Working with families who are experiencing homelessness, poverty, marginalisation and the seductiveness of substance use

Working with families who are experiencing homelessness, poverty, marginalisation and the seductiveness of substance use Murray, Denis The number of children and young people in Ireland who are experiencing poverty, homelessness or accommodation insecurity and associated educational, social and health related impact is on the rise. In the circumstances it is important that professionals working with young people and their families do not participate in shaming or silencing the voices of those affected. Rather it is incumbent on services and professionals to develop an ethic of hospitality and supportive relationships which may help to create a buffer from adverse circumstances. Practitioners also carry a responsibility to identify, quantify, describe and publicise the range of issues/factors they encounter that are causing distress in the lives of the people they meet in order to generate debate, inform policy and maintain solidarity in context of social injustice.