SOCIAL ASSESSMENT Using data collected in class from the case presented, prepare

SOCIAL ASSESSMENT
Using data collected in class from the case presented, prepare a social assessment using the following format. The data you use should indicate where the information was retrieved (i.e records from Dr. Butler indicate…etc., DHS or school records state….etc.)
I. Client Information (Utilize information given in class)
Name Age/D.O.B.
Gender Race
Address Telephone Number
Source of Referral
II. Reason for Referral
Give a brief explanation of the problem statement presented by the referral source and services requested.
III. Client Strengths :Assessment of the Client System (Subheadings)
Descriiption of relevant information on the presenting problem pertaining to the:
1. Biological (physical, health, etc.)
2. Psychological (intellectual, emotional, interpersonal, etc.)
3. Sociological (education, income, etc.)
Descriiption of gender, racial, ethnic, religious, cultural and/or sexual orientation
factors and their relationships to the presenting problem.
Descriiption of family system and the relationship of this system to the presenting
problem (e.g., parents, siblings, partners, etc.).
Descriiption of the client system’s environmental context and its relationship to the presenting problem (e.g., housing, physical resources, etc.).
IV. Problem-Solving Ability
Analyze the client system in terms of the capacity to cope with the presenting problem(s). Identify both strengths and weaknesses. Assess the extent to which the problem-solving capacity is influenced by skill, impairment of ability, or by external barriers.
V. Client System
Identify the potential targets for change. Multi-problem client systems may require the development of multiple targets for change. Clearly identify the changes that need to be made in the client system, the family system, the environmental system, and in the transactions between systems.
VI. Agency System
Identify the appropriate resources available to address the targets of change. Include the resources and services available in the agency, as well as, through community resources. Specify if appropriate resources are available or, if not, how they might be developed.
VII. Problem-Solving Analysis
Briefly analyze the prognosis for change. Given the identified problems, characteristics of the client system, the target system, and the action system, to what extent is resolution of the problem(s) likely to occur?
VIII. Recommendations
Identify specific needs and recommendations based on information in the assessment.
Use the assessment below for paper information.
Information for Assignment
Name: Marcus David Thomas D.O. B.: 10/1/02
Address: 3701 Holly Springs Road Age: 14
Troup, Texas 76100 Grade: 9th
Phone: (903) 555-4321 School: Troup High School
Parents: Mrs. Diane Walker, mother
Mr. James Walker, stepfather
REFERRAL SOURCE:
Smith County Juvenile Detention Center
REASON FOR REFERRAL:
To determine the most appropriate intervention plan to enhance Marcus’ social functioning.
Information for Recording/Social Assessment Assignment
On January 31, 2014, Mark was placed in detention for being a school truant. At this time, Mark was twelve years-old. Although the school records indicated that Mark had evidenced behavioral and academic problems as well as truancy since the age of ten, this was his first detention and appearance before the judge.
According to the case records, Mark had been absent from school for three weeks prior to his being charged with truancy. The school officials indicated that notices had been mailed to the home concerning Mark’s absences. Mrs. Walker (whose name at the time was Thomas) indicated that she never received the notices from the school. At that time, Mrs. Walker was a single-parent who worked during the day. It was assumed that Mark removed the truancy notices from the mailbox before his mother came home from work; however, Mark never admitted to this. On February 7, 2011, Mark appeared before Judge Wright and was placed on probation for four months. During the probation period, Probation Officer Janice Moser monitored Mark’s school attendance and academic performance. Ms. Moser met with Mark biweekly to receive his reports his school performance. In addition, Ms. Moser obtained weekly reports from the school counselor in regard to Mark’s attendance and grades. During this period there was no counseling provided to Mark or his family, but rather the focus of the interventions was on his school performance. On May 30, 2011, Mark was removed from probation. At that time, he was attending school regularly and passed all of his courses with a “D” average.
On October 17, 2015, Mark, at the age of thirteen, made his second appearance in Juvenile Court. Mark was arraigned before Judge Wright on a charge of assault and battery on another juvenile. According to the record, Mark and three other male juveniles (the same three involved in the robbery currently under investigation) physically attacked another boy who sustained a broken arm and possible concussion. Mark admitted to participating in the attack, and stated that his reason for doing so was that the boy called Mark and his friends homosexuals when he saw them masturbating in the shower after gym class. The boy reported the masturbation incident to the gym teacher who confronted Mark and his friends and sent them to the school principal. The principal suspended each of the boys for three days, and he told them that the next time they engaged in masturbation at school that they would be expelled. Mark indicated that he attacked the boy to retaliate for both his calling Mark a homosexual and getting him suspended.
The pre-hearing report by the Probation Officer Janice Moser indicated that Mrs. Walker had remarried three weeks prior to the assault incident, and that Mrs. Walker stated that Mark and his new stepfather, James Walker, were experiencing relationship difficulties. According to Mark, he thought that his stepfather did not have the right to discipline him. In addition, Mark stated that Mr. Walker was trying to replace his natural father, and that Mark would never let that happen. Ms. Moser decided that the masturbation incident and the subsequent assault was the result of Mark’s acting-out his negative reaction to his mother’s remarriage. In addition, Ms. Moser indicated that she thought that the presence of a strong father-figure in the home would have a positive influence on Mark. Therefore, Ms. Moser recommended that Mark be placed on probation with the stipulation that he received individual counseling to help him adjust to the remarriage of his mother and the presence of his stepfather. Ms. Moser saw Mark in weekly counseling sessions for three months. On January 27, 2015, Mark reappeared before Judge Wright who, upon the recommendation of Ms. Moser, removed the probation condition that Mark attends weekly counseling. According to Ms. Moser, Mark demonstrated a much improved attitude toward his mother’s remarriage and had accepted his stepfather. However, Judge Wright continued Mark’s probation in order to monitor his post-counseling progress. Thus, Mark was on probation when the alleged attempted burglary occurred on February 2, 2012. Due to Ms. Moser’s recent therapeutic relationship with Mark, Donna Lenhart, Probation Supervisor, decided that Mark’s case needed to be reassigned for investigation and recommendation in relation to the current situation. Mark is scheduled to appear before Judge Wright on December 6, 2015.
Both Mark’s mother, Diane Jewel Thomas Walker, and his biological father, Stephen Michael Thomas, are natives of Troup, Texas, and they have known each other since elementary school. Mr. Thomas was orphaned as an infant and was raised by his maternal grandmother, who died in 2000. Mrs. Walker and her brother and sister were raised by their mother; Ms. Walker was married in 1987 upon her graduation from high school. At the time of the marriage, Mrs. Walker was eighteen and Stephen Thomas was nineteen. Mr. Thomas had been employed at a gas station since he had graduated from high school a year prior to the marriage. Mrs. Walker attended Tyler Junior College for one semester, but she quit attending school to take a job as a teacher’s aide at the Troup Head Start Center. According to Mrs. Walker, she wanted to continue in college and hoped to obtain a bachelor’s degree in teaching, but she needed to go to work for financial reasons. Mrs. Walker had been employed as teacher aide for approximately one year prior to her pregnancy with Mark, and she continued to work until her eighth month of the pregnancy. During Mrs. Walker’s pregnancy with Mark, Mr. Thomas changed jobs, but remained employed as a service station attendant.
Mark was the first-born son of the couple, who had been married for two years prior to Mark’s birth. Mark Thomas was born at Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, Texas, on October 1, 2002. According to Mrs. Walker, it was a planned pregnancy, and that both she and her former husband were happy about the prospect of becoming parents. Both the pregnancy and birth were unremarkable, and Mark was taken home three days postnatally.
After a two month maternity leave, Mrs. Walker returned to her job, and Mark stayed with his maternal grandmother, Annie Mae Roberts, who had become a widow shortly after Mrs. Walker’s marriage to Mr. Thomas. Mrs. Roberts kept Mark during the days until he entered kindergarten at Troup Elementary School when he was five years old. Mark only attended kindergarten for approximately one month; therefore, he stayed with his grandmother until he entered first grade. When Mark’s sister Jill Rose Thomas was born in 1996, Mrs. Roberts took care of both children so that Mrs. Walker could work at the Head Start Center.
In 2005, when Mark was three years-old and Jill was one year-old, Mr. Thomas quit his job and left the family. According to Mrs. Walker, Mr. Thomas did not want the responsibility of a family and felt that he had to be out on his own. Mrs. Walker denied any serious problems between her or Mr. Thomas during their marriage, and she is unaware of any particular event that precipitated Mr. Thomas’s departure from the family. Neither Mrs. Walker nor Mr. Thomas’ extended family has heard from his since he left the family. After Mrs. Walker had not heard from Mr. Thomas for years for over five years she initiated divorce proceedings. In 2007, she was granted a divorce on the basis of abandonment by Mr. Thomas.
After Mr. Thomas’s departure, Mrs. Walker moved into her mother’s home with Mark and Jill. They remained in Mrs. Robert’s home from 2002 until 2006 when Mrs. Walker remarried.
In 2013, James Preston Walker and his nine year-old son Travis Preston Walker moved to Troup from Tyler, Texas. Since 1996, Mr. Walker has been employed as a carpenter for a construction company in Tyler. Mr. Walker’s wife died of cancer in 2003, and Mr. Walker indicated that he moved to Troup avoid memories of his wife. Furthermore, he thought it would be better for Travis to be in a small town since Travis had to stay at home alone from after school until Mr. Walker arrived home from work. Mr. Walker is originally from New Jersey where his mother and two brothers still live; therefore, Travis could not stay with any family members. Mr. Walker stated that he did not want Travis staying with neighbors or a day-care center, because Travis was “his responsibility.”
Mr. Walker meet Mrs. Walker at church shortly after he moved to Troup, They had been acquainted for approximately two years before they started dating. Mr. and Mrs. Walker dated for about two years before they became engaged. During the time they were dating and/or engaged, they occasionally involved Mark, Jill, and Travis in activities, but according to both Mr. and Mrs. Walker, they usually avoided including the children in their activities because Mark inevitability spent the entire outing verbally attacking both Mr. Walker and Travis. In spite of the Mark’s objections to the marriage and the nature of the relationship between Mark and Mr. Walker, the couple was married on September 27, 2014. After the marriage, Mrs. Walker, Mark, and Jill moved into Mr. Walker’s home. Both Jill and Travis stated that they wanted Mr. and Mrs. Walker to marry, and neither one identified any problems other than the family “doesn’t get along because of Mark’s problems.”
Both Mr. and Mrs. Walker work during the day. Mrs. Walker has been employed at the Troup Day Center since 2006, and Mr. Walker has worked as a carpenter for the same company since 1996. Travis maintains an “A” average in school, serves as class president, participates on the debate team, and plays football and basketball. Travis is reported to be well-liked by his peers, and both Mr. and Mrs. Walker describe him as functioning well at home as well as at school. Although Mark and Travis are in the same grade, they have no classes together and they have no mutual friends. Essentially, Mark and Travis have little if any interactions at school, and according to Travis they “just ignore each other.” Travis indicated that he is pleased about his father’s marriage to Mrs. Walker and that he wants to relate to Jill and Mark as siblings. Jill makes average grades at Troup Middle School where she attends seventh grade. Currently she is not involved in any extracurricular school activities, but she stated that she plans to participate in track in the year. Jill has played youth softball for the past four years, and she intends to continue this activity. Jill related that she has many friends and enjoys attending school. She indicated that she approved of the remarriage of her mother by stating that she is “glad to have a new daddy and brother.”
Mr. Walker commutes to his job and generally returns home by 6:00 p.m. Mrs. Walker works from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. All of the children ride the bus to school and return home on the bus about 4:00 p.m.; thus, the children are usually home alone from 4:00 until Mrs. Walker arrives home at approximately 5:15 p.m. Jill and Travis report that they either watch television or do their home until their mother arrives home. Frequently Travis stays after school for extracurricular activities and basketball or football practice. Mark usually goes out with his friends after school; although he has been told remain at home after school. He often does not come home until 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Walker state that they have trying removing Mark’s privileges such as going out on the weekend, using the telephone, and watching television. Currently, Mark is essentially restricted to his room when he is home. The restrictions do not prevent Mark from going out after school, because there is no one to prevent him from doing so.
According to the family members, their activities as a group are limited to attending church and occasionally going to lunch after church. Mr. and Mrs. Walker rarely go out weekends, and state that they generally spend their leisure time watching television. Mrs. Walker talks to her mother everyday on the telephone, and visits her several times a week. Jill frequently accompanies her mother, but the other family members have minimal contact with Mrs. Roberts. On weeknights, Travis and Jill stay home; however, on the weekends they frequently engage in activities with their friends, such as going to the movies or the skating rink. Neither Travis nor Jill has started dating. As noted above, Mark’s social activities are restricted to a group of three other boys, and the four boys have frequently been in problem situations together.
According to Mrs. Walker, Mark had a difficult time adjusting to kindergarten. Mrs. Walker had to physically carry Mark into the classroom; and he screamed and cried the majority of the day. After this behavior continued for approximately one month, Mark ran away from playground while the teacher was engaged with two other children who were fighting. About two hours after he left the school grounds, Mark was found by a friend of the family while he was walking down the street. Mark stated that he was walking to his grandmother’s house and had become lost. The kindergarten teacher and school principal recommended to Mrs. Walker that Mark no longer attend kindergarten since he was not socially and developmentally mature enough to adapt to the classroom routine. Therefore, Mark continued to be cared for by his grandmother until he was enrolled in first grade.
When Mark entered the first grade, the episodes of having to be physically carried into the school and crying were repeated. According to Mrs. Walker, Mark’s teacher had him sit by her desk each morning until he stopped crying at which time he was allowed to sit with the other children. If he began crying later in the day, he was again moved by the teacher’s desk until he stopped. After several weeks, Mark’s behavior was modified to the point that he entered the classroom voluntarily and no longer cried during the day.
Throughout elementary school, Mark made average to above average grades elementary school. However, the records state that he was performing “below his potential,” since his aptitude tests indicated that he was in the high range of intelligence and academic ability. In the elementary school records, Mark was described by his teachers as having discipline problems throughout the first through fourth grades. According to the records, Mark talked during class, refused to follow instructions, and was disrespectful to the teachers. Mark’s behavior problems apparently increased when he was ten years old and in the fifth grade. At that time, Mark was repeatedly absence from school without permission, and he was suspended for truancy on two occasions. In addition, the teacher’s report indicated that he did not get along with his peers. He was involved in several physical fights, verbally abused the other students, and that he was essentially socially isolated from his peers.
When he entered Troup Junior High School in seventh grade, Mark’s grades dropped to consistently below average. The teachers attributed Mark’s academic problems to his relationship with three other boys. The teachers referred to Mark and these three other boys as a “gang.” According to Mrs. Walker, Mark had known the three boys involved in the alleged attempted burglary since elementary school; however, the four boys became what she described as “inseparable” shortly after they entered seventh grade. Reportedly, none of the boys had any peer relationships outside of the group, and all of the boys had serious academic and behavior problems. The teachers recommended that Mrs. Walker forbid Mark to see these other boys and restrict his privileges at home. According to Mrs. Walker, she tried to follow the teachers suggestions, but that she “could not control” Mark and that he “just did whatever he felt like doing,” regardless of the consequences. Mark’s difficulties increased during seventh and eighth grades with his truancy and behavior problems eventually resulting in his two previous appearances in Juvenile Court (see previous court appearances).
Mark is currently enrolled in the ninth grade at Troup High School. According to Vice Principal Charles Peavy, Mark was suspended from school for three days in September for truancy. In addition, the teachers have sent Mark to the principal’s office on five occasions since the beginning of school for either refusing to do his work and /or cursing the teachers. On each of these occasions Mark was given “lick” and required to attend after school study hall.
On his last grade report, Mark failed English, science, history, and math. He passed shop class and physical education. Mark was not involved in any extracurricular activities prior to his receiving failing grades.
Mrs. Walker reported that Mark has not had any serious illnesses or injuries. Mark had chicken pox at the age of seven, but recovered without sequela. He received vaccinations for the usual childhood diseases, and his immunizations are up to date. Lawrence Ross, M.D. examined Mark upon his admission to detention. Dr. Ross’s report indicated that Mark is well-developed, well-nourished, and has no apparent physical abnormalities or diseases. Dr. Ross noted that Mark has begun puberty. Mark had no bruises, abrasions, or other injuries at the time of the examination.