© British Association of Social Workers
Truth and Love in Intermediate Treatment
Robert Adams graduated from Manchester University, worked as a prison officer and borstal deputy governor before qualifying as a social worker and taking a post as director of a community project. He obtained an M.Phil in social administration at York University and currently is Principal lecturer in Social Work at Humberside College of Higher Education.
Summary
This paper explores some findings of a survey of intermediate treatment, carried out as part of a larger research study of its management and practice. Excerpts from two interviews with social workers provide sources for the two accounts of practice considered below each illustrating contradictory themes embodied in the official thinking about intermediate treatment. One, the rational approach, emphasizes a planned, ordered approach, whilst the other, the intuitive version, expresses an unplanned, anarchic, democratised approach.
It is argued that it is only if these are viewed from an absolutist standpoint that one version emerges as more professional or superior. If a relativist stance is adopted, a more neutral appraisal is possible of both versions and the opportunity is provided of moving to a more critical analysis of the conditions producing these contrasting accounts of intermediate treatment.