GC SOC 386 Week 5 Assignment Latest
GC SOC 386 Week 5 Assignment Latest
Details:
Read and evaluate “Case Study 2-4” from Case Studies in Social Work Practice, “Using a Family Systems Approach with the Adoptive Family of a Child With Special Needs.” Listed below.
Write a 500-750-word reflection about the case that includes a discussion of the child and family subsystems, boundaries, social systems, and cultural influences of the family described in the case. Make a list of the micro, mezzo, and macro systems. (Ecomap Example: See Figure 2.1 in Applying theory to Generalist Social Work Practice, 2014 by Langer & Lietz).
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide. Please include a introductory paragraph with thesis statement and a conclusion paragraph.
Case Study 2-4 Using a Family Systems Approach With the Adoptive Family of a Child With Special Needs
T his case study illustrates the use of a family systems approach to working with a new family constellation that has been created out of tragedy. This therapeutic intervention, informed by family systems theory and practice, incorporates elements of attachment theory and the dynamics of kinship adoption, an understanding of the effects of complex trauma on individual and family functioning, recognition of the impact of culture, class, and immigration status, as well as contextual social factors such as racism and sexism, on the functioning of the family system in relation to its individual members, as well as on the functioning of the family in a larger context of community and the dominant culture. Questions 1. How can family systems therapy help a family newly formed through adoption learn how to meet the emotional and social needs of each of its members? 2. Can a family system that has been formed as a result of grievous loss create a new, more positive identity for the future?
- 4. What is the best way to help adoptive parents of a child with serious emotional and behavioral challenges manage their child’s needs while still attending to their own? What are the special concerns, if any, when working with a family from a different culture than one’s own? Even though I have been a social worker for nearly 40 years and a family systems therapist for almost that long, every time I explore a case using a family systems lens, I feel a kinship with the very first professional social workers— like Mary Richmond— who understood well the importance of the family system in interpreting the psychosocial dynamics of the individual. Although in the 21st century we know a great deal more than our professional foremothers and forefathers did about the biological basis of human behavior, these early professionals recognized the importance of observing family members together “acting and reacting upon one another” (Richmond, 1944/1917, p. 137). The family in all of its dimensions has historically been the purview of social workers (Carr, 2009; Dore, 2012; Walsh, 2011). Whether working in child protection, adoption, child guidance, family services, eldercare, or in a specific setting like a hospital, school, or community mental health clinic, social workers have recognized that the individual could only be truly understood in interaction with his or her environment, the most essential element of which is the family. The Family The particular case I have chosen to use to illustrate family systems therapy is that of the Laurent family. The family consists of the father, André, age 36; mother, Marie Clothilde, age 32; and their adopted son, Michel, age 10, who is also Marie Clothilde’s nephew. André Laurent immigrated to the United States as a young teenager when his parents fled Haiti after the first overthrow of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the early 1990s. They settled in the greater Boston area, where André attended school and learned to speak English fluently. He graduated from a technical high school, where he studied information technology, and since graduation he has been consistently employed in IT services in the pharmaceutical industry. Marie Clothilde immigrated more recently, coming to the United States in 2005 to stay with an older sister in the hopes of finding work to help support her family back in Haiti. Because Marie Clothilde spoke very little English, her employment options here were limited. She worked primarily on a cleaning crew that maintains office buildings at night. Shortly after she arrived in this country, she met André through a cousin. They married in 2007. Even though André had a goodpaying job, Marie Clothilde continued to work after their marriage so that she could send money back to her poverty-stricken family in Port-au-Prince.
