A SAMPLE CASE HISTORY

The "White" Family

"Rosalind White" is a 21-year-old unmarried mother who was referred to Albany Child Protective Services two years ago by the Community Nurse. She had her first child at the age of 14 and has never really had a chance to be free and have a childhood. Her first child died during his first year following failure to thrive. She subsequently had three more children, the last two with a neighborhood man who recently went to prison for car theft. She hates her father whom she blames for all her problems. He has been in prison for incest with both his daughters and never provided for the family. She has a sister who has an arrest record for prostitution and shoplifting and a brother in prison. She blames her father for their behavior also. She has another brother who is married, seems to have a satisfying life, and who tries to help her when he can. She is close to her mother who has divorced her father, remarried and lives in the community.

At the time of the initial referral, her 3 children were dirty and poorly clothed and had had a series of health problems. The house was disorderly and dirty. The case has been carried in CPS on a protective basis since that referral. Later in the first year, Ros became even less adequate, leaving the children alone a good deal. After some attempts to help her understand the needs of the children to have someone stay with them, she voluntarily placed them in foster care. At that time, Ruth, age four, Toni, age two-and-one-half, and Jerry, age one were in fairly good physical condition in spite of a long history of colds and other minor illnesses. However, there were dirty and had little clothing. They also appeared hungry.

Last April, Ros had another child, Lois. She did not appear to be seeing the father and did not speak of him. At first, she made plans to place Lois also but could not carry through on these plans. She chose to take the child home and was determined to care for her. Upon her discharge from the hospital, she went to her mother's home and lived with her most of the summer. While with her mother, she seemed to be able to take responsibility for Lois. She wanted to have the other children home also and in fact, Ruth, who is very close to her mother, was returned last fall. Ros was thrilled to have this child home. She gave her excellent care, and in her desire to care adequately for her children moved to her own apartment in December. She applied for and received AFDC for herself and the children.

Plans were made for Ruth to attend the Day Care Center and Ros was most cooperative in making plans for this. She made sure that Ruth got to school on time and would meet her after school. The baby was receiving excellent care also and Ros seemed pleased with the progress she had made.

Everything seemed to be going well with Ros and the children until last week. The Agency then began receiving complaints from neighbors and the police that Ros was prostituting and the children were being neglected and left alone a good part of the time. Ros had also called to say that there were serious problems in her apartment building and plaster was falling in the bedroom (where the children slept).

The old worker has left your agency (Capital Region Family Services: Note...this agency is not part of CPS but provides supportive counseling and advocacy services to low-income clients). The case is being transferred to you.

How could you apply the Task-Centered Model to this case?

To see some of our ideas, please proceed to our Sample Task Planner

Case provided by Dr. Zvi Gellis.