Single Mother With Signs of Alcoholism Case Study

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Child Therapy

The author of this report has been asked to assess the situation of a single mother of three kids. The mother is very paranoid about losing her children but there are some very real concerns in terms of what the mother is apparently doing and how some of the children are acting. The author is asked to answer a number of questions. These include how the professionals could and should collaborate so as to best serve both the mother and the children involved in the situation, from an ethical and legal standpoint of course. The role of each professional in the situation will be discussed in detail. The function that each professional would serve will be discussed. The author is also going to place one's self as the "lead" person on the team and will then describe what could and should happen in relation to this situation and why. This will mostly be manifested by a hypothetical letter that will be written to the psychiatrist that will be charged with reviewing the woman's mental state, ability to parent and otherwise function as an adult. While the situation is not beyond repair, the children involved in this situation are in some rather obvious danger and there are some rather startling red flags.

Analysis

The licensed clinical social worker would serve a number of roles in this situation including taking inventory of the situation at hand, coordinating care with the other professionals in the group and perhaps reining in child protective services if things come to that, which it sure seems they might. The psychologist on staff is responsible for testing and that person uses the tests to rule out or confirm certain diagnoses. One example used in the case study is that of bipolar disorder. Of course, if the mother in this case were bipolar, this surely needs to be figured out since this would present potential danger to the mother herself and the children alike. The child therapist, of course, is responsible for doing therapy with the children in particular. They get the children to play and interact. Through watching how they play, interact and communicated, it can be figured out with some precision what might be or what is definitely going on. Just a few things that would be watched over is how they talk, what they say, how they assert themselves, whether they get violent, whether they get loud, what they say about their parents and so forth. If they draw, for example, very dour and said pictures, this would be a warning sign. If they say certain things about their parents and their behavior, that would be a bad sign as well (Swank, Shin, Cabrita, Cheung & Rivers, 2015). The remainder of the staff on hand in this scenario are the regular counselors. These people would serve much the same purpose as the child therapist but they would be for the adult patients rather than the children. A free clinic is on standby in case there is a problem with ability to pay on the part of the patient. In terms of legal and ethical issues, these professionals should obviously share information and engage in dialog when it comes to their mutual families or specific patients. Of course, there are protocols and rules that must be followed when sharing information between people, even within the same office. It is especially true when speaking about sharing between offices. In short, the professionals involved need to be as vigilant and professional as possible but there are rules and guidelines that must be followed ... every single time and without fail (Nylen, 2007).

There are a few things in the narrative thus far that are extremely concerning. First of all is the mother. It is fairly obvious that the woman is drinking entirely too much or at least at the wrong times and it is leading to her being impaired when she is in care, custody and control of the children. If that is true, and there are multiple incidents and clues thus far that point to the fact that it is, that needs to be addressed right away. One of the red flags with the children seems to point to the same problem and that is the fact that Jane seems to be taking on the motherly role. It is to the point that she seems to be protected and mothering to her own mother. It is clear and apparent that the mother is not taking care of the children as much or as well as she should be given the missing socks and the ratty shoes that the children had on when at the therapy session.

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Johnny and Emma are very reserved, secretive and shy and that is not a good sign either. At the very least, it would appear that they are being neglected. However, it should be definitively verified whether or not they are being abused. At the very least, it would seem that the mother is an alcoholic and it is likely she is battling some sort of mental illness given her paranoia and some of her other behaviors. The concern about the neighbor is another example (Park & Schepp, 2015).

Given all that, a review by a psychiatrist is a non-option. It would seem that the mother is consenting and cooperative when it comes to that but the fact that she has avoided psychological testing and her stated concerns about her kids being taken away make it clear that she is ghastly concerned about having her kids stripped from her and she is also keenly aware that she is, at the last, engaging in alcohol-related activities that should not be happening. Given that, it is likely that the mother will not cooperate with anything that could lead to her children being taken away. This would make any further assessment of the children hard to pull off because the mother would be suspicious. As such, the psychiatrist would need to figure out with as much precision as possible whether there is drug abuse (alcohol or anything else) and whether mental illness is a factor as well. Indeed, it could absolutely be both but the alcohol thing seems to be a definite at this point. Her inappropriate drinking and consistent disorientation basically proves that to be true (Lo, Monge, Howell & Cheng, 2013). Given all of the above, the author of this report would compose the letter as stated below:

Dear Psychiatrist,

As it relates to your new patient Jane, there are some rather large concerns that are fairly apparent based on the reviews done thus far. It should be noted that our staff psychologist has been unable to do the testing that is wanted. However, what has happened thus far has led to some fairly large concerns. One thing that is near-certain is that Jane, the mother, is drinking alcohol on a consistent basis, probably to the point of being an alcoholic. This has included when she has met with our staff as well as when she has contacted us. Given that she has a three-year-old and that child would not be in school, the drinking is a problem. The mother is self-aware when it comes to her problem because she has expressed concern about her kids being taken away and she has been rather concerned about what a neighbor has said about her.

Despite this self-awareness, this alcohol problem (which might be comorbid with a mental illness of some sort) is causing some definite and drastic effects to the three children that the woman has. The oldest, who is nine, is taking on the mother role and this includes being very protective about the mother herself. The younger two children are very shy and reserved. One of them makes references to secrets and so forth. The nine-year-old's behavior would seem to confirm that the mother is not doing her basic duties as a mother so the nine-year-old is trying to fill the void. The shyness and secretive nature of the other two children would seem to confirm the alcoholism. The drinking is probably one of (if not THE) secret that is being kept and the drinking (and mental illness, if present) is surely affecting the kids in major ways. Lastly, the children are mostly clean but they have been seen missing socks or having shoes that are worn out and in need of replacement. Obviously, this could be an issue of money but the more likely culprit is being disoriented and foggy due to be drunk and/or high on drugs. We have mitigated her money issues by getting her on food stamps. However, if she is spending money on alcohol or drugs, things will only get worse.

Please be delicate and careful when assessing the mother as she will quite likely close up or even bolt if she gets the sense that her children will be taken away. It is quite likely that Child Protective Services will have to be looped in….....

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