Summarize your reflections on the questions above in 250-300 words

Sara (40) and her son Tony (5) were recently mandated by Sara's social worker to attend the parenting program where you work. You are the Child and Youth Care Practitioner who has been assigned to work with this family.

Tony had been placed in care voluntarily by Sara when she was unable to cope due to the stresses of an abusive relationship, her own anger issues, and her difficulties in maintaining routines and consistency for Tony. Tony had been in a foster home for two years. During this time he had regular visits with his mother. Before the age of three, Tony had been in and out of care a couple of times.

Sara had been involved with Community Living Services (CLS), a government-run branch of the Ministry of Children and Family Development for several years due to her learning disabilities. CLS assisted Sara in several areas, including personal, parenting, and life-skill issues. A parental capacity assessment by a psychiatrist had been completed which concluded that Sara had deficits in several cognitive areas that would impact her ability to parent considerably. A continuing care order had been sought by previous social workers to remove Tony permanently and put him up for adoption, but Sara had opposed this plan in court. Sara was granted a last-chance order by a judge to demonstrate her parenting abilities.

Sara began to attend the parenting program once a week with her son and also met with program staff once a week to discuss her progress and address any concerns she might have. Sara attended the program consistently and made great improvements in her personal insight and skill acquisitions. When given the opportunity and time, Sara was also able to improve her problem solving skills with regards to parenting strategies. While the many professionals that had been involved with Sara over an extended period of time agreed that Sara had made many positive changes, both personally and in her parenting, you still had serious questions as to Sara's ability to parent independently.

Despite your concerns, Tony was returned to Sara's care full-time upon the expiry of the last-chance order. Ministry involvement pulled back and Sara continued to attend the parenting program and to meet with staff on a weekly basis. Sara continued to struggle with many of the issues she had experienced in the past, such as anger and frustration, her estranged relationship with Tony's father, routine and consistency, and problem-solving skills. In addition, Tony began to demonstrate behavioral problems at home and at school and was behind by 1-2 years academically. A referral to Children's Mental Health was made, and Sara and Tony began to attend weekly sessions.

Sara developed a relationship with you while attending the parenting program and frequently called to ask for your help in coping with various situations. Through your relationship you became aware of Sara's struggle to control her level of frustration and anger when dealing with Tony. Sara shared that she often yelled at Tony in frustration and often wanted to spank him. On a couple of occasions, Sara admitted that she had spanked Tony. When Sara became really frustrated, she often spoke of feeling like she was not going to be able to look after Tony and wondered if she should put him back into care. Based on previous experience, you knew that Sara often could not be taken literally. For example, when you or other staff would ask Sara if she really meant what she had just said, she would say that she didn't mean it, but felt that way.

While you were very impressed with Sara's ability to be self-reflective and critically thoughtful when given the opportunity to talk situations through, you remained concerned about many of Sara's actions with Tony and with Tony's social, emotional, and developmental struggles. You often questioned whether Sara had the capacity to parent, despite her desire and willingness to do so and obvious attachment to her son, and wondered if this arrangement was in the best interests of Tony's long term development.