[Working with Involuntary Clients - When Control Becomes an Element of Counselling]

Working with Involuntary Clients - When Control Becomes an Element of Counselling Counselling involuntary clients is an ambitious as well as contested job, which sometimes causes professionals to distance themselves from this work or even to reject it. This might be one of the reasons why the task to exercise control within a counselling context is assigned to the child protection agency (Jugendamt) while Psychological and Social Help Centers are tasked to provide "only" support services to involuntary clients. Hence, the two jobs of exercising control and providing help are split between the institutions. The arrangement allows professionals to get rid of an unattractive job. In child protection work such a division of responsibility is neither wise nor possible, even if this does not mean that there is no need to distinguish between the tasks and duties of the involved professionals. This article will first of all illustrate why it is necessary to discuss "involuntary clients" within child protection work and why this kind of counselling always implicates some kind of control. In the second part of the article, some results from serious case reviews will be presented. They demonstrate the kind of challenges and difficulties which the work with parents and children in child protection can create.