CASE STUDY 8: An agency that serves children and youth secured funding to renovate a building to create a new residence and program. The residence was to be short-term intensive, with the goal of returning young people to their families and communities as quickly as possible. Parents and clients were to feel welcome and comfortable in the residence.  The agency wanted to move away from an institutional look and instead create something that was very community friendly and aesthetically pleasing. The upstairs area consists of five bedrooms and the license was for eight beds, two on an emergency basis only and six for short term treatment. There would also need to be a staff room to accommodate the night staff members who were required to check on the kids frequently after lights out. Each room had to meet the local building code and licensing requirements.  Space on the main floor was increased to allow for an isolation room and a second living room to be built.  It was thought that this would give the residents another place to spend time, complete homework, and meet with parents, workers, and other community partners. The program also requires a classroom, which is located in the basement in an area previously used for office space and storage.  Over the next year, it was determined that the kitchen set-up was not practical.  More storage space was needed along with better seating arrangements. The supervisor in consultation with many others came up with an island in the middle of the kitchen that would accommodate 20 people instead of 12 with storage underneath.  Bar stools replaced chairs, and an additional seating area was created. Through her many discussions with the staff, it was decided that the driveway should be paved in order to create a more appropriate play area for the kids and to keep the inside of the building cleaner.  The area behind the school was also paved and was dedicated solely to the residents for sports and other activities.  No vehicles were allowed to park in that area. A fence was also erected around the residence in order to enclose the playground equipment and to make the home blend in better with the neighborhood.  After administrative discussions, it was decided that a two-story addition should be added to the residence.  The upstairs would be used as meeting room for clinical reviews, group therapies, family meetings, and staff training.  On the main floor, a game room would be created to motivate the residents in a positive way.  It would contain a pool table, air hockey table, craft cupboards and supplies with tables and chairs to accommodate twelve people.  Staff decided to convert the former craft room into another office space for computers, medications and a table with chairs to complete paper work.  The staff now had two rooms and thus more room to get things done. 

55. Harry was aware that these youth had a lot of room to grow personally and emotionally.  He also recognized their skill levels in social skills and problem solving, along with their general developmental deficits.  The camping trip would create a new context for youth to be challenged; and they would also be required to respond to those challenges, both individually and as a group.  If implemented successfully, the youth would have fun and experience a broad range of feelings, attitudes, new skills, behaviors and ideas that would offer them new ways of thinking of, and interacting with, themselves and the world they live in.   What option below promotes the most effective approach to enabling the youth to gain from this experience?

61. Based on the information given above, how could the activity described in the case study (outdoor free time) be adapted to fit Janice in a more effective way?

69. A recommendation you might make later to your friend to improve the program is to_____.

37. Ricardo was sitting next to Adrienne one day as the class ended and all the students stood up to put their supplies away. Adrienne suddenly threw her arms around Ricardo and kissed him twice on the cheek. Ricardo seemed surprised by her actions, and he pushed her away. Adrienne fell off her seat and began to cry. Laurie put Ricardo in time-out for pushing Adrienne. Later, after his time-out was over, she asked Ricardo why he pushed Adrienne.  He replied, “Girls don’t touch boys that way.” Laurie explained to Ricardo that Adrienne liked him a lot and she was just trying to show him how much she liked him. Ricardo shook his head and said, “Girls aren’t supposed to act like that.” Adrienne was still crying when her mother came to pick her up a few minutes later. When Laurie told Adrienne’s mother what had happened, the mother threatened to take her daughter out of the center.  She insisted that Ricardo be kicked out of the center. As Adrienne’s mother was saying this in front of Ricardo and Adrienne, Ricardo’s grandmother walked in to pick him up. The grandmother took one look at Ricardo’s face and said something in Spanish that Laurie could not understand, but Jay, who was standing nearby, enthusiastically jumped in to interpret the grandmother’s words as, “What’s going on here? What’s that witch doing to my son?” Laurie then called for her supervisor.  Which of the following would have been the best way for Laurie to respond at the time to Adrienne kissing Ricardo and Ricardo pushing Adrienne?

CASE STUDY 12:  New Horizons is a group home that operates a therapeutic program in a large, mid-western city.  The program serves adolescent youth 13 to 17 years of age that are at-risk of serious emotional and behavioral problems.  The program serves both males and females. The backgrounds of the youth include broken families, school truancy, and shoplifting to being in state custody as a result of neglect, abuse and abandonment issues.  Many of the youth receive counseling and substance abuse services, and some of them are on a daily regimen of psychotropic medications.  They tend to be impulsive, to have short attention spans, low frustration tolerance, low self-esteem, and a defensive response to authority figures. Problem-solving skills are limited for some of them as well.  Most of the teens in the program have had limited opportunities to be out of the city.  The program provides daily care and supervision, after school tutoring, mentoring, family crisis support, and recreational opportunities. Harry, a CYC practitioner at the New Horizons home, had successfully secured a grant to plan and execute an extended summer camping trip for the residents.  Harry came to the program with extensive experience, skills, and certification in working with at-risk youth both in the community setting and in outdoor, adventure-based programs.  He wanted to include the following activities in the trip: low impact, back-country camping; river and lake canoeing; water and canoe safety; swimming; first aid instruction; food preparation; environmental awareness activities; journal writing, and group initiatives/challenges fostering cooperation and teamwork, problem solving skills, leadership development and personal growth.

64. How could the relationship between Quinn and Mr. Tam be improved in the future?

CASE STUDY 6:  You and another CYC practitioner are working with a group of ten children who are 5 to 12 years old. The two of you are responsible for programming the after-school activities including serving snacks for the group.  Your plan for today involves an art activity. Each child lies down on a sheet of newsprint and a partner draws the body shape. Each child then finishes the picture using collage materials from a variety of magazines and gluing them to the body shape.  The shapes are then cut out and hung on the wall. In addition to this activity, the meal plan calls for pizza tortillas as the snack.  When you go to prepare the snacks you notice that none of the food materials have been prepped yet.  Tortillas, a block of cheddar cheese, and a chunk of pepperoni are on the kitchen counter and there is a note saying that your shift partner has gone to the store for tomato sauce and mushrooms.  Three children immediately tell you they are “starving” and four others announce that they “hate” pepperoni or are “allergic” to cheese. Two of the 12-year-old boys are busy teasing an 11-year-old girl by making a disrespectful comment to her.  This is first time you have noticed this kind of behavior.

15. At the first group meeting at the beginning of camp, the group dynamics will probably consist of which of the following?

CASE STUDY 15:  On a Saturday evening at 6:50 pm, Mr. Tam, a CYC practitioner, told Quinn, a 15-year-old boy, to take a time-out.  Quinn left his room several times to continue an argument with Kevin, another 15-year-old boy, who also had been told to take a time-out in his room. Kevin also came out of his room twice to insult Quinn. The last time Quinn was sent back to his room; he suddenly ran out to the day room and hit Kevin on the back. Mr. Tam, who was standing 10 feet away, stepped between the two boys. He separated them while they continued to yell insults and threats to one another. Another CYC practitioner, Mr. Sanders, walked with Quinn back to his room, while Mr. Tam took Kevin to his room to complete the time-out.  Mr. Tam told Kevin, “You should have stayed in your room, I told you to stay away from him. If you had stayed in your room, Quinn would not have hit you.” Kevin replied, “He never gets any consequences anyway.” Mr. Sanders left Quinn in his room and returned to his other work.  On his way, he looked back at the last minute and said to Quinn, “You need to stay in your room.” then took no further action. Later, after thinking about the incident, Mr. Tam approached Mr. Sanders.  Mr. Tam told him that while both boys have violated their restrictions, Quinn had a history of using intimidation and threats to get his way with other youth and even with staff members. “I wonder if we should show Kevin that we can keep him safe from Quinn by doing something more about his aggression towards Kevin?”  Mr. Sanders disagreed, saying that the incident was “no big deal” and that they should just leave it alone. Mr. Tam reminded Mr. Sanders that Quinn can be very loud and confrontational with staff members, so they should be careful that they were not backing off due to fear that Quinn would escalate. Mr. Tam stated that he believed Quinn would think a lack of action on the staff’s part was an indication that Quinn could push the other boys around.  Mr. Sanders reacted coolly, but reluctantly agreed. Mr. Sanders said that he was not going to tell Quinn about the extended restrictions, so Mr. Tam informed Quinn that, as a result of his attack on Kevin, he would miss a trip to go to a basketball game the next day.