Reference no: EM133532824

Assignment:

Tom is a social worker in Brooklyn, New York. He works for an agency that assists recently widowed mothers with finding housing and other services to meet their needs and the needs of their families. In the following case, he works with Deborah. After reviewing her application, Tom knows that Deborah is a mother of three children (ages 2, 5, and 7) who recently (4 months ago) lost her husband to a loading dock accident.

Tom meets with Deborah for an initial interview and conducts an assessment (diagnostic study of the client and client's environment). Tom keeps in mind that he must determine her eligibility for Deborah to change from an applicant to a client. Tom learns from Deborah that she is a 27-year-old African American single mom. Her education level is a high school diploma, she has been a stay-at-home mom for her three kids for the past 8 years, and she worked for 2 years in a local clothing manufacturing company before marrying her husband and having children.

Her relevant medical history reveals that she has type II diabetes, is slightly obese, and has high blood pressure. Her social information reveals that she does not spend much time outside of her apartment other than taking the children to run errands or to the park. She used to be involved with her church, but she has not gone since a few months before her husband's accident. She is not even sure if the members of the church realize he has passed away. She does have some extended family (cousins and mother) that live in the Bronx. Her mother has not been involved in her life since she was 17; she talks to her cousins on the phone rarely and sees them once every few years.

During the initial interview, Deborah becomes very emotional and discusses how she feels hopeless about the death of her husband, her lack of money, her health conditions, and her lack of social connection with anyone outside of her children. She does not know how to navigate paying bills, acquiring health insurance, or many of the other demanding tasks that she is now faced with. She says that her landlord, with whom she has a limited but positive relationship with, told her, during a talk about the upcoming rent, about the help Tom's agency may be able to provide. This landlord offered to give her 2 months to figure things out before she would take a more aggressive approach to payment.

Discussion Questions About Deborah and Her Family

• What issues would you focus on when helping Deborah set goals for her situation?
• What roles might Tom need to assume with respect to service coordination for Deborah?
• Describe how the principles of case management should guide Tom's decision making when working with Deborah.