Case Study: Adam's OOHC Placement Analysis and Intervention

This case study examines the placement of a 14-year-old boy named Adam in an Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) setting. The assignment delves into Adam's background, including his refugee status, relationship with his mother, and history of substance use. The analysis explores how various contextual factors, such as identity, family dynamics, social relationships, health issues, and educational challenges, influence intervention strategies. The assignment includes a script for the initial meeting with Adam, discusses the benefits of working with him, outlines potential actions and legal responsibilities, and addresses ethical dilemmas, such as confidentiality concerns regarding a reported bruise. The case study also considers the rights of the individual and the support services that can be provided, alongside ethical and legal obligations in the interaction. The student is expected to apply social work principles to assess Adam's situation and develop a plan for supporting his well-being.

CASE STUDY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART 1............................................................................................................................................1
1. Adam’s situation as presented in the case notes and the relevant information from the case
file...............................................................................................................................................1
2. Discuss how each category influence your strategy...............................................................1
PART 2............................................................................................................................................3
1. A short script outlining my introduction to my first meeting with Adam..............................3
2. What benefits you think you could bring while working with Adam?...................................4
PART 3............................................................................................................................................5
1. What actions might you take? Consider your legal responsibilities.......................................5
2. After asking Adam about the bruise, he agrees to tell you, only if you promise not to tell
anyone. What would you say to Adam? What would you do?...................................................5
PART 4............................................................................................................................................5
1. How would you respond to David’s request?.........................................................................5
2. What are Adam’s rights in this situation? What support could you provide to Adam at this
time?............................................................................................................................................6
3. Referral to support services/programs to encourage /provide social support for Adam........6
4. What ethical/legal responsibilities would you have in this interaction?.................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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PART 1
1. Adam’s situation as presented in the case notes and the relevant information from the case file.
2. Discuss how each category influence your strategy.
1. Youth
context/Cate
gory
2. Information from case file
3. How will this context influence your
strategy for working with Adam?
Identity Adam is a 14-Year-old boy,
lives in Out of Home Care
house since he was 9 years old.
He may see himself as someone
who is hard to care for given
that he has lived in many other
placements. He arrived as a
refugee 6 years ago at Australia.
It has been reported that, he has
a close relationship with his
mother. Further, he has been
known for taking alcohol &
other drugs and most recently
has been chroming deodorant
cans.
In working with Adam, I will show value in
getting to know him as a person, and
become good friend of him so that he can
easily share his views rather than his case
file will help him feel more connected to
carers. Asking Adam what he wants from
his placement may help him feel
empowered (Arning and Ziefle, 2015).
Family
Relationships
Adam's father David lives
interstate & his mother Amelia
lives an hour away from him.
According to the study, he
shares a close bond with his
mother & often speaks to carers
about missing her mother
Secondly, I will have a clear and deep
conversation with his family regarding him,
his health and education. Further I will
discuss to his mother that why it is so
difficult for her to take care of her child for
a long and make her understand about
Adam's wrong habits so that she can start
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(Cohen, Zimmerman and
Grabowski, 2016). He often run
away from OOHC to be with his
mother. Moreover, he has no
other relationship except his
mother as he has no family in
the country.
taking care of him. As per the given context
that he has a close connection with his
mother, based on this my strategy will work
positively towards Adam. This will make
her mother understand more about his son
& enable her to make time for him.
Social
Relationships
He has no other meaningful
relationship outside of his
mother as he has no other
family in the country.
I this case, my strategy will be to make him
feel like a home at OOHC and make him
comfortable there so that he can stop
absconds to be with his mother. Making a
positive relationship with him, will protect
him against later psychological problems.
According to the study, he has no other
relation except his mother & some friends,
my strategy will again have a positive
influence on him as by creating a friendly
surrounding may make him feel like his
own place (Rechichi, 2015).
Health He has been known to
experiment with alcohol and
other drugs including
Marijuana, which people use to
achieve a feeling of dizziness
and relaxation. And recently has
been chroming deodorants cans,
which led to the assault of carer
on one particular occasion
(d’Abbs, Shaw and Field,
2017).
While working with him I will create a
bond of trust between Adam and me and
make efforts to correct his behaviour. I will
create a good environment to motivate him
instead of hostility. I will make sure that he
understands that I will support him to
address his issues. Based on his bad habits
of taking drugs and chroming deodorant
cans, my strategy of making efforts to
monitor his behaviour & making him aware
of the effects of inhaling drugs, will help
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him know his own value for himself.
Education He has been in 14 different
placements before moving to
OOHC 5 months ago. Now he is
presently enrolled to a school
but he rarely attends.
I will make him understand the importance
of education as this will allow him to know
more about the world around him.
Introducing the computer to him will amaze
him. Having books & other learning
materials at home will be better. Further, I
will assist him to make new friends at
school to reduce his anxiety. As he was in
14 other placements, this will positively
influence my strategy to make him learn
necessity of education & school.
Other It has been noticed that, he
sometimes leaves OOHC for a
couple of days before arriving at
his mother's house & reports
that he is staying with his
friends. He loves hip hop music
and wanted to be a rapper when
he will be old.
Here, my strategy will be to talk to his
friends where he goes to stay (Turnbull and
Hodge, 2017.). Further, I will support him
regarding his aim to become a rapper for
which I will provide him hip hop music so
that he can keep his mind diverted towards
it and avoid taking drugs. Based on his
interest in hip hop music will influence my
strategy in a good way, as he will avoid his
bad habits by keeping his mind engaged in
music.
PART 2
1. A short script outlining my introduction to my first meeting with Adam.
As a worker in the Out of Home Care house, it is my responsibility to provide
opportunities for children to experience love, secure, stable & safe relationships. To know more
about Adam and make myself introduce to him, I went to visit him to establish a professional
relationship with him (Volkow, Baler and Weiss, 2014). My purpose for this visit was to build a
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positive relationship so that I can assist him. This is how we started our conversation with each
other:
Me: hi, I am a residential care worker at Out of Home Care house. What is your name?
Adam: Hi, myself Adam.
Me: tell more about yourself.
Adam: I am 14 years old, my father's name is David and mother's name is Amelia. I love my
mother as she is very close to me & I miss her so much.
Me: OK. Don't worry boy I will soon take you to her. So, from now I will be taking care of you
in OOHC house, and that my supervisor asked me to take care of yours. My profession is taking
care of children and helping them in their issues. I provide them solutions to overcome their
problems and I can be your friend as well. You can share your thought, views, & problems with
me without hesitating.
Adam: Ok.
Me: what are your hobbies?
Adam: I love listening to hip hop music and I want to be a rapper when I will grow old.
Me: That's great, we will have a good singer at our house. I will bring some CD's for you to
listen. For now, I am leaving but we will meet soon. Bye Adam and take care.
Adam: Bye.
2. What benefits you think you could bring while working with Adam?
While making interaction with Adam, I came to know that he only seeks for love and
care from everyone specially his mother. He loves her mother so much and misses her daily, and
he often used to run away from home to be with his mother (Koppel, Brust and Gloss, 2014).
Moreover, he leaves for a couple of days before arriving at his mother's house & reports staying
with friends. He never meets his father as he lives interstate and he has no other family in this
country. While reading his case file I came to know that, he used to take alcohol & other drugs
including Marijuana and most recently he has been chroming deodorants cans, which led to
assault of carer on one particular occasion (What is out – of – home care? 2016).
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After knowing him through our conversation at first meet, it has been understood that he
needs a friendly, safe, and positive environment. I will make sure to offer him this type of
surrounding so that he can feel comfortable. I will ask his mother to frequently visit Adam as she
only lives an hour away from him, this will make him strong to live without her mother at
OOHC. It is very important for me to build a relationship between Adam and his family. I will
provide him musical instruments and CD's as he loves hip hop music and wanted to become a
rapper. I will provide him Viewpoint tool which will allow him to participate in care planning
process. This tool will enable him to share his experiences, views, & worries.
PART 3
1. What actions might you take? Consider your legal responsibilities.
During my second meeting with Adam, I found him returning home with loose singlet
and I noticed a large bruise on his shoulder. I expressed my concern for him by assisting him
with first aid instead of panicking. There was fear in his eyes either because of a large bruise on
his shoulder, or he was scared that I might scold him for this. I made him feel relax and calm so
that he can share what has happened to him and how. Later on I asked him about how he got hurt
and why he is wearing loose singlet (Lawrence-Webb, 2018).
2. After asking Adam about the bruise, he agrees to tell you, only if you promise not to tell
anyone. What would you say to Adam? What would you do?
Afterwards, he agreed to tell me about the bruise, and I have promised him that I will not
tell anyone about this as I wanted him to trust me. I had decided to first listen to his problem and
then only I will take further actions on it. I assured him, that this will be a secret between him
and me & I will never share this to anyone else. He told me that he had a fight with his friends as
they were teasing him. I supported him instead of reacting against him, because if I have reacted
against his thoughts, it might have pressurised him and it could have also affected our relation of
trust.
PART 4
1. How would you respond to David’s request?
In this situation, I would have assured David that I will try my best to convince Adam
and asked his father to arrive in the evening. I would have convinced Adam emotionally that
after so long his father has come to meet him and that he missed him since he was away from
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Adam from last few years. I told him that family is very important to achieve life goals, and only
parents support children in every situation (Mann, Golombek and Ramhamadany, 2017).
2. What are Adam’s rights in this situation? What support could you provide to Adam at this
time?
Children from age of 8 to 15 years have certain rights, and so Adam shall have the right
to his opinion & expression and he should be protected against all forms of disregard &
exploitation. At this situation I will motivate him to once meet his father. I will emotionally
convince him to once forget his anger towards his father and try to respect him. I told him them,
he had moved into Out of Home Care house and he might be frustrated for this and for this
reason even his parents have also been suffered a lot and that he should respect his parent's love
and care.
3. Referral to support services/programs to encourage /provide social support for Adam
There are different types of social support that I can use to encourage social support for
Adam. Sharing my point of view, that telling how I have handled this situation will be better to
develop a better understanding of a situation. I will explain him that I would have met my father
if he had come to meet me after so long (McRoy, Oglesby and Grape, 2018).
4. What ethical/legal responsibilities would you have in this interaction?
My legal/ethical responsibility in this situation is to protect Adam from any psychological
stress which might have occurred due to his father's meet. According to the Code of Conduct
approved by carers mainly focus to encourage stability & positivity in relationship between a
young person & their care worker. Ethical behaviour means doing right thing for the patient. My
responsibility is to recognise, interpret the problem and then only act upon it according to the
standards within given context.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals:
Arning, K. and Ziefle, M., 2015, June. “Get that Camera Out of My House!” Conjoint
Measurement of Preferences for Video-Based Healthcare Monitoring Systems in Private
and Public Places. In International Conference on Smart Homes and Health
Telematics (pp. 152-164). Springer, Cham.
Cohen, L.W., Zimmerman, S. and Grabowski, D., 2016. The green house model of nursing home
care in design and implementation. Health services research. 51. pp.352-377.
d’Abbs, P., Shaw, G. and Field, E., 2017. The impact of subsidized low aromatic fuel (LAF) on
petrol (gasoline) sniffing in remote Australian indigenous communities. Substance abuse
treatment, prevention, and policy. 12(1). pp.38.
Koppel, B. S., Brust, J. C. and Gloss, D., 2014. Systematic review: Efficacy and safety of
medical marijuana in selected neurologic disorders Report of the Guideline Development
Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neurology. 82(17). pp.1556-
1563.
Lawrence-Webb, C., 2018. African American children in the modern child welfare system: A
legacy of the Flemming Rule. In Serving African American Children (pp. 9-30).
Routledge.
Mann, B., Golombek, R. and Ramhamadany, E., 2017. Breaking the cycle–enhancing asthma
care through development of an asthma care bundle.
McRoy, R. G., Oglesby, Z. and Grape, H., 2018. Achieving same-race adoptive placements for
African American children: Culturally sensitive practice approaches. In Serving African
American Children (pp. 85-104). Routledge.
Rechichi, V., 2015. Volatile substance misuse: Vanished into thin air? Of Substance: The
National Magazine on Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs. 13(1). pp.12.
Turnbull, D. and Hodge Jr, J. G., 2017. Driving under the influence of marijuana laws and the
public's health: public health and the law. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. 45(2).
pp.280-283.
Volkow, N. D., Baler, R. D. and Weiss, S. R., 2014. Adverse health effects of marijuana
use. New England Journal of Medicine. 370(23). pp.2219-2227.
Online:
What is out – of – home care? 2016. [Online]. Available Through:
<http://www.familymatters.org.au/what-is-out-of-home-care/>.
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