Case Management

Course: Case Management

Text Book: Fundamentals of Case Management Practice: Skills for the Human Services (HSE 210 Human Services Issues) Author: Summers, Nancy

1. Ecological Model: Case due 26 October – 1 November

Discuss the utility or lack thereof of the Ecological Model. Using this model, design interventions for 2 cases found at the end of Ch. 3.

Exercise 1: Looking at Florence’s Problem on Three Levels

Instructions: Looking at Florence’s problem as she presented it to the case manager. Decide which parts of her problem are on the micro level.

Florence came in to see a case manager in an agency that addresses child abuse and neglect. Recently her daughter, Crystal, was removed from the home because of complaints by neighbors that she was abusing the child. An investigation of the situation by child-care worker indicated the abuse was severed. The discipline she was administering was discipline she had experience and witnessed as a child from her parents and her aunts and uncles who lived on farms near her family. Florence related that she was the oldest daughter, third of nine children, of a farm family of 12 people. Her parents worked hard from sun up until long after dark. Much of the housework was done by Florence and her aunt, who lived with them. Her mother was ill, often in her room in bed. Florence does not know what the illness was, but does not recall her mother ever seem a doctor. She tells the case manager that she knows her mother and her aunt did not like her.

At 18, Florence ran away with Dave, who did mechanical work on cars. “He was my first and only boyfriend”, she explains, weeping. Florence and Dave never married, and they had one child, Crystal. Last April, Dave died in a car accident on the interstate. Florence cries as she describes that night and the way the police came to her trailer and how kind they were to her. She describes how alone she has felt ever since.

Florence received welfare. She completed eight grades before her father “yanked me out of school to do housework. Said it was no place for a girl. A girl didn’t need any schooling.” “Florence has enjoyed school, mostly from the companionship of other girls.” I’m shy of people, you know. But at school I had friends”.” Florence remembers school as hard, and she had trouble with subjects like math and science. ‘Mostly I sat there and worried about what would happen when I got home from school. It was always something: Mom was worse, I was in trouble, and there was some big push to get in a harvest. I was glad when I quit.

Leaving with Dave has alienated Florence from her family. “Dave use to say, “They’re just mad “cause they can’t use you no more. “For this reason, Florence has not seen her family since Dave’s funeral, and they have made no attempt to get in touch with her even though they are only a few miles apart. The welfare agency reports that their workers have rarely seen Florence and have not as yet offered her any services for going to work, although she is on a list of single mothers they would like to make job-ready: Child welfare tells you that they cannot return Crystal until Florence has had intensive parent training and supervised visits with her child. They also tell you that they found her home worn, but immaculate.

Florence confides that she is terrified of going to work, that she feels use-less, and that she probably has little to offer on a “real job.” She also appears to be depressed, crying at intervals and hanging her head. Socially she is isolated both because of Dave’s death and because her neighbors are fed up with her child-care practices. The neighbors don’t like me either.” She says with resignation. The child-care agency is asking for parent training, but it is unclear who will offer that in this rural area.

a. What part of Florence’s problem is a micro-level problem?

b. What part of Florence’s problem is a mezzo-level problem?

c. What part of Florence’s problem is a macro-level problem?

Paper must be 2 pages long not more or less, and APA style.

Case #2

Exercises #2 Designing Three Levels of Intervention

Instructions: Look at the case below and decide how you would intervene on three levels: the personal (micro), and the contextual or social context immediately surrounding the client (mezzo), and the larger environment (macro)

Chris is a single father who is trying to work and raise three small children; His wife was killed 2 years ago in a traffic accident. After the initial shock and outpouring of support from friends and neighbors, Chris found himself alone with all the responsibilities and very unsure of himself. He would like to meet other men who have the same problems but cannot find any groups, even though he has been told about several men who are in the same situation. He tells you he is not sure what the best methods if for disciplining his children, whom he describes as “good kids”. Sometimes he feels he is too lenient with them, and at other times he is afraid he is unnecessarily strict with them. A local women’s health center has groups for bereaved single parents, but Chris believes those would not e open to him. “It would be all women, wouldn’t it?” he asks. In addition, he is having a hard time at work balancing the responsibilities these with parenting responsibilities at home. “Of course, I want to do a good job and get the promotions so I can support these kids through college, but I need to be home in the evening, or someone does, and I don’t think that is always well received at work.”

a. Interventions on the micro level

b. Interventions on the mezzo level

c. Intervention on the macro level

Paper must be 2 pages long not more or less, and APA style.