The Singapore Law Gazette

Bridging Law and Social Service

Ethical and Practical Considerations in Interdisciplinary Family Practice

In family disputes, it is common for there to be underlying issues that involve fractured relationships trauma, child welfare, parenting difficulties, mental health concerns, family stress and violence. In complex situations, it is crucial for legal professionals to work alongside social service and mental health professionals to have outcomes that are sustainable and beneficial for families.

It is heartening to see the progress made in therapeutic justice and initiatives within the family justice system, to provide support for families going through family disputes and to minimise the adverse impact on children. The courts have also worked very closely with the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) in accessing programmes such as Strengthening Families Programmes (FAM) such as the Children-in-Between Programmes and Supervised Exchange and Supervised Visitation Programmes for families. While this has gained much ground, there are still areas where the practice be can strengthened.

At present, a multi-disciplinary¹There are varying perspectives of what constitutes multi-disciplinary practice and interdisciplinary practice. The author uses the perspective summarized by Andrea Zimmerman, Ed. D in, (2024) Understanding the Nuances: Multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary, Cross-disciplinary and Interprofessional Approaches in Accredited Continuing Healthcare Education. approach is observed. Court Family Specialists (from Counselling and Psychological Services of FJC) may sit in at case conference with the judges. These professionals may contribute to assessments and also provide counselling to the family. Reports from these experts may be used to advice the courts on specific rulings such as children’s living arrangements. At the pre-divorce stage, parties are also required to undergo co-parenting programme run by social service professionals at FAMs, under MSF. These social service professionals in the community may be asked to provide updates to the courts at different stages of the divorce following court order for the family, for instance, for parents to work on co-parenting goals. These reports allow for some level of information sharing to enable the courts to understand the status of issues that families face or the progress (or lack of) towards goals set. While there is some level of discussion between professionals within the courts, and with professionals in the community at times, practitioners in the community have shared that this does not seem to be consistently practiced. Legal and social services professionals are still seen to work rather independently rather than collaboratively. Taking a consistent interdisciplinary approach can offer a framework or model of working to draw on and build on the expertise of the various professionals and strengthens the legal professionals’ ability to serve clients effectively.

What is an interdisciplinary team approach?

An interdisciplinary²Understanding the Nuances: Multidisciplinary, Interdisciplinary, Cross-disciplinary and Interprofessional Approaches in Accredited Continuing Healthcare Education team approach integrates separate discipline-specific approaches to offer a holistic perspective that is shared across the team. Such an approach can be viewed as a progression of multidisciplinary approaches where professionals from different disciplines take on different roles and responsibilities in a case, however work rather independently of each other. An interdisciplinary approach on the other hand, emphasises collaboration, communication, interaction and integration of knowledge across different disciplines.

Why?

There are many benefits of such as an interdisciplinary team approach. These include, having professionals from different disciplines exposed to different and alternative perspectives, thus stepping out of the discipline ‘silos’ and working towards the best outcome for the client. It also fosters a deeper understanding of complex family dynamics and how the family can be supported. There can be greater focus on the overall family context and not on specific parties, and blind spots can be minimised.

Antagonistic parties would usually put forth divergent perspectives on what would be best for the children. Social service and mental health professionals could provide a more neutral perspective highlighting the voice of the child. These professionals can provide information on social circumstances, health and psychological needs of children, attachment and family dynamics, parenting capacity and family functioning. Many parents may have underlying mental health issues, post-traumatic stress that may not have been formally diagnosed and treated. Home-visits by professionals can give a perspective of the family environments would be additional information informing for decision-making on custody and care and control of children.

Ethical Practice and Boundaries

In working towards interdisciplinary approaches, there are some ethical issues to consider. These include confidentiality conflicts, reporting obligations³Depending on the agency and role they undertake, social service professionals are required to report issues such child abuse and drug abuse., differing professional priorities (e.g. between care and control), and power imbalances among professionals. Each profession is bound by different ethical guidelines and safeguards.

Side-effects

There are some ‘side-effects’ of such an approach which need to be managed. Working with the court systems can often place social service and mental health professionals in a bind as they want to preserve the trusting relationship with their clients but are also bound to provide assessments to the courts which may harm the therapeutic relationship with their clients and affect future work with them. Professionals will need to balance issues of child safety, parental rights, family preservation, procedural fairness, therapeutic goals. The responsibility of reporting and having follow-up discussions with will invariably involve more time and stretch already tight resources.

In addition to this, the perceived and real influence that different professionals have on clients differs. As such, clients may respond differently and disclose different accounts according to this power differential. Families may also not disclose matters or ‘family secrets’ that are crucial to be dealt with e.g. mental health challenges if they perceive that they would be viewed negatively and if the reports to the courts include what is disclosed.

The following are some ideas to help move forward an interdisciplinary approach in family practice:

Clarity of Roles

There needs to be a clear understanding of roles. The legal professionals (judges, lawyers, mediators) focus on legal rights, custody, protection orders and dispute resolution.

Social service professionals (social workers, counsellors, family therapists) and mental health professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists) address the mental health and psychosocial issues, child safety, family functioning, trauma and community support services. Role clarity prevents role confusion, duplication or professional conflict.

Scope

The scope of such interdisciplinary family practice could focus on the more complex cases such as cases that involve minor children and where there are family violence and child protection concerns. This would help manage the time and resources across disciplines and settings. As legal professionals represent their respective clients perhaps such interdisciplinary practice needs to be confined to just the courts, social service and mental health professionals. Legal professionals lend their weight by encouraging their clients to work with social service and mental health professionals on matters like co-parenting and to minimise the adverse effects of divorce on the children involved.

Shared Vision

When involving multiple professionals, having a shared vision is important. In the case of working with families, an overarching shared vision may be that of having the best interest of the family and/child. In this regard, one would prioritise the child’s safety and developmental needs, promote family stability where possible, address family violence, neglect, addictions or mental health concerns. For instance, when there are custody disputes, asking for an assessment of the home environment would provide useful background information on social circumstances. Also, before a supervised visit order proceeds, an assessment of the readiness of the child to meet the parent could also be done. Such reports may be sought at time currently. Making this more consistent would help strengthen the assessment process for more families.

Interdisciplinary Training and Shared Language

Social service and mental health professionals would benefit from understanding legal procedures and evidentiary requirements. Key concepts from frameworks such as the systems perspective⁴Bronfenbrenner, U (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiment by nature and design. Harvard University Press. and trauma-informed practice⁵Champine, R.B., Hoffman, E.E., Matlin, S.l., Strambler, M.J., & Tebes, J.K. (2022). ‘What does it mean to be trauma-informed?’ A mixed-methods study of a trauma-informed community initiative. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 31(2), 459-472. which is widely practiced in social services would be useful for legal professionals to be familiar with. Having better understanding of where each party comes from will help reduce misunderstandings and build mutual respect.

Developing interdisciplinary protocols

Having formal interdisciplinary protocols in where roles and responsibilities of professionals are clarified and transparent, and at the same time providing safeguards to protect professional boundaries. Shared ethical guidelines and protocols would provide some guidance in managing ethical issues. These would include explicit informed consent guidelines on how information is obtained and used.

Staging a shared intervention plan for the family

Information on the social circumstance of the family can contribute to assessing and developing a shared intervention plan for that family and roles of the various professionals in supporting the family can be determined. Apart from getting social reports from social service and mental health professionals, case conferences where the courts can hear directly and clarify circumstances, gather further information from the multiple parties that have been working with the family e.g. school counsellors, psychologists. Such discussions are common in social services and offer rich information for the parties involved and how they can further collaborate to support the family and children. This could be considered for more complex cases e.g. those involving child protection concerns, family violence, access orders.

If there is information on mental health or family violence concerns, these issues could be addressed first before longer term plans are made/ ordered. Such staging of intervention plans according to the needs of the family can minimising adverse effects on vulnerable parties such as the children.

Strengthening Communication Channels

Clarity on how reports to the courts are used and rationale of court decisions would help foster the partnership among professionals. The decisions of the court may sometimes be different from what these professionals had recommended. Parties may choose to approach these professionals for continued support following the court orders. It would be useful for social service and mental health professionals to understand how the information they provide is used and the rationale of court decisions. They could then be in a better position to coordinate resources to support parties in their adjustment to the court orders. Ultimately there needs to be a nurturing of trusting relationships among professionals, one where difficult scenarios and sensitive topics can be raised and communication gaps closed.

Conclusion

If the approach is managed well, it is anticipated that more dialogue and interdisciplinary partnerships in family practice, can lead to better outcomes for families and children, reducing family conflict and more sustainable resolutions attained. There will also be greater access to justice and support services.

Points shared here reflect writer’s own observation and it incorporates the sharing from social service and mental health professionals.