The family as symbolic order

Abstract

This text is concerned with questions about working with families, and with young people in the family in particular. It is based on a conception of family as a symbolic reality, which is framed by a story told to the individuals along their lifetime. This story is reaffirmed and re-signified in different moments and places of family life, considering its relation to the external world. In face of diverse social and cultural references, family analysis demands a not always easy act of distancing oneself of one's own references, especially because we tend to confuse family with "our" family. The text, then, emphasizes the importance of listening to the family narratives from another point of view, different from the professional's or the researcher's, but fundamental and equally legitimate in the elaboration of the experiences lived by families in some kind of situation of vulnerability.