CASE STUDY 11:  Ted (team leader of the Family Reunification Program for children and youth who were abused by a parent) commences a team meeting by directing the team’s attention to the meeting agenda. After agreeing upon the agenda content and order of discussion, the team begins with a case discussion of the Howard family that was prompted by a conflict between Bev (a CYC practitioner) and Mrs. Howard (the mother of Kent who is a resident in the Family Reunification Program).  The evening before the meeting, Mrs. Howard called Ted and angrily complained that Bev refused to talk to Mrs. Howard about Kent’s poor report card. Bev explained to the team that she asked Kent to take responsibility for his grades and call his mother to tell her about his report card. While on the phone with his mother, Kent told Bev that his mother wanted to talk to her. Bev was unable to talk to Mrs. Howard at that moment because she was dealing with another child.  Bev said that she told Kent to ask his mother to hang on for a minute or she could call her back later. Instead, Kent told his mother that Bev did not want to speak to her and told Bev that his mother did not want her to call. During the team meeting, Theresa (child and family social worker), stated that there seemed to be a pattern of Mrs. Howard “running to Kent’s rescue” whenever he got into “trouble.”  Theresa reminded the group of how Mrs. Howard stormed into the school principal’s office demanding that the principal fire a teacher that had a conflict with Kent. Bill (CYC practitioner) reinforced Theresa’s observations by summarizing a log entry he had recorded the previous week. After Kent continued to make vague somatic complaints (without an identified medical cause), Bill accompanied Kent to a second appointment concerning his somatic complaints with the doctor at the campus clinic. Before leaving the clinic, the clinic nursing staff conveyed to Bill that the doctor had just received a complaint over the phone from Mrs. Howard that the agency was not providing appropriate medical care for Kent. Mrs. Howard loudly complained that the doctor should have already diagnosed and taken care of the problem. Ted agreed with Theresa and Bill and added that he thought the team should use this opportunity to acquire a better understanding of the Howard family and not just respond to the immediate conflict between Bev and Mrs. Howard. Jean (CYC practitioner) suggested that the team construct a family map of the family dynamics on the flipchart. Several team members agreed and Ted volunteered to draw the visual diagram based on the case discussion. Theresa continued the case discussion by providing a brief social history and reminding the group of the reasons for Kent’s involvement in the program. After a discussion of the Howard family’s involvement in the program, several assessment facts emerged and were visually diagrammed on the flipchart. The team agreed that Mrs. Howard and Kent (who was 16) appeared to have an overly close but conflicted relationship with each other. Mrs. Howard and Kent appeared to have the most power in the family. Mr. Howard (stepfather) got along well with Brian (Kent’s brother) but had a distant, conflicted relationship with Kent and an increasingly distant relationship with Mrs. Howard. Ted summarized the team’s initial discussions into three recommendations: (1) the marital relationship and parental couple/team role should be strengthened, (2) Mr. Howard and Kent need to develop a somewhat closer relationship while Mrs. Howard and Kent need to increase some emotionally healthy distance in their relationship, and (3) Mrs. Howard needs to stop “running to Kent’s rescue” and encourage Kent to take more responsibility for his behavior.

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?