependant child aged 22, called Kane he has Downs syndrome, an intellectual disability, the father is called Jake aged 39 he works full time and looks after his dad Pete aged 76, Pete suffers with arthritis this is a physical disability. Jake was a very young lone parent. The family is a fictional one with all names made up it is a lone parent family with an elderly relative living with them.

Kane has lived a normal life except for his intellectual disability, he has maintained a number of friends that he holds dearly, they visit him on a regular basis and organise trips to the football for the weekend. Kane’s hobbies include playing football with his mates twice a week, as the community provides the sports centre on a Thursday night for the children in the area this is like respite care his dad, there are a number of workers who help out and all the children recognise them from school and other centres. As Kane is out of school he has a job in the local super market he does 18 hours a week and loves the fact that he has a steady income. Other hobbies Kane has include walking his dog and playing the computer. Kane’s physical needs are the same as every ones else he loves to be out and about with his mates enjoying the fresh air and sunlight; he also loves to stay active and is constantly on the move therefore he loves exercise. Until then he lives with his parents and loves it he just wants to show that he can live an independent life. Kane has a number of intellectual needs as this is his main disability his learning process is very slow and tedious, he realises that he has problems learning but his grit and determination shows he has the patients along with the care workers he associates with. Other physical needs Kane has include cleanliness. Other needs of Kames include having a healthy diet and having clean cloths. Kane’s social needs interacting with people of his own age, also interacting with his father and granddad along with the people he meets at work and his friends from the sports centre. Kane’s emotional needs include being wanted, loved secured and most of all needed.

Kane’s dad Jake has had a hard time, he lost his wife as Kane was being born, even though he loves his son he holds nothing against him and accepts that it was her time. Since the death he has been finding it hard to cope and still finds it hard after so many years. His main hobby is looking after his family he takes a great sense of pride in it and loves them both. Jakes physical needs are warmth and exercise at the local gym. Also he plays football with his son and his mates if he isn’t working, his main job is to support his family and give them a comfortable life style.

His social needs are very limited while he can have a conversation at home with his father he does not like going to the pub he doesn’t drink or smoke, and the Smokey environment makes Jakes eyes hurt, so he is never in a pub, or club. His social needs are met by walks he loves to walk and relieve all the stress of life and work. Also the cinema is another means of social interactions he has joined the local cinema club this is usually were he meets his girlfriends, also it’s another chance for him to make his son feel he is wanted. Jakes intellectual needs are very high he loves to read and is very high up in his profession, any course available for his profession he takes it and has passed them all, he also love to watch quiz shows to improve his general knowledge.

Pete needs have began to get smaller and smaller, the main problem with Pete is his physical disability this limits his movement, he has it in his legs and has suffered a number of years with it, he find it very sore when he goes to walk but he receives physiotherapy for it, another physical need that Pete’s has is food he need the correct nutrients to ensure that his health is kept up, he also needs warmth with age his immune system is beginning to fail and he is now more prone to colds so he has to keep his body temperature up. However Pete still needs to get exercise and when he has good days he would walk to the shop, this might only be once a week.

Pete’s intellectual need are reading novels, he loves to read about the war and fishing in his younger age Pete had participated in the 2nd world war and when he served his time he found fishing as a very relaxing hobby, his hobby’s now are going for a walk i.e. getting exercise when he can and going to the luncheon club which his local council provides for him , the transport is arranged and it gets him out of the house when Jake and Kane are out working, it give him the chance to talk with people his own age. This is a great way for Pete to socialise, he loves being able to talk to people that he has know all his life, on occasions he would meet his friends and go for trips in there car, to the beach or were ever they fancy. This is another way his social needs are met. Other physical needs of Pete are getting a balanced diet, plenty of sleep and being able to relax. Pete’s emotional need have declined rapidly since he became 70, he knows his family love him, and he has discussed with them that he will move to the home if he becomes any bother, but Jake will not have this he loves his father and wants to give the best for him he understands what his father did for him while he was younger. Currently Pete can feel secure in his own home and when he is at home he gets his food brought to him by care workers this is another chance for Pete to socialise, however problems have began to arise his arthritis is getting worse and has began to move to his hands and fingers this will play its part in restricting Pete from getting out of the house at all he might be forced into a wheelchair, but he is determined to keep on the move even if he can’t walk.

Analyse how each family group meets the needs of its members.

Kane who is an only child has depended on his family to meet his needs all his life has developed into an average lad of 22 thanks to his father and granddad, Kane’s dad Jake meets most of his physical needs he makes sure that Kane receives a healthy balanced diet to ensure he stays healthy, Jakes makes sure that when Kane is going to work he has a packed lunch that included plenty of fruit, when he comes home from work his granddad has begins to cook the dinner he peels the spuds and prepares the vegetables ready for cooking for his son when he comes home. Kane’s Physical need of exercise is met by his father, on a number of occasions when his father isn’t working, they go to the park and play football, and this ensures that Kane is kept active. As Kane is 22 he is able to go to bed by him self, however on a number of occasions his father can tell when he is tired and advisees him to go to bed to ensure he gets enough sleep for work the next day. Kane loves to be outside and hates being inside, his father encourages him to go out side and get as much fresh air as possible, and also he encourages him to walk to work to maintain his current fitness level.

Kane’s intellectual needs are his most important, as his disability effects his mind he need to be challenged on a daily occasion by his family, Kane’s dad has set up a number of challenges for him each day, his granddad too helps him with the challenges, they include advanced jig saw puzzles, these help him visualise what the picture will look like at the end therefore developing his memory skills. As Kane’s father plays sport he takes his son down to the park to play football while this is one way his father develops his son physical need it also helps his develop his intellectual need, as he plays football it improves his hand-to-eye contact another way his father helps improve his intellectual ability. When Kane is at home with his granddad, he has certain books that will help his reading age, they are slightly more developed than what he is capable of but thanks to this continuous encouragement from his family he wants to push himself, in any of the books if he doesn’t understand the word his granddad helps explain it, this is how his granddad helps with Kane’s intellectual needs. Finally his father bought Kane a computer this is for fun but the games help improve his memory there fore help meet his intellectual need but the needs are only slightly met by those it is mainly his books and puzzles that help him.

Kane’s emotional needs are nurtured mainly by his father, his father has always been a very considerate person, as has his granddad, both of them have always showed the proper love and affection toward Kane, as he has never knew what it feels like to have a mother his dad and granddad have met his needs very well, they make Kane feel special and wanted and when he was younger he was called names but thanks to his father the names soon stopped due to a campaign in his area about Downs syndrome, it was mainly the children who bothered him but when his father raised their awareness they soon stopped, this was his dad’s way of showing Kane that he belongs, this is how his dad met his emotional needs. His granddad ensures that he is kept in a safe environment in his house, this will improve this emotional security, his granddad makes him feel welcomed and loved every time he comes home from work, this is how his granddad meets Kane’s emotional needs.

Kane’s social needs aren’t properly met by his family his friend mainly meet these however there are a few ways his father and granddad meet them, as Kane’s dad takes him to play football it is one way he meets his social needs by taking him out in society, his granddad only meets his social needs by having conversation with him on a regular basis.

Jakes physical needs are mainly looked after by Kane, Kane goes to the park with him and plays football with him as often as he can, Jakes dad, helps meet his physical need of food by helping to prepare his dinner they are very wary of what they eat and like to maintain a balanced diet full of vegetables. Pete meets Jakes physical need of shelter and warmth by the house they live in it belonged to Pete and was a gift to Jake. These are the physical needs that are met by Jakes family. Jakes emotional needs are mainly fulfilled by Kane as he was brought up in such a loving environment he meets most of Jakes emotional needs he shows him that he is loved and is cared for, he shows he is care for by welcoming him home from work sitting down and talking to him about his day and how he is getting on. His dad Pete has always showed him love this is why Kane has been brought up in such a secure environment and this applies for Jake as well. Although Jake may well want to meet someone who shares the same interests as he does, this may be a lady friend to share his life with.

Jakes social needs are mainly met by Kane as Kane like to play football he encourages his dad to get out and meet new people in the park, his dad use to meet these when he was younger and more able, but thanks to his encouragement he has taken up a job in sport Kane also like to go to the cinema with his father this is another way that Kane helps meet his fathers social needs. Jakes intellectual needs need are still challenged mainly by his father, when new sports courses become available his dad will question him on the areas he needs to learn. As Kane reads books to his dad, he rates them and his dad will read them then they will be able to talk about them therefore meeting some of his intellectual needs.

Pete’s physical needs are very hard to meet, as he suffers from a physical disability he find it hard to walk, therefore he can’t get much exercise in his lower body. His son Jake encourages him to try and keep active but Pete find it very sore to put any weight on his joints. Jake looks after his physical need of food, he is the one who cooks the dinner and serves it to Pete. Jake pays for all the bills in the house this is how he ensures his dad is kept warm and has a roof over his head. Pete finds it hard to sleep but Jake encourages him to rest when he is feeling sore or tired.

Most of Pete’s emotional needs are met by his grand son, both have a special bond and show it towards each other Kane is a very considerate person and has always made his granddad feel part of the family, he helps him with things around the house and when Kane comes home from work he always sits and talks to his granddad about his day and what he did this helps Pete feel wanted and needed by his family, Jake is reluctant to send his father away this is his way of showing that he loves his dad, it is also his way of thanking him for his constant support.

Pete's intellectual needs are met through the books Kane reads the whole family share a great interest in reading; this gives them things to talk about therefore helping develop each others intellectual needs while at the same time meeting them. The puzzles that Kane does also interest Pete when he and his son are in the house they usually take one out and give it a try this helps improve intellectual development as it improves hand-to-eye coordination also it helps your memory, this is how Jake meets his dads intellectual needs.

Pete’s family meet his social needs by talking to him on a regular basis they communicate on a regular basis this helps Pete’s social needs as he is being contacted by the people he loves. The majority of Pete’s social needs are not being met by his family but they try, it is out side agencies that do the most for Pete especially his luncheon club.

Research and describe the services used by each family to help meet their health and social care needs including an evaluation of the effects of such support.

Kane who was born with an learning disability has accessed a wide range of services, on the NHS he needed speech therapy as he was finding it hard to speak when he was younger after a number of years he is now able to communicate properly to anyone, be fore he received this service people found it hard to talk him and this did not help his disability, he could not under stand why people didn’t know what he wanted but thankfully this problem has been over come.

Kane’s dad introduced him to the gym he worked at a few years ago but since he began to work he has lost interest in it, he use to go to the gym three times a week with his father, he had a full membership and was able to use the swimming pool and the steam room, this was because he was a private member.

Recently Kane has applied to move to out of his house to a flat were people with downs syndrome can be more independent, he has received help from the social services, and they are very supportive of his decision, they have helped him switch his address so that he can pay his own bills, make his own food and organise going to work by himself, this is a very useful service for Kane and by the end of it he will be totally independent when he is living on his own. The social worker will continue to help Kane for the first year or so this is because they realise it will take time getting use to change. Once the year is up Kane will be able to fully support him-self.

However the social worker is always going to be there for Kane when he needs him, they have installed buttons in the flats if they need any help whatsoever. Men cap also helped Kane choose his house to live in they give him the opportunity to lead a normal life, also a few years ago when he was still at school they provided education services and helped Kane into work.

When Kane was in his teens he was having problems reading, so he went to his doctor and he advised him to go the optician, this is a service on the NHS an it is free, it was found that Kane had a slight stigmatism in his left eye, he was prescribed glasses for reading only, but his father has paid for laser surgery this is a private operation that will correct his vision and he will no longer need glasses.

As Jake is a lone parent he uses the voluntary service ginger bread as this service is mainly for young lone parents Jakes family is an exception, as he is a lone parent of a disabled child the service were willing to help him with any problem he encounters, they gave Jake their full support by giving him advice on Kane’s disability, this advice was not available when Jake was younger. They also helped Jake get in contact with a number of to make friends and share different experiences as a lone parent. Each member of the ginger bread organisation gives full encouragement and also will provide additional support if they need it, this is how Jake was able to continue his training as a gym instructor, the organisation made Jake realise that he could reach his full potential this is how he was able to work full time.

Another voluntary organisation that Jake has used is the Samaritans, he got he number from ginger bread and has contacted them about Kane moving out, the organisation states that if you are worried about any thing give them a phone, when Jake phoned them about Kane and his move, they ensured that if Kane was operating through the social services they will make sure that he is look after and if he wasn’t capable of looking after himself they would not have put him through the scheme but the Samaritans advised him to get in contact with social services. Also Jake was worried about his father’s physical disability, but the Samaritans reassured him that he would be ok and he would not need to go to the home. Soon after the call to the Samaritans Jake phoned the social services help line, this is a 24 hour call service to help with any problems, when he was talking to them they were pleased that he was showing an interest but they too said if Kane want capable of looking after him self they would not have him in the scheme but they encouraged Jake to maintain contact with them to ensure Kane settles in ok.

Just recently Jake has had problems with his muscles in his leg they have been overworked from the gym, he went to his GP and was advised to go to physiotherapy he has since been told not to do any leg weights or running and has also been given stretches to do while his leg recovers.

Pete who suffers from arthritis has a number of problems his main problem is his movement this disability restricts the movement of certain joints in his body. It has mainly effected his legs for a number of years, since he went to the doctor with his restricted movement the doctor diagnosed him with arthritis basically it is means inflammation of joints. There are a number of ways to treat this, for example the use of drugs, or complementary therapies, these therapy’s are mainly acupuncture, this stimulates the muscles to release endorphins these are known as the happy hormones they will stimulate the body top enable more movements therefore helping the condition over all. Also the use of a private physiotherapy also helps Pete as they will give him stretches to carry out while he is at home, this will lead to increased movement but he will never fully recover from this disability as there is no cure at present. One other private service that Pete has used is home help, last year his condition grew very bad and he was unable to walk up and down the stairs the home help had to get a lift installed especially for him, they also helped to prepare his food as well as do shopping for certain things for him, also they are there for a bit of company, they help to reassure Pete that he will be ok and that things will get better.

A few years a go when Pete was worried about being neglected by his family he phoned the senior citizens help line, they are a help line that to give assistance to the elderly, they not only give advice but they send out support packs to the senior citizens which will give information on the events they organise to make they elderly feel important, they advised Pete to talk to his family about his situation and when Jake realised that he was doing this he was more considerate towards his dad, this is now why Pete loves to help out with the dinner and looking after Kane.

A number of years ago on two or three weekends a month respite care is organised for Pete, it gives his son a chance to have a break at the weekends and gives Pete a chance to talk to other people his own age also they provide a range of activities to keep Pete organised and entertained, they also provide food and other essential needs that Pete needs to receive. Finally the most recent service that Pete needs to receive is meals on wheels as he is unable to cook they provide this type of service on a daily basis in order to meet the elderly needs also they will also provide it on weekends in extreme case where some people are unable to cook for them selves, this service is organised by the social services and operates throughout the country. Since Pete has received it he is much happier in his home and finds a lot of pressure has been taken off him.

Family B have used a number of services from the NHS they have used the GP, the dentist, optician and speech therapist. From the private sector they used a private doctor, home help, a health club and a private school. The services from the voluntary sector include Men cap, Gingerbread NI, senior citizen help line and the Samaritans. From the social services they used respite care, social worker to help Kane with his independence, meals on wheels and the social help line.

Family B have used the GP, most of them have used it to get treatment for flu’s and other infections, for the family this is very good in that it will help get rid of any unwanted infections therefore the rest of the family will be free from illness the doctor will try to empower the patient by giving them advice on their life style, this was the case for Jake when he was sick a number of years ago. However a doctors advice can have a major impact on the family, Jake use to go to the doctor any time he thought he was ill, he very nearly became dependant on the doctor for help. This is an issue of dependency, Jake will become dependant on the doctor for any advice and treatment for his son, this is not helping his self esteem, while the doctor will provide advice Jake will listen but does not use it, and instead he runs to the doctor for all his problems.

The optician gave free eye tests to Kane, he was suffering from headaches and when he was prescribed glasses they left. The positive point from this is that as this is an NHS service it allowed Kane to get free glasses therefore limiting the financial strain on his dad. However the waiting list was very long and it took Kane a while to get on it therefore he was suffering before he received the correct diagnosis.

Speech therapy was also used for Kane when he was younger, he had problems communicating with his family and after a few months of therapy he was able to talk to his dad and others properly this was the biggest advantage, although Kane had a number of problems at the start and he refused to go because he could understand why no one could understand him, this lead to trouble in the family and caused a bit of disruption for some time. From an early age Kane was introduced to the dentist, one positive point from the dentist is that they check your mouth for any infections, once Kane had problems with a tooth, it need removed as it was badly decayed, it caused him a lot of pain and when it was removed he was fine, Kane also had problems facing the dentist for check ups he did not like it when the dentist scraped his teeth for any hidden decay again this caused a few problems for the family as they had to convince Kane to go.

From the private sector, home help was brought in for Pete but this was when Pete was at his worst a few years back, the clear advantage to help support the family was the fact that the pressure was taken off Jake he was able to relax knowing that his dad was being look after at home, he was getting food and drinks when he need them instead of waiting on Jake to come home and get them. Also Pete become very dependent on this service and instead of a coping mechanism he was totally dependant on it for every thing in his life. One clear problem with this was the care worker after a few months he/she began to take advantage of Pete’s good nature, they began to get lazy turning up late and leaving early, this meant that Pete's needs were just being met but it was rushed, he was unable to sit and talk to them about what he wanted and he didn’t want to say any thing to his family so he didn’t complain this lead to his behaviour and attitude changing, this then was noticeable from his family and it left a certain air of annoyance in the service this was why the service was cut. Also Pete become very dependent on this service and instead of a coping mechanism he was totally dependant on it for every thing in his life

As Kane went to a private school it was to ensure he got the best care around, it supported the family as it allowed Kane the chance to stay and do after school sports allowing his dad the chance to get home and make the diner, the school helped take pressure off Jake, he was able to be more confident in his work instead of worrying about his son, the school helped to empower Kane as they let him choose his own activities and when he didn’t want to do them they did not force him, from the after school clubs Kane developed his self esteem, he built on it and became able to depend less on his family for support, he was now able to cope with the daily tasks of life and by doing so it allowed his family the chance to relax and not worry about him this is how it supported his family.

The social services provided great support for the family, the respite care provided ensured that Jake got a break. The clear advantage of this is the strain was taken off Jake therefore it allowed him more time to do his own thing especially relax this is what respite care is all about, it allowed Pete the chance to talk to people his own age, for the family it allowed Kane the chance to bond with his family also it meant Pete was not totally dependant on his son for care, it empowered him and gave him the chance to get on with his own life. However when if the service was unavailable then the strain would be back on Jake and as the service is free at the minute things could change thus Jake might not be able to afford it. The advice helpline also helped out Kane’s dad, he wasn’t sure whether Kane would be able to live on his own but thanks to the help and support for the agency they will help Kane to empower Kane so he will become less dependant on services for help, this has helped Jake as he was reassured that Kane will not be on his own totally, he will have a year to settle in, for the family this will mean that Jake will have more time to help his dad, the social services is there to help people cope with every day life and the problems they face.

The meals on wheels helped support the family as Jake did not have to cook every meal for his dad instead care workers would come round and deliver the food, he was able to focus on his own work and Pete became less dependant on his son for help, this allowed him the chance to get eat properly and at his own time instead of waiting for the rest of the family this is how the social services helped support the family, but they did not depend on them, the service helped empower each member and allowed them to continue as normal. However the meals that were provide might not be fully nutritional and this will mean that Pete is not getting balanced diet.

The voluntary sector, helped support the family by making Pete feel part of something, for a while he had very low self esteem the advice given to Pete proved vital, it allowed him to feel part of something instead of just being part of the background, it empower Pete and told him to talk to his family about how he feels once he did this his family arranged to include Pete more by doing so it supported the family and built on Pete’s self esteem.

The Samaritans helped Jake to realise that the social services were trying to help Kane by empowering him and letting him make his own decision instead of having Jake run after him every day, they ensured Kane would be looked after to the fullest extent, it was Kane who did not want to depend on his dad so he required help, the help line reassured Jake by saying he will be looked after very well. It helped support the family as Jake did not have to continually run around after his dad and son, it not only empowered Jake to take control of his own life but also made him realise that his family were becoming dependant on him and he had to realise that he would not always be there. A clear advantage of this service is that it is always there for the family the call line is open 24 hours and will always give advice. But whether the advice is correct or not remains to be seen.

Ginger bread Northern Ireland is an organisation for lone parents it provided Jake with the advice he need to bring up a child with a disability, by giving him advice it allowed him to build on his self esteem by providing Jake with useful tips on training and were to go to receive it also it gave him support when Kane was younger, it provides a day care centre at a low cost this took a lot of pressure off Jake as child care is usually very expensive. Also it supported the family as Jake was able to return to work, when he returned he was able to undertake the necessary training that enabled him to move up in his professional job. It empowered Jake and gave him the chance to take control of his own life and make the proper decisions that would guild his son through life, they also provided a child care facility and when Kane was younger it allowed Jake to go out and continue to work, while Jake knew that his son was in safe hands of people from the Gingerbread organisation. This organisation provided a number of methods of support and it empowered Jake by building on his self esteem and empowering him to take control of his own life while doing the best for his son.

An in-depth analysis of the effects of two issues on the family members

The two issues that will be focused on are poverty and domestic violence. Firstly, “Poverty is the state of being without, often associated with need, hardship and lack of resources across a wide range of circumstances.”

“Being poor isn’t just about a lack of money or possessions – the effects run much deeper. There are many studies to show that the education, health, life-expectancy, and employment prospects of the children of families with low incomes are much worse than they are for children born to better-off parents”

There are a number of effects poverty can have on the family, firstly if a family is in poverty the first thing that is affected is their home, as poverty involves having very little money this means that families have very little choice, inside their home they might have very little furniture, with out furniture the family will have no place to relax, if they have no place to relax they will not be able to release the stress built up from every day life. Also in the home they will not be able to afford food, the effect this will have on the family can be devastating, if they have no food they cannot eat a healthily diet, the effects from this can lead to the family becoming sick from malnutrition, this in turn can lead to the family members becoming ill, also the physical effects will soon be visible, the members will begin to waste away this will lead to a weakening bone structure there fore leading to more injuries. Families in poverty will also have no money to afford to pay for mortgage if they can’t pay for their mortgage then they will be kicked out of the house, families sleeping rough will be come hungry and desperate for food this can lead to stealing and if caught at this the family can be broken up.

The effect of poverty on the older family members is colossal as they have no pensions they have noting to live on in an article from the times it stated “When Labour came to power, pensioner poverty was a pressing problem. Giving more help to poorer pensioners through means-testing was the right solution for today’s older people.” The times April 05, 2006

If the family is lucky enough to be able to afford rent, the house will usually be in a bad state as they are just able to afford a roof over their heads, the house in general will be very cold and damp, damp can have a number of effects on a family, firstly it will lead to the family feeling constantly cold and wet, then the flu will set in leading to the family members having to by certain products that will help however in some case they cannot afford them and the flu will continue to get worse, also asthma will have a major effect on children they will continually find it hard to breath when walking into a house that is always cold your general spirit will be very down, if there is children involved they will sense there is a problem in the home and they will not be able to feel good about them selves they will have a very low self esteem.

If the family in the house are constantly becoming sick be it due to lack of food or heat, it will effect the amount of work or school they miss, if a parent is not eating to feed his/her children they will become ill and have to miss days off work the days off will eventually add up and will lead to lack of money to pay for the mortgage or even food. For the children they will not be able to eat will begin to worry about their situation leading to stress and the will seek work in order to help out with in the home, however if are too young they will be unable to concentrate in school leading to attention being brought on themselves.

As a result of missing school children will leave school with very little or no qualifications, this will effect them as they will be unable to seek any work that will allow them to earn any proper money as a result the family will continue to feel hungry and depressed. “This tries to measure the amount of progress children make from their results at the end of primary school (Key Stage 2) to when they take their GCSE-level qualifications at the end of Key Stage 4, which for most is when they are 15 or 16.” Ref

More serious effects on children who experience poverty is if they receive a bad diet for a number of years the lack of growth will affect the body systems inside them, the fact that poverty can cause heart disease, diabetes and worst of all impotency. These effects have serious consequences for one family for not just that generation but a number of generations after that will be affected

Other effects of poverty include shorter life expectancy, any family who experiences poverty will not only be immediately affected but later on in life they will have to face further consequences, due to the lack of food and build up of stress, it will ultimately take years off peoples lives.

To conclude poverty does not only effect people immediately but it can carry on for generations it can lead to debt, lack of development, missing work, feeling bad about your self, illness and worst of all death theses are all effects of poverty within the family.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is physical violence between members of a family, especially between spouses. Domestic violence is also the control of a family by one dominant member. Ref

There are a number of effects this can have on a family, if the a family has younger child there are a number of effects this can have for babies, the basic need of attachment is disrupted the child does not have a proper bond with either of the family members they can become scared of the partner who is abusing the other family members. If the violence is continued around the child his/ her feeding routines are disrupted they will not get the correct meals each day therefore this can lead to increased infections due to lack of nutritional food. If both partners are in the middle of an argument and one is holding the child, it is them who can be affected badly, if by accident the child is hit, it could have serious repercussions, as they are so fragile they could easily have broken bones or more serious internal implications than can not be seen could cause problems for the family. Statistics show that over 3 million children witness violence in their home each year with over half of them experiencing. Those who see and hear violence in the home suffer physically and emotionally. Ref

“From early age children who are in constant abusive situations will have Irritability or inconsolable crying, the effects this can have on the violent situation can lead to more hitting of one partner, the effects on the child can be developmental delays be it in mind or physical delays, also if the child is constantly in an abusive situation the will find it hard to communicate with other people.” Ref

The effects on children who are between ages 3-5 are totally different as they get older they will become use to the abuse but if the mother is being abused there is a sympathetic nature towards her, the child will feel sorry but they still cant do anything . Other effects on children this age include regression, the child will move back to an earlier stage or way of behaving, they move back to a time were they try not to understand what is going on they try to turn a blind eye to the abuse. For the child to be left alone with the abusive partner they will be very fearful and they will not want to talk or do any thing to cause any further abuse. Irritably is another effect on the child they can be easily annoyed or exasperated, leading to problems later on if the violence continues.

Children who are at the pre teen age will under stand things better, the effects on the child within the family can lead to Behaviour problems, they will not know how to act around there own family and as a result of the violence they could find them selves taking out there rage on people of there own age therefore they see violence as normal also if they have brothers or sisters the oldest child could think that it is ok to hit them. The effect violence has on pre teens is also poor social skills they will not know how to act with other people this can lead to isolation. If it is the father who is the abusive partner the child will feel he/she has to be protective over the mother. One more effect on the family could be a very the child could be very protective about any one finding out about the situation leading to secrets.

As teenagers grow up the effects this violent environment can have can lead to a number of problems for the children in the family, the violence can lead to a number of potential life threatening problems for the child for example, drug/alcohol, truancy, gangs, sexual acting out, pregnancy, runaway and most seriously the child can become suicidal.

As children become older and are use to the abusive environment, there are a number of problems that can happen in there lives this is the same for both sexes, the main problem could be relationship problems, for the child use to the violence they could see it as “normal” this could lead to them using violence in their own relationship, also it can lead to isolation form the opposite sex or even the same sex. This is most of the effects of domestic violence in the home on the children who just see it.

The partner who actually experiences it will be affected totally different, to go through the four main areas of physical, emotional, social and behavioural the effects this can have can be devastating. To begin with the emotional effects can lead to grief for the whole family, the partner can lead to guilt and self blame other effects can be depression and feelings of helplessness and powerlessness or embarrassment all can effect the whole families moral.

“Behavioural problems can affect the partner as well they are acting out or withdrawing. They will not know how to behave around certain people especially the abusive partner. They could become aggressive toward the child, this could be there way to get even or even use it as a means of justification for the punishment they have received. Lying or avoiding confrontation of the abusive partner, the parent could hide with in the house and if any thing goes wrong they will try to hide it. Other effects on the partner can be reduced intellectual competency, they could regress back to a stage where thy act stupid in order to avoid getting hit or called names. The effects on the other family members could be mood swings, the partner getting abused could be very angry one minute or happy the next they cant be controlled.” Ref

The social effects on the family are easily the most hurtful; the family cannot turn to anyone because they do not want to endanger the children or them selves it could easily lead to more abuse. Other social effects on a family include isolation from the immediate family members leading to stormy due to lack of contact, also the family will find it hard to trust each other and due to the high levels of anger problems aren’t solved with conversation but through abuse and force also the family could have excessive social involvement to avoid home.

The physical effects of domestic violence are only the tip of the iceberg, it is all cuts and bruises, well that’s what most people think the physical effects of domestic violence are as follows; somatic complaints, headaches and stomach aches, nervous, anxious, short attention span, tired and lethargic, frequently ill, poor personal hygiene, regression in development, high risk play and finally self abuse.

All effects have serious consequences on the family as a whole but the true effect of the abuse can only be seen in the home, to conclude it will finally end with the family breaking apart leading to more problems for the children involved.

To conclude there are a number of general effects that domestic violence has on the family, depending on the age of the family members the over all result will effect each the physical, emotion, social and behavioural element in each family member, the over all result of this will eventually lead to the family breaking up and lead to the children being affected for the rest of their lives as studies show children who witness violence against there mothers are more likely to abuse when they are older E.g. A child's exposure to the father abusing the mother is the strongest risk fact for transmitting violent behaviour from one generation to the next. Ref (American Psychological Association, Violence and the Family: Report of the APA Presidential Task Force on Violence and the Family, 1996

Describe how recent government initiatives aim to support families experiencing difficulties.

One is going to preview government initiatives which have bee brought in to help those in poverty especially families. There have been many initiatives by the Blair government to help families experiencing poverty. One such initiative was sure start.

Sure start is was set up to support families experiencing poverty it is the responsibility of the department of health and social services and public safety in Northern Ireland. In order for the government to tackle child poverty and social exclusions it ran local programmes in the most deprived regions within the country.

In fifteen programmes ran across Northern Ireland costing four million, all paid by the government. The first way this supports families is that the scheme is free, for families in poverty this relieves some pressure as they are getting the service free.

Firstly this service meant that 19,000 children under the age of four and their families have access to the services provided through the sure start initiative. One way this is enormously helpful to a family who cannot access services which are needed in order to ensure that each family member is in good health but due to the cost this cannot be achieved. The schemes set up to help families include child care partnerships, support was given to families with children, the service provided appropriate care to the children stricken by poverty. It allowed the parents to have more opportunities and free time to gain access to employment, therefore allowing the family to have an annual income this would automatically ensure that an adequate living condition was provided therefore the poverty would be over come.

Within in a family it is the children who are most vulnerable; they are the ones who are affected for the rest of their lives. The lack of food and other essential needs not being provided will ultimately affect the children’s health and well being this can have consequential effects right through he children lives. Sure start ensures that children are given early education, childcare, health and family support. The initiative has created a number of children’s centres with a network by 2008 of 2,500. All families with children will each have access to one by 2008. Sure start offers a range of early year programmes in order to close the education gap to those who have not experienced poverty therefore breaking the vicious poverty cycle.

The health and family services provided aim to reach 400,000 children in deprived areas it ensures that the health care needs are provide for the children and other family members and if these are not being met, the sure start organises support for the families most in need.

Sure start is helpful to many parent as it allows them to know that their children are getting the best treatment around, by knowing this parents can relax know their children are safe in the arms of professionals therefore ensuring parents can fell better about them selves. This initiative provides an number of ways to support the family, by providing the parent with a chance to find employment it gives them a sense of worth and will increase their sense of well being and self esteem, for some parents who find work it give the children some one to look up to and it helps create a work ethos around the house therefore inspiring children to work hard.

Thanks to the fact that sure start is aimed at giving children the best possible start in life, it provides a solid education for children and the services need for parents to gain work. It is clear that parents and children have the best possible start so that they are able to develop the skills to stay on at education or find work therefore they would not suffer from social exclusion or most importantly poverty finally leading to the vicious cycle of poverty being broken.

Other initiatives brought in to help families in poverty are the introduction of various benefits through social security. The child tax credit involves money being paid direct to the person who is responsible for providing care to a child or children, in many cases this is the parents but in some it is carers. It provides the family with a means of finance and money that would help them with childcare for their children, for families in poverty this is very helpful as for those who are not in employment they will still have an income to help meet their children health needs, while this may not take them out of poverty it helps provide a living environment for the children and family. This is beneficial to the parent as it gives them something to provide for their children in stead of feeling like failures they can feel confident in knowing that their children are being given the care they need.

Working tax credits is an initiative that helps families with children; it gives families the chance to continue to work while still getting money back. For the family this means that the parents will be kept in work while raising children therefore providing an income to look after their children. For the parents they will have a raised self esteem and when the children see this it radiates down to them. While crating a healthy environment in the home between all family members it allows for a positive out look. Instead of having no employment they have a job with different prospects open to them therefore allowing for increased earning power.

The evidence above shows that the government has taken many actions to support families experiencing poverty through the use of physical support either through financial support, intellectual by providing means of learning and further more physical support in terms of child care centres and employment opportunities will all have a number of beneficial effects on families ultimately allowing them to gain their independence and have a sense of confidence about them selves.

Domestic violence

Secondly there are a number of government initiatives set up to help families who have experienced domestic violence, there have been a number of recently new acts to help families through these rough times by proving the support necessary to do so.

“The domestic violence act 2004” purpose is to “bring the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 (“the 2004 Act”) into operation. The Code of Practice will give victims of crime the right to receive a minimum standard of service from all of the criminal justice agencies. “Ref

This piece of legislation gives money to voluntary organisations to help victims of domestic violence. The money is used to set up different things to help the families, the free phone line set up allows families to call up and talk about their problems knowing that it is anonymous, they can receive the free advice which will give them the information need to act against domestic violence the legislation empowers the victims as the advice tell them what to do to get clear of an abusive partner. The phone line is there for support, families who have went through domestic violence need some one to talk to, as this is a difficult problem to share with any one the phone line is there to listen and offer help.

The act ensures that victims who are experiencing domestic violence will have an effective police response when a call is reported; this is beneficial as it removes the abusive partner and calms the situation down the family can feel at ease knowing that they are once again safe. The legislation also provides money to refuges this allows women a place to turn to; it provides a safe environment for the family and allows them to continue their lives free from abuse. The act also ensure that emotional and psychological help is provided this will allow the family to deal with their emotions and sort them out with the appropriate help, this is beneficial to the whole family as it bonds them back together, free from the abuser.

Education programmes are set up for the children involved so that they will receive a proper education, the fact that they have experienced domestic violence will disrupt the learning process, so the government arranges for special treatment for these children so that they are not disadvantaged. Ultimately this ensures new powers for the police and courts while ensuring that the family is empowered at all time. This bill allows families to feel at ease and rebuild their lives.

Other government initiatives set up to tackle domestic violence includes “safety and justice” set up in 2003. This act provided the help need for victims it has devised a free call line that is open 24 hours a day seven days a week, continuously offering support for the victims. While it is not run for by the governments it is run by the domestic violence charities. Women aid and Refuge provide the provisions necessary for families to get back on track they are a confidential service for any one who has experienced domestic violence. For families the services provided through the initiative include better accommodation, by doing this, families can feel a sense of pride know that they live in a safe place free from abuse. But in order to do so they must take action.

“The family law act 1996” provides a set of remedies available in all courts with a family jurisdiction to deal with domestic violence with two type of orders, non-molestation order which prevents another person harming you or a child and also an occupation order, this indicates who can live in the family home and can direct another person to leave the home. Each of these are beneficial as the act does not allow a child or occupation to be hit by doing this the house will be free from domestic violence however if this is broken the mother can have the abuser removed under this act this is very good for the family as it allows them the space they need to rebuild their lives. Other ways this is beneficial is the fact that families know there is a law out there against domestic violence as they know this they can have a sense of confidence to leave an abusive partner while being able to seek the proper help and advice.

Finally the “protection from harassment act 1997” provides two new criminal offences, which is the offence of criminal harassment and a more serious offence involving fear of violence. If a family member was found guilty of this offence there is an additional measure taken in the form of a restraining order which is granted by the court. What is means for a family who have went through domestic violence is that they can be free from the abuser as they are restricted by the courts not to get within a certain distance if this is breached the police are called and the abuser is once again arrested therefore allowing the family to feel safe and secure know that the abuser is locked up. For families who have no children there is a law set up just for women, under the civil law there is also an injunction for prevention of harassment for those who are not eligible under part IV of the “family law act 1996” it provides physical support for victims and relatives of domestic abuse therefore ensure that their health and well being are looked after.

From all of the initiatives it is clear that the government is doing its best to look after families experiencing difficulties, with further effort the problem of domestic violence will be eradicated once and for all however this can only be obtained if the government continue to provide the assistance and support throughout Northern Ireland.

An assessment of the role played by various organisations that provide support to families experiencing difficulties.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (statutory)

The PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) are an organisation set out to help rid the community of crime it has a number of different units to help families experiencing difficulty.

This statutory service is very helpful to families experiencing difficulties the key advantage to this service is the fact that they have a speedy response time at any time day or night the PSNI will deal with a recorded domestic violence act straight away.

For the victims involved in the attack this organisation have been trained to treat the victims as quick as possible in order to move forward this is the Spin’s way for improvement, it is clear from this that this service strives to improve families living conditions.

Another clear advantage of this service for families experiencing difficulties is the fact that they work with the communities. By doing so they are able to liaise with the community member to identify the problem and sort it out as best they can.

The service also provide a number of services that will help families going through difficult times the resources they provide help the family in a number of ways for example if a member of the family has been subjected to abuse the abuser will be put on a restraining order this will mean that they are not allowed to go near the family and if they do so they will be arrested. This is beneficial to the family as they can continue their lives without the domestic violence once in it.

For families who have just reported abuse the service will respond by either removing the abuser or the family to a safe location, they will provide the psychological help needed to overcome such trauma. Once this is achieved the family can rebuild their lives with the continued help of this organisation, they will provide training necessary for parents to get back into work and for children they will enable them the chance of a life free from abuse.

One clear aim of this service to support the family is empowering it, they will help with problem solving by offering advice on the situation they face and the way in which they empower the victims is through the use of a domestic violence officer. These officers will contact the victims to provide support, information about police procedures and legal proceedings. By empowering families who have suffered from abuse they will give the authority back to the family and increase their confidence and self esteem. Over all this is a very positive aspect of this statutory organisation.

One final positive point for the PSNI is the fact that the domestic violence officers are situated in every district, they will organise families who have experienced abuse to contact with other statutory and voluntary agencies who have qualified personnel to provide emotional, practical and behavioural support.

There is however a number of negative aspects to using this service relating to the family, families who use this service may be subjected to hate crimes; the families may face abuse from other community members who do not agree with this service this is down to a prejudice attitude.

From using the service the community may feel they are being watched and the consequences of this on the family include them being victimised, this may lead to threatening behaviour or even family members being attacked.

From the constant help from the PSNI the family be depend to much on them and in every circumstance they may report to them wasting time and money to help other families.

The whole family may not become independent therefore the this organisation may not be useful to complete its overall aim that is to empower the family, this can lead to the children growing up in an unsuitable environment with only one parent looking after them, from the PSNI website they stated “families who have experienced abuse with children involved usually mean that the children involved will be disadvantaged as they grow older. They will lack the education to maintain a stable job and may turn to violent crimes themselves.”

Finally in some circumstances if abuse is reported and the PSNI need to remove one family member the effects this can have on the children can affect them for the rest of their lives this is not good for the family as an overall unit, it may lead to the break up of a family over one accidental outburst.

Women refuge (non-statutory)

The women’s refuge is non-statutory organisation committed to researching the effects of domestic violence and services provided for women and children.

Women’s refuge is committed to caring out the following:

To lead the field through innovative services of excellence.
In training across all agencies, to promote best practice.
In recommendations for policies and strategy, at local and national levels.
In publications, to inform national and international thinking.

The women’s refuge is an organisation that has a number of positive and negative points, firstly this organisation is good in that it highlights the problems with domestic violence it, gives advice for the whole family and does not just assume that one member is being abused. This organisation also brings this the effects of domestic violence to the public’s attention, by doing so it will make people more aware of the issue and will allow other people to report it.

Women’s refuge does not only provide help for those being abused but it will lobby ministers so that legislation will be passed in order to ensure the protection of the people. For the women who have experienced abuse it provides a safe environment that enables them to feel safe and secure, while at the same time it will offer the women a place of sympathy, it allows women the chance to talk to professionals about the problems they have faced.

The organisation will provide women with the advice necessary to them, they have a 24 hour help line that is run in partner ship with women’s aid, the staffs provides emotional support as well as practical information such as referring women to refuges all over the UK. The refuges are a network of safe houses that provide emergency accommodation. Within the refuges the women are given time and help to make decisions about their future.

There are also services within this organisation that help women who are ready to move out of the refuges, these out reach services provide practical help that allows women the chance to get their lives back in order. The organisation is also providing cultural specific services this allows women all kind of ethnic and cultural backgrounds to come and look for help.

One final good point from the women’s refuge is it offers help to children who have experienced domestic violence; it will provide them with the training necessary to help them get into courses and even back to school.

The negative points of the women’s refuge are as follows, if women are constantly being abused they will turn to the service every time this can and may lead women becoming dependent on the service this will mean they will not no what to do if the service is unavailable for any reason they will have nowhere to turn for help.

For the family the organisation may mean the family will not become independent this will mean that the family will not be able to do any thing for themselves they will depend on the service for their needs.

Families that are using the service will become stigmatised, domestic violence is a difficult problem for society to deal with, people do not like to talk about this type of problem and those who asked for help will be labelled by the community, this can mean the family will find it hard to get back to normal.

Due to the constant help and support from the women’s refuge the family may completely split, they will not know how to deal with the situation and this can lead to problems for the family leading to the splitting. Finally within the organisation the families may be victimised, especially the women who have experienced the abuse.

To conclude this organisation provides countless sources of help for the families who have experienced abuse however to much help may be bad, this can cause disruption in the family leading to the whole unit breaking up, the organisation needs to find a happy medium that provides the required help for the family.

Social services (statutory)

The social services, the purpose of this statutory organisation is to promote and improve the health and well-being of the population, tackling health and social inequalities, and ensuring that our population has access to the highest quality and range of services to meet their needs.

The social services provide both a range of good and bad points the core values they have are central to the running of the organisation, all of which provide positive aspects relating to families experiencing poverty. Firstly the integrity of the organisation allows families to be open with them the confidentiality within the organisation provide each family with a sense of reliability.

Social services also have an all inclusiveness policy; they allow families of different diversities to come and receive help the organisation ensuring fairness and equity in access to care and treatment and engaging fully with families, relating to poverty the organisation will allow families the chance to eat a proper nutritional meal.

The partnership they have with other organisations such as, statutory, community, voluntary and private will ensure that families will get the referred organisations to best help them, depending on the type of help they need the social services will make sure they are treated with fairness and receive the best help be it for clothes or for food.

The social services also strives for continuous improvement, due to the increased cases of poverty in the united kingdom the social services tries new and innovative approaches to meeting the needs of families in poverty they will give advice on family life provide parenting class to educate the parents most in need of advice.

Other positive properties of the social services include counselling families who have went through poverty to find better solutions to their problems, and for the children who are experiencing difficult situations they will temporarily remove them to a safer environment.

For families who are homeless the social services will try to find the parent employment and a house, if any women who are pregnant the organisation will assist them best they can and they also provide options such as finding parents, and adopted children to navigate the adoption system.

The social services will also help with advocating people to different families to help solve there situation, they serve as a broker by connecting individual with resources especially families experiencing difficulty.

However this service has a number of negative points, while they are a professional service they may not judge the best help that is necessary to families an example of this is taking children away from their mothers, while they are taking them out of a bad situation they may not be helping them but rather forcing what they think is right.

Due to the amount of help that is provided by the social services the family may become to dependant on the service leading to the family turning to the organisation for help all the time. This means the family may not become independent, for families experiencing difficulties this will mean they will not be able to do any thing for them selves and due to the lack of empowerment the family will be vulnerable as they can’t do anything for themselves.

Finally, families use the social services they will become victimised and labelled they community which they live will become judgemental and will stigmatise the whole family. This will lead to people becoming isolated from the community.

To conclude the social service main aims for families are to create and maintain professional helping relationships, improve problem-solving, coping, and development capacities of all people, be able to engage and communicate with diverse population and groups of all sizes, have a knowledge and understanding of human relationships and provide services to not only support change in the individual but also in his/her environment as well. However they may provide too much help and if they think it is necessary they will remove children from troubled families when in fact this may not be the best option also families may become too dependent on the service.

National Society for the prevention of cruelty to children (non-statutory)

NSPCC's (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) purpose is to end cruelty to children. This includes al types of neglect.

This non-statutory service provided to make children’s lives better offer a number of positive points for children they not only highlight the problem but they seek to get rid of child poverty. They offer a number of practical solutions to the pubic for example they will provide the rights of children to the public while also seeking to maintain they live a healthy lifestyle.

Other advantages of this service include assessing the risks of poverty in order to help the family cope, by doing so they will use projects and child protection teams to organise events to combat poverty. They do this by assessing whether the child will suffer from poverty again and if so they will remove the child to a safer environment.

While helping to support the children they also seek to help the parents involved by providing family support services it helps parents and cares to understand children’s needs. Other points from this scheme include providing parents with parenting skills to cope with the pressure that might cause them harm and their children. While this is only one service other services they include are pre-natal advice, toddler groups, parents groups, one-to-one advice clinics, sessions on safety in the home and money management, and children's breakfast and after-school clubs. All of these benefit the family by enhancing their knowledge on certain times through children’s lives.

The service also recognise that in order to move forward they need to use new and innovative ways to combat poverty they provide home video guidance within the UK and this allow parents to use videos to see their own parenting skills in action this allows the family to develop a relationship of trust and respect. This is especially used on father to help them cope with children and what is the best way to get them out of poverty.

The NSPCC also organises a series of election meetings in key marginal constituencies around the country so that the government representatives are informed about the problem and so that they can introduce new laws surrounding children who suffer from poverty.

One key advantage of this service is the fact that in cases was extreme child poverty has effect the child they will use specialist investigation services in the country to reduce the worst cases of poverty. The children involved will have some one to turn to if they need to talk. This is also the case for parents the organisation understands the strain on parents in order to provide for their children so the NSPCC will allow parents to come and receive advice.

Finally the organisation offers training courses for children and parents so that they can combat poverty by them selves, they provide the practical help need to learn what foods are best and how to store them, these evenings are very effective and teach families what foods are best for children.

The organisation has however a number of negative points while they are all for the safety of children they may provide to much help for families by doing so the family will become to dependant on the service leaving them no better off than they were before.

One key issue to do with poverty is the fact that families suffering from it will become stigmatised, people will be judgemental on the family and the children may experience bullying from other children this is a very negative aspect of the organisation.

If this happens the family may find times hard to cope and will not be able to survive by them selves this may lead to the family completely splitting up leaving the children in care and the parents wondering were they went wrong.

Due to the fact people will know that the family is using the service they may become victimised and attacked this can have a number of consequentially fatal effect on the over all family they may become isolated and turn the help away so that they are no longer victimised, this could lead to the poverty having a worse overall effect on the family.

To conclude the services provided for families suffering from abuse or domestic violence suggest a number of practical solutions to helping families but because people will know who uses the service this may lead to the families being victimised or subjected to unwanted abuse eventually leading to the break up of the family. Also the fact that they try to influence change at a national level will ultimately lead to change therefore families experiencing difficulties will be helped but this may take time. Due to this it may cost lives but with the constant work of all the organisations the problem of poverty and domestic violence will be rectified once and for all leading to better lives for all families.

Why family structures are changing.

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