Review case scenario of an 18-year-old client presenting with a variety of personal, family, and system issues. Write about your own reflections on this case and how empathy skills might shape your interventions with this client’s case.
The client, Susie, presents to your agency as an 18 year-old mother who currently lives alone in a subsidized apartment. She has a 4 month old child who has been removed from her home for substantiated neglect, and is placed in a foster home. The goal is reunification, “return to parent”, if the mother can provide a safe environment.
The father is unknown. The biological mother has no history of violence or known mental health issues. She reports smoking pot and “having a few drinks” when she gets “stressed out”, but there is no known history of abuse of other substances.The current visitation agreement states that the mother will have 1 hour of visitation weekly in the child protection (DCBS) office.
The mother is constantly calling her DCBS worker asking to see her baby more often. Susie has been referred to your agency by DCBS to provide the assistance she needs to reunite with her baby.Some of the issues to consider as you engage with the client and begin an initial assessment/intervention: Adolescent development (mom); bonding, attachment, child development (baby); separation, loss, visitation as it relates to successful reunification; assessment of risk, assessment of substance misuse, assessment of coping and parenting skills; and, potential for engagement and collaboration with foster family, relatives, community partners for community resources and support.
