Complexities in Working with Children and Family - Case Study Example

Complexities in Working with Children and Family Name University Abstract There are different types of families become some have are composed of two parents whereas others are made of up a single parent. In other situation, there is totally no parent and the children become the responsibility of the children. Such families are normally exposed to different family problems to the extent that other problems result to separation and subsequent divorce of the parents. This paper focuses on a particular family that is experiencing some of the common family problems that happens in the society. The study intends to highlight the problems that are experienced by this family and use social work theories that can be used to resolve such family issues. Complexities in Working with Children Introduction Agreeably, many families go through challenging and very difficult times. However, despite these challenges, such families find ways of addressing their various problems, looking for aid from relatives, friends and other members close to the family. In some circumstances, the hurdles can become overwhelming for the entire family to manage. In this case, Andrew’s family is one such family that faces different challenges. As can be seen in his case, some of the actions that his family took to address the difficult and complex issues became fruitless which resulted to social isolation, mental health problems, financial hardships, alcohol problems, and domestic abuse. The Issues Individual Members of the Family Face Peter, a child and member of this family, falls sick and we see his maternal grandmother visiting the office of social works so as to seek assistance. Peter’s health has been deteriorating in recent days due to sickness and this poses severe problem to the family. Peter’s health problem causes the focus of the family to shift from doing the ordinary care to taking care of the child whereby the mother of the child changes the her roles and decides to stay at home just to take care of the sick Peter. This causes the normal routines of the family to be disrupted causing the relationship of the parents to be turned upside down. Since Peter’s mother is overwhelmed by the daily demanding situations for taking care of him, she inadvertently overlook the needs of the other children making the healthy children such as Tania to start feeling jealous causing fear and other related emotional problems to start bubbling up in the sibling. Secondly, the heads of this family are exposed to lack of jobs due to the fact that Peter’s father was laid off from his job. The effects of such parental unemployment and the job displacement on the overall wellbeing of the family as witnessed in this family are wanting because of the current economic climate. Studies propose that the loss of job poses a wide- ranging adverse effects on the family of the affected individual. This is because job loss can negatively affect the economic security of the family. It is evident in this case study, after Andrew lost his job, he started becoming depressed and ventured into heavy drinking so that to alleviate his stress. Furthermore, Andrew’s loss of job meant that the economic condition of the family was hanging a needle because, Peter’s mother now started looking for jobs from the nearby deli which actually did not provide enough amount so that to take care of the overall needs of the family. Another problem haunting this family is the never ending parental fights. It is really normal for the two parents to have opposing ideas, priorities, opinions and values but the success of a family relationship exclusively depends on the proper use of the communication skills so that the opinions and ideas can be received and expressed with respect while providing an amicable solution to the opposing opinions that emerge from the parental conflicts. However, this family has a problem of proper communication amongst the family members because they do not communicate respectively towards each other thus resulting to chronic and unresolved conflicts between them. This is due to the ongoing intimidating emotional tone them that continues to erupt every now and then and the regular patterns as the conflicts never gets resolved because the similar patterns of the angry confrontations seem to e repeated every other time with no resolution whatsoever being made. The harmful conflicts emanating from the parental opposing opinions ranges on the continuous yelling, put- downs, blaming and criticizing each other through intimidations and threats such physical violence. This conflict resulted to the separation of the family as the mother took along her kids and went to her aging parents to live for them and now has opted to file for a divorce. Additionally, this family faces the issue of separation that has happened between the parents of this family. Due to the never ending conflicts between the parents, the mother of the family took along her children and decided to go live with her parents and file for a divorce on that matter. Separation and then divorce of this family poses significant problems to the children’s of the family. The separation of the parents makes the children to start fantasizing about their parents reuniting this making them to begin struggling emotionally since sadness and anger gets hold of them. Due to sadness, the children become isolated, lonely and exposed to social difficulties. Wolfinger (2005) in his book wrote that separation and subsequent divorce of the parents leaves the children an enduring legacy in their lives leading to substance abuse such as drug taking and alcoholism. Risks and Opportunities Facing the Family It is true that most families experiences challenges that exposes them and their children at risk. Andrew’s family deals with peculiar situations that impact their well- being and their overall well- being as a whole. Tanya and Peter who are the children of the family requires that they undergo frequent and ongoing care their both their parents so as to give them resiliency and self- confidence to effectively cope with stress. This shows that without the care of both parents, the children are at risk of undergoing stress, conflicts and depression that are inherent to their neighbors and other members of the society ("Challenges Facing Family Practice and Primary Care", 2003). These factors affect the family functioning and the development of the children because they may lead to situations such poverty, drug abuse, illness, lack of job, violence exposure, separation, divorce and marital discord. Andrews lack of job and unemployment status exposes the family to poverty which on its part puts the family as whole at greater risk for stress, social isolation and illness as witnessed by the deteriorating health condition of Peter a three years old member of the family. Exposure of the children to violence of their parent’s conflict put the children at risk of performing poorly in school due to social competence issues and emotional stability (Wilson, 2009). Additionally, the alcohol drinking as seen by Andrew have severe effects on his ability to care for and support the family basing on the fact that he refuses to support the mother on the house chores plus overall financial support to the family and this results to the children neglect and mistreatment. Also, the separation of the parents exposes the children at risk of emotional instability and stress for the members of the family and especially the Peter who is the youngest in the family. However, the problems that are being experienced by the family members also puts them at a good chance of learning from their mistakes and implementing measures to prevent such issues to arise in future. First of all, the children have the opportunity of being assisted by the heath centres. This happens the paternal grandmother of Peter visits the community health center so that he is treated for his deteriorating health condition. Secondly, the family members have chances of reuniting on the grounds that they visit the family counselors to resolve the issues that are arising from other conflicts. This would help them in such a way that they are would be taught how to implement measures that can help them to live in unison (Sherman & Sherman, 2008). Better still, the mother of the family have the opportunity of living a free and stressful life after she is granted the divorce that she is seeking. This is to say, she will live happily because the issues of conflicts with her husband would be no more in her life. Furthermore, Andrew has chances of getting another job provided that he becomes patient and resilient in his application and this would help in putting the financial health of the family at a better place to live. Social Work Theories to Resolve the Situation In practice, there are several theories that can be utilized in resolving the issue of Andrew’s family. To begin with, a system theory would be used in this scenario to fully address the behavior of humans in terms of complicated systems (social works, 2014). This theory operates on the grounds that efficient system is based on the needs of the individuals, their expectations and to the attributes of the people that lives in the system. This theory states that, the families, couples and other related members are the ones that can be involved in the resolution of the problems that faces the family members. This theory can be effective in this case because all the family members including the mother of the family and the father well can be called upon then put on the table and counseled appropriately so as to come to amicable solution to the problems that they experience as a family. Secondly the social learning theory can be very effective in resolving the issues that faces the Andrew’s family (social works, 2014). According to this theory, it is said that learning happens by imitation and observation (Nash, Munford, & O'Donoghue, 2005). This implies that new behavior of individuals can continue if they are reinforced. It is evident that, Andrew as a father of the family has developed bad ideas of heavy drinking and this means that, he is to be brought to terms and taught on measure that he can apply so as to stop the behavior. This theory articulates that, despite just hearing the new behavior of an individual and applying it, the learning process of the individual that is affected is made more efficient if the new behavior is modeled. Similarly, a psychological development theory can be very efficient in resolving the issue of Andrew’s family. It is grounded on the principles of Erik Erikson which states that each and everyone is required to undergo eight stages of development over a life cycle. According to this theory the eight stages comprising, hope, will, purpose, competence, fidelity, love and wisdom is divided into age brackets from the toddlers to the adults. This implies that, all the members of the Andrew’s family can be subjected to the psychological development theory because the family is composed of the young ones and the adults of the family. Another theory that can be effective in resolving the issues that face this family is the transpersonal theory (social works, 2014). This theory proposes that additional stages ought to be arrived at so that to resolve the personal ego of an individual. Andrew has ego and claims that he cannot take care of children and household chores can be addressed with this theory. When applied effectively in this scenario, the stages of the theory can contribute to wisdom, altruism and creativity to help Andrew because he lacks healthy ego. Recommendation Major problems that this family faces are conflicts and inadequate finances due to lack of employment. However, there are amicable solutions that can be recommended for this family of which when applied can make the family fit and happy for every member of the family. The head of the family should stop depending on the employed jobs because they are few and focus on other sources of income to provide necessary support to the family. Such alternative sources of income include, creating a small business and become a sole proprietor. Andrew can enjoy all the financial freedom he desires and will eliminate stress and quite drinking because he would now focus on measures that can be taken to improve the family business. Additionally, the family members ought to take that important step and visit a family councilor who will provide them with insights on how to live a healthy lifestyle as a family. This will aid them to do a conflict resolution that is affecting the emotional health of the children and a result the children would then perform better in school because they would now concentrate more on their studies rather than worrying about the separation of their parents. Conclusion Family problems have been in existence and are here to stay for as long as humanity exits. Most of the family problems occur as a result of financial hurdles and lack of trust in other family members. In this regard, the affected families ought to take important steps of conflict resolution so that that to prevent the impacts that arise from such occurrences because the family problems have long lasting effects on the future of parents and their children as well. References Challenges Facing Family Practice and Primary Care. (2003). JAMA, 289(3), 297. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.289.3.297-a Nash, M., Munford, R., & O'Donoghue, K. (2005). Social work theories in action. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Sherman, C. & Sherman, C. (2008). How to solve divorce problems in California. Santa Cruz, CA: Nolo Press Occidental. social works,. (2014). Theories Used in Social Work Practice & Practice Models - Blog. Socialwork.simmons.edu. Retrieved 4 May 2016, from https://socialwork.simmons.edu/theories-used-social-work-practice/ Wilson, M. (2009). Divorce. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Wolfinger, N. (2005). Understanding the divorce cycle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More