Thursday letter 18/07/19
Read previous Thursday letters on
mimeini.blogspot.com
Read previous Thursday letters on
mimeini.blogspot.com
Kari Killén summer theme part 2
Road trip or when theory becomes law
Road trip or when theory becomes law
This week's Thursday lette describes a journey. The journey began with the Thursday letter I wrote on 1st July about Kari Killén. Kari Killén is the most prominent theorist in the field of child protection in Norway, Denmark, Greenland and apparently also Sweden, although there seems to be less evidence of the practical implementation of her theories in Sweden than in Denmark and Norway.
My engagement with Kari Killén's work led me to travel with my girlfriend to the west coast of Jutland to visit a person who has in-depth knowledge of Kari Killén. A woman who contacted me after I posted the abovementioned Thursday letter.
After the initial contact was made we chatted over messenger and agreed that my girlfriend and I should go to visit her where she lived. We also agreed to make two video-recorded conversations that will be brought out as "Thursday letters" in connection with my Killén theme. The illustrations refer to the journey my girlfriend and I made through the countryside by bus and train and the text refers to our journey through written or video recorded material that shed light on Killén's background and theories.
To gain insight into an author's body of work, background and legacy whilst also trying to understand the private person behind it all in just a few weeks is quite a task. One advantage I had however, was that having been a client in the system for over 7 years, every cell of my body knew how it felt to be objected to these theories and this gave me something to base my research upon.
My engagement with Kari Killén's work led me to travel with my girlfriend to the west coast of Jutland to visit a person who has in-depth knowledge of Kari Killén. A woman who contacted me after I posted the abovementioned Thursday letter.
After the initial contact was made we chatted over messenger and agreed that my girlfriend and I should go to visit her where she lived. We also agreed to make two video-recorded conversations that will be brought out as "Thursday letters" in connection with my Killén theme. The illustrations refer to the journey my girlfriend and I made through the countryside by bus and train and the text refers to our journey through written or video recorded material that shed light on Killén's background and theories.
To gain insight into an author's body of work, background and legacy whilst also trying to understand the private person behind it all in just a few weeks is quite a task. One advantage I had however, was that having been a client in the system for over 7 years, every cell of my body knew how it felt to be objected to these theories and this gave me something to base my research upon.
My conclusion was that they are certainly not.
This theoretical spectrum it seems had been picked up by Kari Killén in England in the sixties when she took an education to become a social worker.
Professor Peter Fonagy is a Hungarian-born British psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist. His theories describe a lot of the things that Killén refers to. I am not saying that Killén explicitly references Peter Fonagy. I am just using it to show that there is a selection of theories developed in England that feature all of the concepts Killén promotes in her books. It is clear that there has been an academic environment in the UK which connected attachment therapy with other psychological and neurological research areas and transferred it into a framework for understanding parental abilities. The theories that she promotes are not her own, nor does she claim that they are. She claims to have contributed with practical studies that affirm and support the theories (a very questionable claim in fact, but that is another story), but she does not claim to have contributed to the actual theoretical formation itself. If Killén's theoretical contribution is not new or groundbreaking then what is it that makes her so significant in the field of child protection?
One may suggest that she brought this selection of theories back with her from England to the Nordic countries, formulated this knowledge into a system and then wrote some very thick books which, regardless of their (in my opinion) shallow content, appear convincing, thorough and solid. At the same time she teaches and lectures across Scandinavia with her charisma, energy and charm.
All these things, however, could not be considered the most significant part of her influence. The most important thing she adds is power. Power or "authority" as she names it
Professor Peter Fonagy is a Hungarian-born British psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist. His theories describe a lot of the things that Killén refers to. I am not saying that Killén explicitly references Peter Fonagy. I am just using it to show that there is a selection of theories developed in England that feature all of the concepts Killén promotes in her books. It is clear that there has been an academic environment in the UK which connected attachment therapy with other psychological and neurological research areas and transferred it into a framework for understanding parental abilities. The theories that she promotes are not her own, nor does she claim that they are. She claims to have contributed with practical studies that affirm and support the theories (a very questionable claim in fact, but that is another story), but she does not claim to have contributed to the actual theoretical formation itself. If Killén's theoretical contribution is not new or groundbreaking then what is it that makes her so significant in the field of child protection?
One may suggest that she brought this selection of theories back with her from England to the Nordic countries, formulated this knowledge into a system and then wrote some very thick books which, regardless of their (in my opinion) shallow content, appear convincing, thorough and solid. At the same time she teaches and lectures across Scandinavia with her charisma, energy and charm.
All these things, however, could not be considered the most significant part of her influence. The most important thing she adds is power. Power or "authority" as she names it
She writes:
"Intervention - professional and formal authority
One can hardly speak of treatment in this context without introducing the concepts of intervention and professional and formal authority. Herein lies a realization that it is often necessary to take direct initiative to get into a cooperative position with families in risk of lack of care. The parents are unlikely to be open for help, at least not when the problems are about neglect and abuse. Many want help, but the taboos associated with their problems prevent them from taking the initiative. Many of the parents also use survival strategies to prevent them from receiving help. This applies, for example. denial, trifling, aggression and projection (see neglect 1, chapter 6). Parents usually take inital contact themselves when they are finding that the children are difficult."
Killén has succeeded in integrating her theories so closely with the authorities that in Denmark and Norway, in practice, the system can sanction on the basis of a risk profile based on Killén's theory.
This is noticeable. In Denmark and Norway you can intervene in a familie's life with force without being seen to violate the law and without the need for concrete proof of neglect or abuse. Authorities can intervene in a familie's life using a risk profile alone. A risk profile based on an analysis which is based upon Killéns theories and methods.
One can hardly speak of treatment in this context without introducing the concepts of intervention and professional and formal authority. Herein lies a realization that it is often necessary to take direct initiative to get into a cooperative position with families in risk of lack of care. The parents are unlikely to be open for help, at least not when the problems are about neglect and abuse. Many want help, but the taboos associated with their problems prevent them from taking the initiative. Many of the parents also use survival strategies to prevent them from receiving help. This applies, for example. denial, trifling, aggression and projection (see neglect 1, chapter 6). Parents usually take inital contact themselves when they are finding that the children are difficult."
Killén has succeeded in integrating her theories so closely with the authorities that in Denmark and Norway, in practice, the system can sanction on the basis of a risk profile based on Killén's theory.
This is noticeable. In Denmark and Norway you can intervene in a familie's life with force without being seen to violate the law and without the need for concrete proof of neglect or abuse. Authorities can intervene in a familie's life using a risk profile alone. A risk profile based on an analysis which is based upon Killéns theories and methods.
Kari Killén manages to join hands with the people in power and she manages to take power into her own hands.
The power of being able to determine who is good enough to parent their own children and who is not.
What is it in Kari Killéns nature that make this possible? We may learn more about that when we meet the person that I visited in Jutland and whom I am going to feature in the next Thursday letter.
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