CARING FOR THE POORLY MOTIVATED – PROVIDING CARE
It is not easy to provide care for those who are not well motivated to use contraception, and the way it is done can be a contentious issue. Anxieties may be raised about eugenic control, for instance that one is stopping the poor from breeding, or making value judgements about the behaviour of others and imposing foreign values on them.
Conflict between professional carers is often engineered unconsciously and sustained by the woman or couple concerned. Differing views between doctors and social workers, or between two doctors trying to help the family, can become polarized. ‘Splitting’ into good and bad is a common phenomenon when working with disadvantaged and deprived families. Sometimes it is the social worker who is good, trying to save the family, while the doctor or health visitor is seen as bad. These positions can alternate, with the social worker regarded as being bad when children are taken into care. It often seems as if professional workers are put into the roles of mother, who is seen as kind, indulgent and nurturing, and father, who is stern and expects achievements. These stereotyped figures then fight over what is best for their ‘children’. Indeed, it is not uncommon to hear professionals talking about ‘my patients, my clients, my families’ as if they were their children. Such unconscious rivalry needs to be openly recognized and acknowledged so that carers can co-operate for the benefit of these families.
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