Case Scenario One: Divorced parents with two children. Gail, the mother has primary care for the children as the father, Tom, has moved and is living in another state. Gail is now dating and is feeling ready to have her daughters, Dina and Cara, meet her new boyfriend.

Case Scenario One: Divorced parents with two children. Gail, the mother has primary care for the children as the father, Tom, has moved and is living in another state. Gail is now dating and is feeling ready to have her daughters, Dina and Cara, meet her new boyfriend.

Gail is a divorced, single mother in her late twenties who has two girls Dina, age 5 and Cara, age 7. Gail works full-time as a pharmacist. Her young girls are in school, and they are currently well-adjusted. Gail and her daughters have a structured schedule and routine. When not at work or school, Gail and her girls have typically been inseparable. Gail (mother) has a younger sister without children and an older brother with four children who live in the same town. After six years of marriage, Gail and the girls’ dad Tom divorced two years ago. The divorce was ultimately amicable though was based on difficulties making the needed compromises for balancing family and career priorities. Prior to the separation and divorce there were increasing tensions in the home, which made Gail and Tom feel less compatible. The efforts to work on staying together were unsuccessful, and Tom felt that the tension was unbearable and unhealthy. Gail eventually agreed, giving up the hope that they would try counseling before the final decision.[unique_solution]

The girls Dina and Cara now see their father infrequently (every few months) as Tom moved to another state due to a work promotion soon after the divorce. Tom prefers to return to visit his daughters rather than having them travel to him by plane. Tom feels it will be easier to arrange visits as the girls get older. In the past year, Tom had to cancel a few of his visits due to his workload and schedule. While Tom is committed to the family financially and talks regularly on the phone with his daughters, he has some difficulty with consistent visitation. Dina observes that Tom now asks her fewer questions about how the girls are doing. Gail wonders if the missed visits are just work-related or whether he may be dating someone and/or becoming more emotionally distant. Gail worries about her girls missing their dad.

Gail considers herself to be a strong person and a devoted parent. She has made some gradual changes in her life since the divorce. Two months ago, she started to date Peter, a hard-working single man in his thirties who has no children of his own. Peter manages a construction business and lives and works locally. While Gail was initially cautious to form new male friendships and begin dating, her relationship with Peter is developing and working well. She is impressed with his communication. Gail has started to rely on her siblings to care for her girls on weekends when she has time away to see Peter. Her girls do not know their mom is dating but miss her when she goes out and are asking more and more questions.

Gail has been somewhat overprotective of her daughters since the divorce and the dad’s move out of state and has been cautious about having them meet Peter. However, Gail now feels comfortable enough with her relationship with Peter and feels it is the time for him to meet her daughters.

Respond to the scenario. What concepts apply? What are some factors to consider regarding this family scenario and the current situation? What is your reaction to the case and the decision mom is making? How should Gail proceed? What more would you like to know about the family in order to better analyze the case? You may consider stress, change/adaptability and interdependence as concepts for discussion.

Case Scenario Two: Empty nest parents, Evie and Jon, have two grown daughters. They are now being asked to help with their pre-teen nephew Sean, who needs support and temporary care.

An empty-nest couple (Evie and Jon) in their fifties have two grown daughters in their twenties who now live on their own. While raising their daughters, Evie and Jon were highly involved and proactive parents. Both daughters were relatively easy to care for as children and were focused and successful students. Their daughters have completed college and are now working full-time. The father Jon works full-time as a teacher, and the mother Evie works part-time at home, and they are looking forward to being grandparents when their daughters have their own families.

Evie and Jon’s twelve-year-old nephew Sean is suffering with low self-esteem and signs of depression. Sean is struggling in his family environment, which has a high level of parental conflict due to marital and financial stress and alcohol abuse. Ed and Joan are Sean’s parents, and Joan is Evie’s sister. The two families live in the same city two miles apart. Though the families live close to each other, Joan has become distant from Evie and her family over the past few years. During this time, Sean remained in contact and would often ride his bike to his aunt and uncle’s home for visits.

Evie and Jon are learning that Sean’s parents are struggling and becoming less able to care for and focus on their son’s needs. Sean’s parents love their only son but are at a loss on how to help him due to their own sense of being overwhelmed. The family conflict and lack of attention began to adversely affect Sean’s schoolwork and friendships, which led to evident depression and isolation and an eventual referral for evaluation. Sean was evaluated by the assessment team and referred for tutoring and therapy. He has received weekly individual therapy sessions for several weeks. According to Sean’s therapist, given the parents’ needs and Sean as an only child, the family situation is “toxic” to Sean’s well being. A medical consult is in process and while medication has been suggested, it has not yet been prescribed.

Sean’s parents have been advised by the school to seek therapy and support or request support from the Department of Family and Child Services. The school was initially reticent to bring in the agency, but the staff feels Sean’s parents are neglectful due to their own problems and do not provide adequate care. The school has observed and appreciated that the parents have shown cooperation through the evaluation process, but Sean’s parents need to immediately and actively address their own substance abuse and other issues. While family home intervention and therapy would be an ideal option, Sean’s therapist wants an immediate temporary removal and placement with another family to allow Sean some consistency, support and stability. While Sean loves his parents, he also wants out of the home. He identifies his paternal aunt and uncle as his preference and “only choice”.

Evie and Jon, having learned details about the impending changes, have been requested to attend a team meeting. They are willing to care for their nephew, but have some reservations about informal versus more formal placement. Evie and Jon have concerns about their capacity to help, but want what is best for their nephew. They want to be mindful of the effect of any decision on Sean’s parents who have not been able to cope or adapt to family stressors and who have love but limited energy for their son.

Respond to the case. What questions do you have? What concepts apply? What are some concepts to consider regarding this scenario and the decision the aunt and uncle need to make? Should they accept this responsibility? What more would you like to know to better analyze the case? Consider family structure, strategies, stressors or family boundaries as concepts for your discussion.

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Case Scenario Three: Carla and Paul, protective parents, have boy toddlers entering childcare. A meeting with teachers is needed as part of planning for placement given the boys’ history and medical needs.

Carla and Paul are married parents in their late thirties. Carla and Paul are raising fraternal twin sons, Aaron and Alex, age 16 months. Carla’s pregnancy was the result of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Carla and Paul were thrilled to have their twins after several years of fertility treatments. Both parents work; Carla currently teaches college math classes, and Paul works in the IT field. Boys were born early at 33 weeks, but their weight was appropriate for gestational age. Due to borderline APGAR* scores at 5 minutes and sucking and feeding concerns, the boys were placed in a special care nursery for several days as a precaution. They improved quickly and left the hospital with no major medical problems

Since the birth of the twins, Carla and Paul had been able to keep the boys in their close care by relying on family support, modifying their work schedules, and working from home when possible. Aaron and Alex have been well cared for at home by parents and extended family relying primarily of paternal and maternal grandparents, and until this point parents and toddlers have not had to adjust to the demands of a structured out-of home schedule.

While the boys still have some needs that require special attention, most of their friends who are parents had encouraged Carla and Paul to put the boys on a wait list and consider out-of-home care. Their friends told them that their toddlers would love the social aspect of center-based care and education. Carla and Paul always felt concern when they thought about their boys entering care, wondering how their boys will adjust to new people and new routines. Now that Carla and Paul’s work schedules have shifted, the timing for out-of-home care schedule may be right.

With the shifting work schedules, once the boys were accepted into a highly recommended center-based care and education setting, Carla and Paul thought it over and began to prepare for the transition. Given Carla and Paul have been highly involved and protective parents, they are still uncertain and feeling a bit unprepared for the change. If they feel this way, how will the twins feel? They are also now faced with sharing decisions about their boys’ needs and development with the center’s teachers and staff. The teachers have asked to meet with Carla and Paul about the twins’ transition to care, their developmental needs, and general childcare planning.

Respond to the case. What concepts apply? What questions should Carla and Paul consider asking the teachers? What should the teachers know? What are some factors and concepts to consider regarding this family, the family history and current roles? What more would you like to know to better analyze the case? Consider family structure, family work patterns, adaptability and/or interdependence as concepts for discussion.

• Note: The APGAR test score indicates the health of newborn babies. The APGAR assesses five areas and is an acronym for Activity, Pulse, Grimace, Pulse, and Respiration. Another way to remember the areas assessed is “How Ready Is This Child?” a mnemonic phrase for Heart rate, Respiratory effort, Irritability, Tone, and Color. The APGAR test is typically administered one minute and five minutes after birth (and in some cases ten minutes after if needed). Scores range from 0-10 with 10 being a perfect score. The scores are relied on for an immediate assessment of a newborn baby’s need for medical assistance.

Case Scenario Four: Anabela is a second grader who is being considered for retention. Anabela’s parents, Magda and Gaspar, are being asked to attend a school meeting about the decision for next year. The parents are devoted to Anabela, and have adjusted to her receiving special services; however, they do not like the idea of her repeating second grade.

Magda and Gaspar are the married parents of three children, Oscar, age 11, Anabela, age 7 and Esperanza, age 4. The family resides in a large urban city in Western United States. Magda and Gaspar immigrated to the United States from Guatemala seven years ago and continue to have close ties to their family in their home country. Their daughter Anabela, is a second grader at a local public elementary school. Magda’s father Tomás (Anabela’s grandfather) immigrated from Guatemala as well and has been a caregiver to the children over the years while both parents work. The family owns their home and the parents have pride in how their hard work has helped them to purchase a home and to provide for the family’s needs. The parents work as managers of a busy, local restaurant along with a few other extended family members. Magda and Gaspar have learned to speak English, but the primary language of the home is Spanish. The parents encourage English language learning for their children, but the children are bilingual primarily due to school and peer learning.

Anabela, has been attending a second grade English Only class and receives special education services. The family supported the English only class, thinking English Only would best support Anabela’s overall learning needs. After testing at the end of first grade, Anabela qualified for special services and she has now been on IEP (Individual Education Plan) for one year. Her services from a resource teacher are related to reading challenges and auditory processing needs. While happy and calm at home, Anabela was also identified as having mild social-emotional needs based on observations of her intermittent crying and frustration while working on class work. She has received individual support and small group services.

Magda and Gaspar, both who attended school in Guatemala, have strong beliefs in the value of education, but have mixed feelings about the IEP services. They wonder how long this will be necessary for Anabela. They had not expected such extensive communication from the school and with their busy work schedules wonder how much to be involved. The teacher’s mostly see Anabela’s doting grandfather who attends most classroom events given the parents’ work schedules. This is very helpful, but Grandpa Tomás is only comfortable speaking Spanish. When Anabela’s was in preschool, her teacher spoke Spanish and easily shared information with the grandfather that could then be passed along to the parents.

While very cooperative with the school, Magda and Gaspar find attending school meetings about Anabela’s progress to be a challenge. At times Anabela hears her parents expressing frustration and concerns about the meetings and the paperwork that go along with her special needs program. Anabela’s older brother Oscar, who is in sixth grade, is a successful student academically and socially, so the parents have only needed to go to one or two meetings a year for him. Given this, they expected a similar level of teacher contact for Anabela, but once she was on her IEP learned that expectations are different. For support at home, the parents have Oscar read with Anabela and help her with her homework.

The family recently received a request to attend this meeting at the school about Anabels’s possible retention. The letter from the school indicated that the teachers do not believe Anabela is ready to move on the third grade. Third graders in the school have different teachers for several subjects, and the teachers feel that second grade is better suited for Anabela given her emotional development and her current learning needs.

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While the parents have been living and working in the U.S. for seven years and are now permanent residents, they still feel concerned and anxious whenever they are asked to meet with teachers and go over paperwork. They love their children deeply and value education. They want the children to have the best possible life, but do not see why she needs to stay back if she has special teachers. Their main concern is how Anabela will learn and how she will respond if she needs to be told she is being held back.

Respond to this scenario. What concepts apply? What are some factors and concepts to consider regarding this family, the family history and current roles? What might help Magda and Gaspar prepare for this meeting and the decision? What feedback should they gather from Anabela? Should the grandfather be involved in this meeting? How can the teachers best engage the parents? Consider ecological systems, maintenance tasks, interdependence or cultural family themes as possible concepts to discuss.