Second, the types of responses generated here are almost uniformly capable of being categorised as ‘roadblocks to listening’ in counselling theory and research (Gordon, 1970; Miller and Rollnick, 2002). By this it is meant that they diminish the possibility for meaningful partnership working between practitioner and client. They tend to create and reinforce patterns of interaction characterised by resistance, such as denial, non-engagement and even threatening behaviour in clients. There is the very real possibility—if responses such as those found in the current study are also found in real practice—that social workers are inadvertently increasing the likelihood of such difficult responses from the parents they work with.