Boundaries in family-professional relationships - Implications for special education

The issue of boundaries between professionals and individuals/families is well documented within the clinical fields of counseling and social work but not thoroughly investigated in special education. Because maintaining quality relationships between families and educators is important, the development of appropriate guidelines requires a thorough understanding of the preferences of families and educators about the boundaries of their relationships. The authors investigated those preferences through a secondary analysis of a qualitative data set focusing on preferences for partnerships between families of children with disabilities and professionals. They analyzed transcripts from 34 focus groups and 32 individual interviews, identifying three themes related to boundary issues: (a) accessibility/availability (being reliably and flexibly available to families), (b) breadth of responsibility (going beyond strict interpretation of one's job description in working with families), and (c) dual relationships (fostering friendships, mutual support, or other roles in addition to a strict parent-professional relationship). Implications for parent-professional relationships and suggestions for conversations between professionals and families on preferences for boundaries are discussed.