social work 1

Vignette

Client: Alex

Agency: State Child Protection Agency

Client Characteristics:

Alex is an 11 year old Hispanic male who speaks both Spanish and

English. He is the primary caretaker, companion, and protector for his

younger sister Angel. Angel is a 9 year old Hispanic female who speaks

both Spanish and English. Neither Alex nor Angel has attended school for

the past two years. The location of their mother Marisela is unknown.

Relatives report that Marisela is addicted to multiple drugs and engages

in prostitution to get drugs.

Presenting Concern:

A call has come in the local child welfare agency that Alex and Angel are

currently homeless. They are reported to sleep on the grounds of the

housing project where extended family members reside and to steal food

from local convenience stores and clothing from clothes line in order to

survive. A review of the case file indicates that multiple reports have

been made over the past 5 years but all have been closed because the

caseworker was unable to locate the children or the mother. A call to the

school confirms that the children have not attended school in the past two

years.

Upon visiting the housing project and speaking with their aunt, you find

out that Alex and Angel do sleep at the housing project but that their aunt

will not feed them or let them in her apartment because “she is afraid they

will stay”. When you ask the aunt if she will call you when she observes

them on the grounds so you can locate them, she tells you “the pay

phone is too far”. You have no locating information on the mother.

In order to locate the children you wait in your car each evening for a

week. When you see the children you call the local police who escort

them to the children’s shelter. The children are angry and scared when

you leave them at the children’s shelter. You observe Alex and Angel to

be extremely bonded. They have spent all of their childhood just the two

of them. You confirm that they have not had any adult support and that

their experiences with their mother have included neglect and abuse by

both herself when intoxicated and her paramours.

When you return the next day to visit Alex and Angel at the shelter you

notice how happy they are. They are laughing playing and posing for

Client: Alex

Agency: State Child Protection Agency

pictures together. You are particularly struck by how overwhelmed and

exhilarated they are to have new shoes.

After several days you are able to locate Marisela at a local motel. When

you visit her, she is intoxicated and expresses no interest in visiting the

children. You are able to collect minimal medical and family history from

her notify her of the court date to review Alex and Angel’s case.

When you attend the 30 day review hearing on the status of Alex and

Angel’s case you notice that two aunts are at court requesting the

children be placed with them. Marisela has not come to court nor has she

had any contact with the children in the last thirty days. The judge

reprimands the aunts for refusing to help the children by not giving them

food, shelter, or call the police when they were homeless. He placed the

children in foster care. You advocate that the children must be placed

together. They are doing well but both decline anytime they are

separated. They have difficulty even being separated for the time it takes

to go to school.

The children are successfully placed together in a foster home. On your

follow visit you learn that although Angel is flourishing Alex is having

trouble adapting the placement. Both children have not had rules or

structure and Alex is struggling to be a part of a family, community, and

school. Throughout the next year Alex continues to struggle and to act

out in the foster home while Angel becomes increasingly bonded to the

foster family and continues to do well. You learn that the foster family

wants to adopt Angel and become a forever family for her. The family

does not want to adopt Alex and he will need to be moved to another

foster home.

Agency:

You work for a large public state funded child welfare agency. Your unit

is housed in a large urban area within a larger region. Your region

includes 21 counties with a total child population of 667,476. Your unit is

housed in one of the 10 largest cities in the United States with a

population of 1.5 million. Fifty-three percent of the population is Hispanic,

followed by 36% white, 6% black/African America, 2% Asian, and less

Client: Alex

Agency: State Child Protection Agency

than 1% of residence who identify with other races. Sixty percent of

residents speak English only while 30% speak both Spanish and English.

The average household income for the area is 67,000.00 although there

is great variability across this city with some areas reporting yearly

incomes as low as a median of 10,000. The area is highly stratified with

low income neighborhoods facing underfunded schools and

infrastructure.

You work in a large urban city so a large number of agencies provide

services ranging from housing, alcohol and drug treatment, counseling

services, food bank, etc. Your community provides just about every type

of serve available. Unfortunately, the area also houses many high need

residence and it is not unusual for agencies to have waiting list of over a

year for a client to receive services.

The mission of the agency is to protect children and to act in the

children’s

best interest. To seek active involvement of the children’s parents and

other family members to solve problems that lead to abuse and neglect.

The values include: Respect for culture, inclusiveness of families, youth

and community, integrity in decision making, compassion for all, and

commitment to reducing disproportionality.

Six hundred and twenty three caseworkers are employed in your area

which has a 28% turnover rate with the average tenure of a caseworker

being 24 months. In the past year your region conducted twenty one

thousand investigations, three thousand children were removed, and one

thousand adoptions were consummated. The average caseload for a

worker in your region is 30 children. Last year in your region 8,382

children were confirmed victims of abuse and neglect (22% of case

reported). Last year your agency provided ongoing services (parenting

classes, substance abuse treatment, day care, anger management) to

4,598 families. Five thousand children are currently in foster care in your

Client: Alex

Agency: State Child Protection Agency

region, 1,000 were adopted, and 2,000 were placed with relatives. Last

year your agency provided 1,159,500.00 in monetary support to relatives

who are carrying for children in the custody of the state. The agency has

a hierarchical structure. You report to your unit supervisor, who reports to

a program director, who is under a regional director.

Social and Political Context:

The agency functions in a high stress political environment. As

an agency funded by state government they are responsible to the

legislature and dependent on them for funding. They tend to be risk

adverse as they are likely to face legislative and media scrutiny. Clients

are high risk and involuntary.