Case Study Presentation Sam Paulsen Child Safety Officer Recantation North Child Safety Service Centre Title Slide Introduction: Slide 1 Family: There are 6 subject children in this family with 3 different fathers Seth, Jackson and Rosemary are full siblings as are Shah and Summary Dianna is still currently in a relationship with Shame, but it is believed that she still has contact with Daniel as well. Dianna is 31 and Shame is 43.
Describe the personalities of each of the children. Contact is currently restricted between Dianna and Seth, Jackson, Attain and Rosemary.This was due to concerns about Dean's mental health and also the effect of Dean's sporadic attendance at visits was having on the children. Dianna and Shame are able to have supervised contact with Shah and Summary.
However as Shah and Summary are currently placed in Amour contact has been intermittent. Attain and Jackson and Shah and Summary are placed together. Rosemary and Seth are not placed with siblings. Rosemary because she is in her original placement since being removed and Seth due to behavioral considerations. We are currently working with the careers of the children to ensure the siblings have more contact.Slide 2 Talk about this slide Slide 3 - Sonogram Slide 4 Reasons for the family coming to the attention of the department: This family first came to the attention of the department in 2004.
The concerns at this time were parental drug and alcohol abuse, severe domestic violence, neglect regarding living conditions and improper supervision. Seth was three at this time, Jackson 2 and Attain was 2 months old. In 2006 concerns were received regarding Daniel throwing Seth out of a window resulting in him breaking his leg. Daniel was also observed to punch Seth in the stomach. Ђ The resulting IA infirmed the child protection concerns of physical harm, domestic violence, neglect, drug use and improper supervision.
(Attain was left in a pram unsupervised under a house for 2 hours) Following a substantiated child in need of protection outcome, Seth, Jackson and Attain were removed from Dianna and Daniel. In 2007 Rosemary was removed from Dianna and Daniel following similar child protection concerns. Rosemary was born with blood positive for cannabises. Dianna has also gone missing with Rosemary during this period of time. Ђ In 2012 Shah and Summary aged 4 and 2 at the time became subject to a SO.
This was later changed to a custody order following continued incidents of domestic violence. The child protection concerns remain the same today as they did in 2004. Slide 5 Child Protection Continuum: Seth, Jackson, Attain and Rosemary are currently subject to ALT-CE. The case plan goals are for Long-Term Out of Home Care. Shah and Summary are currently subject to an Interim COP with the department applying for a SST-2 year order.
Case plan goal is Reunification.Slide 6 Harms or Risk of Harm: Significant physical harm has been experienced by Seth All children has experienced emotional harm as a result of both neglect and exposure to domestic violence. Given there has been little engagement from the parent's and that domestic violence and drug use continue, all children face an unacceptable risk of both physical and emotional harm. Dianna has since been diagnosed with drug induced schizophrenia. Dianna is currently subject to an Involuntary Treatment Order where she receives depot injections monthly.Slide 7 - Modules, give handouts With a child protection history comprising almost 10 years, 25 notification and 6 hillier currently in the care of the department this case relates to a majority of the Workplace learning modules.
This is a handout of how each of the Workplace Modules related to my case study. In particular there are three key modules which relate to my case study: Slide 8 1) Domestic Violence - As mentioned previously, domestic violence has been a child protection concern from 2004. Over the last decade this family has continually had issues with severe domestic violence.The work place learning guide and Journal activities gave me a greater insight into this issue as it was not something I had ever studied. ) Mental Health - Due to sustained drug use Dianna was diagnosed with drug induced schizophrenia. Some of her delusions included one of the children being Osama Bin Alden's war lord and that something was eating her brain.
3) Drug Use - Both Dianna and everyone of the children's father's have had issues with drug use. Dianna is still currently using drugs and admits this freely to departmental staff.Slide 9 Interconnectedness of Child Protection Concerns: Not surprisingly all three of these factors share some interconnectedness. This perhaps goes some way to explaining while past interventions focusing of all of the issues have had little success. Slide 10 Domestic violence-Mental Health: both these factors may impact equally on each other e. G.
An aggrieved parent may suffer low-self esteem and depression. Depending on the mental health issue the parent may be delusional or have a narcissistic personality disorder which may contribute to being a respondent in a relationship characterized as "intimate partner violence".Slide 1 1 Substance abuse-Domestic Violence: Though there are usually underlying issues relating to the DVD in an "intimate partner violence" scenario however drug and alcohol misuse can facilitate violence in all DVD situations. Both the aggrieved and respondent in any DVD situation may also misuse drugs and alcohol to cope and mask the emotions associated with the situation, which in turn may impact on each parent's mental health Slide 12 Mental Health-substance abuse: Depending on the parent's mental health issue may impact on their substance use e. G.
If suffering depression may smoke marijuana and consume excessive alcohol.Likewise excessive drug and alcohol misuse may lead to a variety of mental health disorders e. G depression, psychosis, drug induced schizophrenia. Slide 13 - Read quote Slide 14 Most Influential Factor: Substance Abuse - It is assessed that substance abuse contributes significantly to Dean's mental health. This would have a follow on impact on the domestic violence as instances of DVD seem to appear when both parent's are under the influence of substances. With this particular family I have assessed that without addressing the substance abuse in the family there is very little chance of addressing the other concerns.
Dean's mental health condition is a result of her drug use and many of the domestic violence incidents reported by police indicate that either Dianna or her ratter's were under the influence at the time. Dean's continued significant drug abuse is considered the biggest barrier to her engagement with support services to assist her in addressing the other child protection concerns. Dianna has also repeatedly stated that she does not want to stop using substances and believes that it has never been a problem with the department before. Parent's with disabling mental illnesses, parent's with substance abuse problems and parent's with severe personality disorders may also have difficulties in providing for the child's emotional needs through the developmental period, and a range of aerogramme have been developed to address these" (Cowling, 1999 cited in Raphael teal, p. 128, 2006).
Slide 15 Review Process: Obviously this case is reviewed every 6 months as per departmental However where possible I have reviewed things with Dianna and requirements. Shame where possible.This have involved breaking the case plan down into smaller actions written simply so as they can understand it better and increase the likelihood of them performing the case plan actions. Maintained regular contact with careers (scheduled phone calls once per fortnight) to stay up to date with the children's regression with the hopes to address problems before the manifest into placement breakdowns. Slide 16 Impact of the reviews Simply put the most significant impact of the regular review process has enabled me to learn about services which may help families.
This has helped me refer parent's with similar issues to the services. Following information obtained from Adult Mental Health during a review I changed the procrastination to substance abuse from mental health. This has now resulted in Dianna engaging with ODDS. It has also helped me stay focused on one child protection concern at a time and prevented unrealistic expectations being put on parent's.
Slide 17 Barriers to Implementation of Case Plan Actions There have been many barriers to the implementation of case plan going back almost 10 years with this family.This is evidenced by the child protection concerns remaining the same despite upwards of 35 case plans being done since 2006. Engagement: Perhaps the biggest barrier has been the parent's engagement with support services and reluctance to undertake case plan actions. Since having case management of this family Dianna and Shame have engaged with no support services appropriately. This is despite them stating that they are prepared to undertake the I have tried to overcome this by modifying my communication methods actions. Soft to hard to soft) and also breaking down the case plan actions in to "simple" parts.
I have also used a collaborative approach with stakeholders so Dianna and Shame are receiving the same message from everyone. Parent's mental health issues: Through maintaining a patient approach and to be mindful of the effects of the MM (particularly when hindering the working relationship through the parent's having limited insight as to what their priorities are in relation to the children's deeds), and using a variety of communication techniques, depending on the situation.Slide 18 Strength Based Practice: From focusing and building on what is working and remaining goal focused (specifically reunification) ensuring that the parent's remain motivated to achieve outcomes rather than remaining "stuck" in the past and what hasn't been working for them to achieve the same goals. An example of this is focusing on the parenting skills of both Shame and Dianna, both of which are very good.Slide 19 Work with Services: As mentioned previously Dianna is currently subject to an TIT and has begun irking with ODDS I have maintained regular contact with these services to monitor Dean's engagement and progress.
I have also consulting with AMAH where ever possible to gain an understanding of how best to engage with Dianna. AMAH where involved with the formulation of the current case plan. Dianna and Shame have been referred to ACID IFS, and Karri, Helm Yummy, Aboriginal Health - all of which have reported limited engagement.Slide 20 Children's needs not being met: During a visit to a career's home Rosemary indicated to me that she would like to see her siblings more often. The need in this case is family of origin relationships.
I was able to address with the career the importance of this contact and tried to empower her to contact the careers of the other children to organize informal contact for the children. There are currently plans in place for the department to continue working with all the careers to ensure this kind of "natural contact" occurs regularly.Slide 21 Actions taken to develop relationships: Attend regular meetings with stakeholders and parent's Contact stakeholders regularly via phone and email Keeping an open and transparent level of information sharing I feel I have en very success at developing relationships with the stakeholder which has given a lot of information that I may not have otherwise received. This in turn has helped me be able to head off problems before they reach a critical stage.Slide 22 Challenges with the Case: Engagement - I have found this particular difficult to deal as it is constantly coaxing and encouraging the parent's to before actions. Personally - I have found it difficult to engage with Shame on a personal level.
Shame will call me mate and be overly friendly with me. I find this hard as domestic violence is a personal value I eave that he challenges regularly. Slide 23 Interesting: Shah: During an interview with Dianna prior to Shah and Sumac's removal Dianna experienced a mental health episode with involved her talking with people who weren't present in the room.Dianna became very heightened and starting yelling.
During this time Shah began trying to distract me and starting asking where I lived. It is hypothesized that Shah has become sensitizes to this behavior and using distraction as a coping strategies. Jackson: Despite the high level of trauma Jackson experienced both in-veto and during his formative year it is currently suspected that he is gifted. Jackson excels and school and "phones in" his school work receiving straight Ass with out any effort on his part.Slide 24 Successes: All children in stable placement's which are currently meeting there needs open and honest relationship with Shame and Dianna Good relationships with Stakeholders, providing best possible chance for change.
Slide 25 Conclusion Current Child Protection Concerns: Mental Health Domestic Violence Parental Substance Abuse Progress: An Unfortunately this family have made little to no progress since first coming to the attention of the department. Challenging outlook for the future, however I believe reunification may still be possible. Ђ Major challenge will continue to always be engagement. This is required for any change made to be sustained.
Current Goals: Main goal is reunification Dianna - Substance abuse through ODDS Shame - Domestic Violence with Relationships Australia always seems to be sporadic. Overcoming Barriers: Note: Engagement as Maintaining a high level of communication with both stakeholders and the parent's Using Strength Based Practice to try and empower the parent's to engage with case plan actions and ultimately change.
