Reference no: EM133256531

Case Study Engagement, Assessment, Intervention, Termination and Evaluation

Cedric Jones Cedric Jones, 12, an African American male, his mother, Dorothy, and sister, Silvia. Cedric penetrated the vagina of his 3 year old sister Silvia with his finger. Mrs. Jones, Cedric's mother, reported the suspected abuse. She was sexually abused as a child and Cedric may have been abused, but not by her. It is possible that an earlier live-in male abused him.

Briar Grove Treatment Cedric Jones, 12, an African American boy was placed at Briar Grove Treatment Center and has been there for 8 months. Services are paid for by Ramepin County Child Welfare Services. The program has a behavioral point system with levels of rewards and penalties. The Center has a psychological report indicating that Cedric has low impulse control, though not of a sexual nature. The staff is aware and is recommending that he be evaluated for an oppositional defiant disorder.

Mrs. Jones and Cedric receive family counseling with Silvia receiving individual play therapy from Sun Dial Child and Family Services. Funding for these services comes from Ramepin County. Approximately 95% of the staff at Briar Grove Treatment Center are Caucasian while 40% of children in placement are children of color.

Ramepin County will be making a decision about whether to continue his placement at Briar Grove Treatment Center. They are under pressure to reduce their out-ofhome care budget and to attempt to reduce the disproportionality for children of color in out-of-home placement. However, recidivism is high after residential treatment and Cedric may be at high risk of abusing Silvia again if he leaves Briar Grove too earl.

While at Briar Grove Treatment Center, the staff often feels tested by him and frustrated. He was recently discovered to have taken a video game from another child and denied that he took it. It is a goal of the program that children learn to take responsibility for their behavior.

Cedric has claimed that the staff was prejudiced against him. He is erratic in earning good behavior points and rewards

Dorothy Jones

Ms. Jones is 36 years old, single mother of 5 children.

Cedric has been in treatment for 8 months and there is no clear plan to have him return home. You and Cedric have been meeting with a social worker from Sundial Child and Family Services for over 6 months. Cedric appears remorseful for hurting Sylvia and insists he would never do it again; yet, the agency where Cedric is placed, Briar Grove, does not think he is ready to return. Sylvia seems to want Cedric home but is also fearful that he will hurt her again. Cedric complains about the treatment he receives at Briar Grove. All his treatment providers are Caucasian with the exception of an African American psychologist. Cedric claims that he is treated differently than the "white kids" and thinks the staff is prejudiced. You also meet individually with the Sun Dial social worker to talk about how things are going in your life. While he is white, he seems to understand and is supportive. You have talked about your own abuse as a child and how difficult it is to parent 5 children without the support of another adult. Your boyfriend Allen comes and goes and is not really a reliable source of support. Your church family and extended family provide the most support and without them it would be impossible to go on.

Silvia Jones, 3, African American Child

Sylvia is 3 years old. All she knows is that what happened to her was very scary and she don't want it to happen again. She has been confused by all the funny feelings she has, but the social worker she sees likes to play with her and helps her with those feelings. Sylvia loves Cedric and wants him to come home, but she is also afraid he would hurt her again. Sylvia's mom says that Cedric is sorry for what he did and says he would never do it again. Sylvia wants to believe him, but is unsure. She feels some pressure from mom to tell the social worker and the people where Cedric is that it's ok for Cedric to come home.

RAMEPIN COUNTY CHILD WELFARE SERVICES

Ramepin Child Welfare Services is legally mandated to investigate and provide services for child abuse and neglect. Under the Adoptions and Safe Families Act (ASFA) the agency gives precedence to securing safety of children. Agency policy is to maintain intact family units whenever possible given safety of children and to make out-of-home placements in a timelimited, brief, goal-oriented fashion that returns family units to safe healthy living as quickly as possible. Agency policy and federal law places a high priority of child safety. Agency policy also severely restricts out-of-home placements of all kinds. For example, wherever possible the agency wishes for no new child to enter foster or residential care without another child leaving such care. Essentially, the policy is that the population of children in such care must stabilize or reduce, not grow. In this context, the options available include residential placement, in-home extensive services, foster or group home placement, less intensive case management services, linkage to counseling agencies, and closing cases. The agency is also aware that the country has been scrutinized for having a disproportionate number of African American children in out-of-home placement. While this phenomenon exists throughout the country, there has been increased pressure from the community to reduce the disproportion

1. Provide a brief summary of your understanding of the case study and problem.

2. What social work roles do parties play in this case study? How are these social work roles in harmony? How are they in conflict?

3. The case study simulation occurs in a context of conflicting social work values. Identify relevant concepts and critically assess how they apply to the interactions in the simulation.

4. Using systems concepts presented in the course, draw a diagram depicting what you consider to be key transactions in the case study simulation. You may use target systems, action systems and/or genogram/ecomaps to guide your depiction.

5. In addition, discuss which other methods and tools you would use to assess the problem.

6. Discuss the intervention strategies you would use at the different system levels (make sure to use theoretical framework, i.e connect the theory/intervention to the problem).

7. Discuss how you would evaluate success.