Lorena Ruiz

SW 405

Family Assessment and Plan

Family Composition

The Case by Rachelle A. Dorfman is based on the Shore family. The family consists of

Nancy, who is 43 years old. She is married to her husband Charley, who is 51 years old. Nancy

and Charley adopted Rena when she was a baby. Rena is currently 18 years old and living on her

own. Their youngest son Michael is 12 years old. The family has presenting issues of

unemployment, illness, and worrisome behavior of children. Charley has been chronically

unemployed for 4 years. Therefore, the Shore family has been dependent on the disability checks

Nancy has been receiving for the past ten years. Overall, the Shore family has received frequent

help from social services, but problems continue to never get resolved. The family is facing

several of emotional distresses and crises. They are currently living in a two-unit duplex home,

and are now renting their downstairs room. Some presenting problems that have arise for the

family is due to miscommunication, health related issues, financial costs, and other factors

causing the family to disintegrate.

System Theory

As mentioned previously, the family has received social services, but there has not been a

positive affect on the family. To understand the family and issues affecting their relationship we

can use the social system theory. Social work is a complex practice involving one person, or the

whole family (System Theory, 2016). The system theory helps organized a theoretical

framework to help understand the dynamics among the systems. System is defined as “a whole

consisting of interacting parts (Systems Theory, 2016). In the Shore family, one person or an

issue can affect the family as a whole, rather than just the individual. Nancy recognizes herself as

a large woman. She is constantly pointing out her flaws of her appearance and actions. She

explains that ever since she married all she has been doing is “fixing everything” in her family.

Nancy has daily anxiety attacks, which for her seem normal and has accepted this matter in her

life. Nancy and Charley will be renting out the downstairs, but Nancy worries about the outcome.

She worries about being a landlord, and has projected already a crisis to potentially occur

because the tenants live downstairs. Nancy, head of the family is facing several emotional

stresses. Her worriedness has affected the family in terms of assuming the worse in everything.

The Shore family has been faced with several challenges that have limited their

relationships to work. According to systems theory, “the human body is an example of a

biological system…family constitutes a certain type of social system, a whole consisting of

interacting parts, so that while its from may vary, family members know who belongs and who

does not” (System Theory, 2016). As mentioned before Rena was adopted, which has brought

some worry to Nancy in regards to her moving out of the duplex. When Rena was 16 years old

she lunged forward to hit her mother during an argument. During the occurrence, Charley in

frustration pulled Rena away from her mother and ended up beating her. After this incident,

Charley and Nancy asked Rena to move out. However, there have been moments where Nancy

fears that Rena may feel that she was removed from the house. Since Rena was adopted Nancy

felt some sensitive thoughts would arise in Rena. In the reading of System Theories, when

considering a human family, changes affect all not just one part. Rena was asked to leave which

affected the family as a whole. Nancy is now worried about Rena’s well being. Michael on the

other hand may see it differently. He is uncertain of his feelings of Rena leaving the house, but

he assures that it is more peaceful at home. The whole family has been affected with Rena

leaving and as demonstrated in the system theory family members respond in some way when

people join or withdraw from the family (System Theory, 2016). This response can be either

positive or negative, but there will be a response for the change occurring.

Circumplex Model

The Circumplex Model is use to critically understand the dynamics in a family. The

model includes three dimensions cohesion, flexibility, and communication. The listed three

dimensions are commonly used when working with family therapy. To evaluate the Shore family

we could look at their engagement towards one another. The family falls under cohesion in terms

of their relationships. Charley and Nancy do not have the best relationship. Nancy does not trust

Charley for the important aspects of the family. Since Charley has been unemployed for a long

period of time Nancy believes that he is not capable of having responsibility. They have also

been in frequent fights because of Charley’s compulsive lying. In some cases, the Shore family

can be classified under the unbalanced systems in the area of rigid or chaotic. There is no

clarification of the roles of Nancy and Charley, which defines their relation as “chaotic

relationship has erratic or limited leadership. Decisions are impulsive and not well thought out.

Roles are unclear and often shift from individual to individual” (Olson, 1999). Within the case

we can state that Nancy has taken the leadership role. During their session, Charley expresses his

feelings that he wants to be a role model for his family. Charley says he doesn’t feel like the man

of the house because Nancy does most of the care at home (The Case, Dorfman). There is

miscommunication occurring within the marriage.

Another relationship we can assess is between Charley and Michael. There relationship,

as described by Nancy and the clinician is not that of a father-to-son relationship. Reflecting to

the Circumplex model we can classify their relationship as “disengaged relationship often has

extreme emotional separateness” (Olson, 1999). In terms of Charley and Michael their bonding

time is never a great one. Nancy states that every time they go out to do something they come

home angry at one another. They are demonstrating the little involvement among family

members and there is a great deal of personal separateness and independence (Olson, 1999).

Charley does not seem to have a good connection with Michael because Charley is not acting as

role model to his son. If he is constantly arguing about small issues, he is not teaching Michael

how to cooperate in certain situations. Nancy in the assessment explains how Charley is not the

best father because he does not know how to properly parent Michael in a mature way. This

statement makes it hard for Charley to feel support from Nancy. She is constantly saying the

negative things Charley does instead of the positive words. The family members are unable to

turn to one another for support and problem solve, which in conclusion makes it hard to work

together as a family. The Shore family should focus on the positive things that have happened in

the family, instead of always arguing or discussing the negative ones.

Conclusion

In the end after assessing the Shore Family we can conclude that there is

miscommunication, and unclear of the roles within the family. Reflecting to the case there can be

discomfort of how Rena feels with her family. Nancy’s emotional stress can be classified as

normal because of the variety of presenting issues that occur. In terms of her worrisome of Rena

feelings as if she was removed from the family is normal to be stress or worried about. As an

adoptive child, Rena can go through sensitive thoughts. Couples and families with problems

often have difficulty balancing stability and change. The Shore family, in reference to the

Circumplex model can benefit from learning and using more democratic decision-making and

better problem-solving skills. If the family starts by first learning and using these skills, the

family then can improve their communication skills. As the system theory states the connection

between the individual and the family as whole can help be used in terms of these improvements.

If one individual of the family practices these skills, the change can reflect back to the whole

family.

Figure 1: Shore Family Case Plan Family Case Plan

Client ID#:

Family Name: Shore Family

Date:

Staff:

Write in the name of the categories and family objectives below

Client/s: Shore Family

Category: Relationships (Family)

Category: Parental Subsystem (Health)

Category: Spousal Subsystem (Finances)

What the individual/ family will work on in the next 6 months to accomplish goal and objectives

Goal: Develop better family and friend relationships. Objectives: a. Learn to accept

advice from others, and possibly take it into consideration.

Goal: Address health concerns.Objectives: a. Go to a doctor, and have

Nancy and Charley be tested for any illness.

b. Mandate a doctor’s appointment, and from there doctor decides how often a check up should be.

c. Attend counseling for depression/anxiety for the family

d. Ensure Michael’s asthma is manageable.

Goal: Learn to control money. Objectives: a. Attend financial

management classes.

b. Use disability checks wisely.

c. If Nancy decides on renting downstairs family must manage they money well.

What the program/social worker will do in the next 6 months in order to help the individual/family reach goals and objectives

SW will: a. Refer to them to a

family counselor or therapist.

b. Provide resources where daughter and mother can interact.

SW will: a. Provide additional health

officials to check up on the family health.

b. Work with counselors to keep behavioral health stabled.

c. Refer to Children’s Behavior Department for Michael.

SW will: a. Refer the family to a

bookkeeper to be in charge of the money.

b. Refer them to local job opportunities for husband.

What the informal support resources can do to help the individual/family (extended family, community, etc.)

a. Attending family counseling will help improve family relationship.

b. Giving each other support.

c. Doctors will inform the family on health, and ways to change health behaviors.

d. Therapist can help work with behavioral patterns.

a. Nancy learning to trust Charley with some of the bigger tasks.

Ecomap/Genogram:ShoreFamily

Review Date: Parent signature: Staff signature: Supervisor signature:

SW405:SocialWorkPracticeFamilyAssessmentandPlanAssignment:GradingCriteria

Assignmentpurposeandinstructionsarelocatedinthecoursesyllabusandshouldbefollowedclosely.This5-7page(double-spaced)paperisintendedtobeafamilyassessment(analysis)sodonotjustrepeatcaseinformation.Theassignmentisworth20%ofthecoursegradeandwillutilizethefollowingcriteria:

I. BriefDescriptionofFamily(1page) 10pointso Familycompositiono Relationshipstatuso Employmentandincomesource/so Ethnicity/cultureo Presentingissues

II. ApplicationofSystemsandEcologicalTheoriestoCase(1page) 15

points o Descriptionofrelationships/boundarieso Impactofindividualchangeonfamilyasawholeo Open/closedsystemo Othersystems/ecologicaltheoryconcepts

III. ApplicationofCircumplexModel(1-2pages) 25

pointso Value/purposeofmodelinfamilyassessmento Applicationofthethreecentraldimensionsofthemodelo Applicationtoentirefamilyo Applicationtoidentifiedsubsystems

IV. CasePlanwithMeasurableGoals&Objectives(1-2pages) 20

pointso Onecleargoalwithmeasureableobjectivesforfamilyasawhole,o Onegoalandobjectivesfortwodifferentsubsystemso UseofCasePlanformoniLearn

V. Eco-MapandGenogram(1page) 20points

o Eco-mapshowingfamilyinthesocialenvironmento Genogramincenterofeco-map

VI. QualityofWriting 10

pointso Paperisfreeofspelling/grammaticalerrors,iswellorganized,hasbeen

properlyedited/proofread,andincludesappropriateAPAstylecitations.Comments:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Totalpoints/grade:_______

References

Conyne K. Robert. (2004). Ecological Counseling: An innovative approach to conceptualizing

person-environment interaction. American Counseling Association. Retrieved from:

www.counseling.org.

Dorfamn. A. Rachelle (2016). The Case. Retrieved from:

https://ilearn.csumb.edu/pluginfile.php/188936/mod_resource/content/1/The_Case.pdf

Murphy, B. C., & Dillon, C. (2015). Interviewing in action in a multicultural world (5th ed).

Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole – Cengage Learning.

System Theory Handout. Retrieved from: Ilearn

Olson, David H. (1999). Empirical Approaches to Family Assessment. Retrieved from:

www.lifeinnovations.com

Zastrow, C. H. (2015). Social work with groups: A comprehensive workbook (9th ed.). Belmont,

CA: Brooks/Cole – Cengage Learning.