Social Work Preparation Exercises Case Study

Social Work Exercises

Preparing for 3 Clients

Mrs. Nancy Cannon telephoned from her place of work ( the Capital Insurance Company -- phone [HIDDEN] She sounded concerned. She said that on the previ-ous Saturday night, her 14-year-old daughter Amy had come home after her 9: 00 p. m. curfew, smelling of alcohol. She says that she " grounded" her daughter but now wants to talk with a social worker about the situation. Mrs. Cannon requested an appointment for herself alone, indicating that she wanted to sort things out with someone before she dealt further with her daughter.

Mrs. C. reported that this was the first such incident. She said, " I've never had any trouble whatsoever from Amy. She's been a wonderful child." She stated that she had not sought pro-fessional help before and that this was her first contact with any social service or mental health agency. She indicated that her husband, Amy's father, had recently filed for divorce and had left the home approximately 6 weeks ago. Mrs. C. wondered whether that might be connected with Amy's misbehavior over the weekend. Disposition: An appointment was scheduled with an agency social worker for tomorrow at 12: 00 noon. Mrs. C. requested a lunch- hour appointment, if at all possible, to reduce the amount of time away from her job.

Clearly, there are issues from the divorce that may be upsetting Amy. She may be having trouble dealing with her feelings and thus self-medicating with the use of alcohol. She may also be trying to seek attention by staying out past curfew and getting herself into trouble.

7.2

How old are the youngest children?

Are they documented immigrants or illegal aliens?

Do they have insurance for the automobile?

I would seek out whether or not a social worker could assist much with undocumented immigrants.If not, I would look for other charitable agencies in the area that might be able to help if I am limited in what I could do.

7.3

I would look for agency services directly in her area, including retirement homes, outpatient care services, and other services geared towards helping elderly adjust to life. I would first look to see if Mrs. Anderson has any children that could help make decisions on her behalf in order to prevent anything from happening to her while she is home alone. I would also ask my supervisor how to handle the situation if it does turn out that she is not in good health, meaning if she does not come to the door, what rights would I have in getting her door open in order to check on her.

First, I would look for programs helping secure jobs for veterans, since Mr. Gains served in the Gulf War. Thus, I would check with the Office of Veteran Affairs for any job assistance programs that have some employment opportunities in his field of experience. Then, I would also search for credible material on how war impacts people. I would want to discuss with Mr. Gains any lasting negative impacts of the war that may still be affecting him and his job search today. I would research signs and symptoms of PTSD to rule out a potential diagnosis.

7.4

I would take some extra time to move some of the file cabinets to create a space that is separate from my work colleague. The discussion of Mr. Somes' wife is very sensitive, and I need to make sure that he feels….....