Involvement, Collaboration, and Empowerment: A Model for Consultation with Human-Service Agencies and the Development of Family-Oriented Care

Systems consultation to provider agencies can contribute considerably to the development of a collaborative, family-oriented approach in these agencies. The possibilities for such an undertaking depend on the establishment of working relationships at two interfaces: between the system consultant and the agency, and between the agency and its client families. A framework for developing these relationships in three sequential phases is proposed: involvement, collaboration, and empowerment (ICE). Each phase is characterized by a dominant issue that is processed at the time. It is possible for relationships to begin at a more advanced phase and to work through two or more phases simultaneously. However, premature attempts to do so, which often occur in agencies' work with involuntary clients and "difficult to engage" families, generate resistance and lead to an impasse. The applicability and usefulness of the ICE model is demonstrated by presenting the 6-year development of a family involvement and partnership program in Israel's juvenile correction system.