Understanding Parenting as Situated in the Larger Sociocultural Context in Clinical Social Work

As a corrective to an unbalanced focus on children’s problem and diagnoses, this study addresses the importance of recognizing
the place of parenting within the context of clinical social work. Sixteen parents of children with or without behavioural
problems were selected according to parents’ appraisal of the child-rearing situation, children’s problems and ages, parents’
marital status. The main finding was the seriousness of the situation for parents who have other problems in addition to a
child’s behavioural problems. Knowledge of variations in family structures and normal family processes are important to prevent
clinical cases from always being seen as deviant.