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The families of 26 school non‐attending adolescents (15 phobics, 11 truants) took part in a special task interview which was observed and video taped. The Summary Format for Family Interaction and Family Description Form were used to describe the families. Characteristic items were observed more frequently in phobic than truant families. The two items that discriminated statistically between the groups, and could therefore be said to characterize phobic families, involved the index child's behaviour within the family, notably his passivity and lack of initiative, his sadness and appearance of having given up. A number of other items just failed to reach statistical significance. A pattern of interaction in phobic families is suggested and the nature of its relationship with the phobic symptom is discussed. A developmental model is used to explain some of the differences seen in families of adolescents.

This article presents a case study from the author's experience as consultant to a short-stay residential centre for adolescents. The different phases of the work, with the staff group, management team and manager alone, are described. The themes and issues the work raises for consultancy to agencies working with adolescents are explored against the background of unprecedented change in provision of childcare services. The most appropriate target group for consultancy, adolescence, and failure and working with experience in the here-and-now are themes which are discussed.

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