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Family Assessment and Plan: The Shore Family

SW 405 Social Work Practice

Professor Wright

October 17, 2012

By: Yolanda Calero & Carin Thoits

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The Shore family consists of four people. The mother Nancy 43, her

husband Charley 51, and their two children Rena 18, and Michael 12 (Dorfman, 1988).

Rena their daughter was adopted as a baby, and Michael is their biological son (Dorfman,

1988). Nancy, Charley, and Michael are all currently living together on the second floor

of a duplex apartment given to Nancy by her Aunt Flo (Dorfman, 1988). Rena was living

on the first floor of the apartment since age 13 however, at age 18 she moved out and is

currently living on her own in the basement of an apartment four blocks away from the

rest of the Shore family (Dorfman, 1988). We believe the Shore family is Caucasian. It

was mentioned Charley has blonde hair, however Rena was adopted so her ethnicity may

be different, but the text does not elaborate much on that information.

Nancy and Charley have been married for 23 years. Throughout this time the

Shore family has encountered some family problems (Dorfman, 1988). Both Nancy and

Charley have had issues regarding employment (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy is overweight

and refers to herself as “grossly obese” (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy is extremely pessimistic

and blames her weight issues on a back injury she experienced while working as a nurse

years ago (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy’s back injury left her incapable of working as a nurse

and she continues to have re-occurring flare ups causing her to remain on bed rest for

weeks and sometimes months (Dorfman, 1988). Due to this injury Nancy has been

unemployed and receiving disability checks for the past ten years, which is family’s main

source of income (Dorfman, 1988). Additionally, Nancy suffers from extreme anxiety,

causing her to have panic attacks and leaving her immobilized (Dorfman, 1988). To cope

with this anxiety and panic Nancy chain smokes and does not leave the house due to her

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Panophobia (Dorfman, 1988). Furthermore, Nancy claims these anxiety attacks happen

daily (Dorfman, 1988).

Charley is a tall man with broad shoulders. Charley tends to have a difficult time

separating reality from his daydreams (Dorfman, 1988). Charley tends to come up with

illogical ideas regarding schemes on how to get rich fast (Dorfman, 1988). Additionally,

Charley seeks to be known as somebody important and always had hoped to be a movie

star (Dorfman, 1988). Charley has a hard time keeping jobs. He worked at a comedy club

five years ago doing an amateur comedy routine (Dorfman, 1988). This activity

embarrassed Nancy, however she supports him because it made him happy (Dorfman,

1988). Nancy believes it is her job to take care of Charley. Charley has had a wide range

of jobs such as sales man, self-employed carpet cleaner, and janitor (Dorfman, 1988).

However recently Charley has found it extremely difficult to find or maintaining a job

(Dorfman, 1988). Charley also some mental health concerns, he was hospitalized for four

weeks after he experienced a psychotic break two years ago (Dorfman, 1988). He was

then diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression (Dorfman, 1988). Charley has talked

about suicide and displayed manic behaviors; therefore doctors have put him on Lithium

to balance his mental health condition (Dorfman, 1988). Currently Charley is

participating in a rehabilitation program where he receives minimum wage for training in

janitorial services, an occupation he is familiar with (Dorfman, 1988). However, Nancy is

skeptical about Charley’s present job because she has not received answers regarding

Charley psychological testing (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy is concerned Charley’s

psychological state will continue to prevent him from maintaining a job (Dorfman, 1988).

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Michael, Nancy and Charley’s 12-year-old biological son has had medical

emergencies since infancy (Dorfman, 1988). Michael has chronic asthma and has been

hospitalized fourteen times for this condition (Dorfman, 1988). In addition to Michael’s

serious asthma, at 8 days old he hemorrhaged due to a circumcision complication

(Dorfman, 1988). Michael’s was prone to fevers and remained sickly throughout his

infancy (Dorfman, 1988). Furthermore, Michael experienced another medical emergency

at age 2 ½ when he had a grand mal seizure (Dorfman, 1988). Michael now takes seizure

medication to prevent another seizure from occurring. Aside from Michaels presenting

medical complications he also displays mental and behavioral issues (Dorfman, 1988). At

school Michael has a hard time fitting in with the other children and making friends. He

is constantly bullied and picked on, however he tends to relate more to adults (Dorfman,

1988). Michael’s behaviors have been problematic since kindergarten (Dorfman, 1988).

Michael was placed in a Learning Disability Classroom after the first two months of first

grade (Dorfman, 1988). Furthermore the schools psychologist diagnosed Michael with

fine and gross motor coordination problems (Dorfman, 1988). Michael is aware of his

physical restrictions due to his extreme asthma, which limits him from making any of the

sports teams at school (Dorfman, 1988). However he continues to try out for sports at

school such as softball and track even though he never makes the team (Dorfman, 1988).

Additionally, Michael stated he feels different from the other children at school and is

often rejected. Michael feels alone and unhappy (Dorfman, 1988). He desperately wants

to be accepted and find an activity he is good at (Dorfman, 1988).

Michael has a hard time playing attention in class (Dorfman, 1988). Teachers

have reported he fails to raise his hand, makes strange noises, can’t stay seated, and

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laughs at inappropriate times (Dorfman, 1988). The past summer Michael attended two

overnight camps, where he continued to have behavioral issues (Dorfman, 1988). His

parent received a letter from the camp informing them Michael was not allowed back to

camp due to his inappropriate behavior (Dorfman, 1988). The camp counselors reported

Michael had been disruptive during mealtime and was throwing food and playing with

plates and utensils (Dorfman, 1988).

Rena is attractive, smart, and gifted (Dorfman, 1988). In the past Rena had high

expectations and believed she would be successful (Dorfman, 1988). However recently

Rena has difficulty completing anything she starts. Rena cannot hold a job and currently

has no money (Dorfman, 1988). She continually takes our loans to pay for school and

classes, however she never completes them (Dorfman, 1988). Rena dropped out of high

school attained her GED and applied for Medical School that she dropped out of as well

(Dorfman, 1988). In hopes to motivate Rena Nancy and Charley kicked Rena out of the

house. Rena’s lack of motivation and inability to accomplish her set goals worried and

frustrated Nancy (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy pressured Rena to go to therapy because she

believed Rena had a serious problem (Dorfman, 1988). Rena only agreed to attend

therapy because she was lonely and because Nancy forced her to. Rena was put on the

waiting list to attend therapy at the community mental health clinic however; there is a

long wait (Dorfman, 1988).

The Shore family has multiple layers of troubled relationships (Dorfman, 1988).

One of the main issues contributing to the presenting problems is Nancy’s negative

attitude and extreme anxiety (Dorfman, 1988). If Nancy would receive help regarding her

debilitating anxiety this could potentially help change her negative attitude and improve

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the dynamics of the family (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy’s constant anxiety prevents her from

being connected to outside resources that could further assist her and the family

(Dorfman, 1988).

The family as a whole needs to make changes regarding their family structure.

The children are emotionally disengaged and the family lacks open communication,

flexibility, and structure (Olson, 1999). The Shore family is currently in a state of chaotic

disengagement. There is a lack of productive leadership from Nancy and Charley, which

contributes to an unbalanced home and a closed family system (Olson, 1999).

The value and purpose of the circumplex model in a family assessment is to

illustrate the level of cohesion, flexibility, and communication within a family (Olson,

1999). The Shore family currently lacks cohesion, and is unable to turn to each other for

support and problem solving (Olson, 1999). This further explains the disengagement that

is occurring within the family. The family lacks clear roles and healthy leadership.

Nancy and Charley are unable to communicate effectively with their children. Another

aspect of the circumplex model is to depict the family subsystems (Olson, 1999). There

are four subsystems within the Shore family (Olson, 1999). The first subsystem is

Charley and Michael. Charley and Michael tend to fight and Charley has difficulty acting

like an adult in this relationship. This threatens the relationship between them because

Charley lacks healthy leadership and appropriate father son roles (Olson, 1999). The

second subsystem is between Charley, Nancy, and Michael; they are a subsystem because

they currently live together and Charley and Nancy are still legal guardians of Michael

(Olson, 1999). The relationship between them is chaotically connected, because they all

share concern for Michael’s health condition, however the relationship is not healthy or

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open. Nancy calls all the shots in this subsystem (Olson, 1999). Nancy and Charley are

chaotically connected because they share a loyalty to the relationship, but there decisions

are impulsive and lack structure (Olson, 1999). Nancy and Rena are the last subsystem of

the Shore family; they share a chaotically separated relationship. Nancy and Rena have

an unhealthy relationship due to Nancy controlling Rena. They furthermore lack healthy

communication (Olson, 1999).

Figure 1 Circumplex Model: The chart below further depicts the Shore family’s

subsystems.

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(Olson, 1999)

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After reviewing the circumplex model and the Shore families presenting

problems, one clear goal is increase stability at the home. By increasing a sense of

stability at home this could lessen the stress Nancy and Charlie feel regarding playing the

bills and household expenses. A stable home would allow Michael to have a healthy

foundation to learn and grow. This may also help Rena feel comfortable returning to her

parent’s home so she can save money until she is able to maintain a job. A measurable

objective in increasing stability within the Shore family, is for the family to attended

weekly family counseling to further strengthen communication, accountability, and

respect for one another. A goal for Nancy and Charley’s family subsystem is to increase

positive communication with each other. A goal for Charley and Michael’s family

subsystem would be assisting Charley in clearly understanding and defining appropriate

parent child roles. The Shore family subsystems could achieve these goals by

participating in the same objective stated above which is attending weekly family

counseling sessions paired within their subsystem. These counseling sessions could assist

the Shore family and all it’s subsystems in re-building healthy relationships.

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Figure 2 Eco-Map and Genogram: The chart below further depicts the Shore family’s

personalized Eco-Map and Genogram.

(Zastrow, 2009)

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References:

Dorfman, R. A. (1988). Paradigms of clinical social work: the case. (pp. 25-37). New

York : Brunner/Mazel.

Olson, D. H. (1999). Circumplex model of marital & family systems . The journal of

family therapy , Retrieved from www.lifeinnovations.com

Zastrow, C. (2009). Social work with groups: a comprehensive worktext. (8th ed.). United

States: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.

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