Case study:

Steven (age 16) resides in a therapeutic group home with 9 other males, ranging in ages from 13-17. Steven was removed from his home at the age of 14, after reports were made to a child welfare agency that he had been physically abused by his mother’s boyfriend. Initially, Steven was placed in traditional foster homes, but these placements disrupted due to Steven running away and displaying aggressive behaviors at times.Due to these behaviors, Steven had a CHINS (Child in Need of Supervision) petition filed on him by a Juvenile Probation Officer. For the past year, Steven has been placed at the current group home with very few issues. Since being removed from his home, his mother has only had sporadic contact with him and no other family members have initiated contact, however, Steven has developed some positive relationships with both the group home director, as well as a college student that has volunteered at the group home.

Over the past few months, Steven has experienced outbursts of anger both at the group home, as well as at school. While at school, Steven has experienced altercations with other students who are harassing him for being placed in a group home. In addition, Steven has had difficulty in adjusting to the newest teen that has been placed in the home. Steven has made the comment to other residents that he “will take care of him.”

On a Friday morning, you receive a call from the Director of the group home indicating that Steven needs to be removed from the group home.

Questions:

1. How do you proceed with this issue?

2. Using the person-in-environment perspective, what are the systems present within Steven’s environment? How would you describe the relationship between Steven and those systems.

3. What are your concerns and how would you address these concerns?

4. What other individuals would be a support to you (the social worker) and Steven in addressing this current issue?

5. What would be the best possible outcome for Steven?

Part 2: Discussion Question

Discussion #3

Review the 3 cases listed below. (Also listed in your book p. 87-88)

For EACH case:

1) Identify the risk level using page 75 and explain why? (low, middle, high) – (minimum 1 paragraph) 4 points

2) What additional information would you like to know and how would that information be useful? – (minimum 1 paragraph) 4 points

3) What appropriate intervention or next steps would you take with this client as supported in the text? Make sure to include in cultural or identity considerations (age, gender, culture, ethnicity, etc.) – (minimum 2-3 paragraphs) 12 points

CASE #1
A 19 year old Asian boy has received two Ds on his college report card and feels he has shamed his family. He plans to kill himself by jumping off the highest building on campus. He knows that six other people have successfully ended their lives in this way over the past ten years.

CASE #2
A 45 year old woman is very depressed. All of her children are grown and married. She has been divorced for 20 years, and she is dissatisfied with her job. She sees no reason to live but has no specific plan to kill herself. She feels like a burden to her children.

CASE #3
A 68 year old man whose wife died six months ago is very depressed and wants to shoot himself. He has a loaded gun at home. His dog has just died.

Your responses will be graded on:
– is the feedback/response well thought-out?
– does it reflect information discussed in the text, slides, and discussions?
– does it make sense?