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The assessment and intervention of child and family problems require social workers to implement a set of specific skills including ethical decision making, multicultural sensitivity, and profound professional competence to convey the necessary risk information to the clients and refer them to the helpful sources of support. The intervention plan that will be introduced in the paper is meant to support the family in overcoming child welfare issues through the fulfillment of the treatment practices and the development of knowledge about a childs developmental needs.
The clients are a single mother (twenty years old), Anna, and her daughter (two years old). The client is from a low-income family and she used to abuse drugs prior to the pregnancy. Although Anna passed through the intervention practices to reduce the infants exposure to the drug intoxication during the prenatal period, her addiction has recently relapsed. The young woman claims that drug use helps her to reduce the excess stress caused by the poor socioeconomic conditions and the inability to take care of her daughter.
The main source of psychological support is her mother who helps Anna to babysit the child while she is working as a waitress. Annas mother immigrated to America from Guatemala at the age of twenty-six, but Anna was raised in the USA and she does not identify herself with the cultural heritage of her family.
Since Anna was a drug addict, her child is at the risk of the cognitive underdevelopment which is also strengthened by the poor parenting style, frequent neglect caused by the maternal distress, and other negative environmental factors. Therefore, it is important to address the obstacles that interfere with maternal well-being and, in this way, it will be possible to improve the conditions for the support of the childs welfare.
Ethical Considerations
The ethical conduct in the social service practice implies the ability to show respect to diversity and dignity of individuals with whom a social worker interacts in the professional context. The consideration of ethical issues is especially important in the field of child and family welfare assessment and counseling, and these practices should be performed in compliance with the applicable ethical standards and principles.
According to the Standards introduced by the National Association of Social Workers (2005), the social services and interventions should be responsive to children and their families, the cultural and social diversity of the clients. Thus, social workers should be constantly engaged in the process of self-education, development of knowledge, and multicultural competence to address the clients problems more efficiently.
Working with child and family issues has many psychological, emotional, and ethical implications. In this professional domain, therapy is interrelated with conveying the important information about adverse developmental outcomes, risk factors, and potential consequences of the infants exposure to the negative experience. The communication with the clients on such delicate and personal subjects creates multiple challenges in the process of ethical decision making.
In the situation when a client has chronic stress or depression, a social worker may feel moral barriers to informing about the negative effects of the maternal mental state on an infants cognitive or physiological underdevelopment. The difficulty arises because the conveyed information may increase the mothers distress and the extension of negative impacts on a childs development. However, acting according to the principle of beneficence, a specialist should make everything possible to benefit his/her clients and take care to not harm (National Association of Social Workers, 2005).
In this way, informing the patient who has stress or problems with drug abuse about the influence of her condition on the course of the childs development is beneficial for her because, in this case, the possibility for the prevention of severe adverse outcomes occurs. Along with this, it is also important to inform the client about the positive sides of intervention and implementation of treatment plan practices to stimulate her for addressing the cognitive-behavioral therapy and increase the efficiency of the intervention.
Intervention Plan
The purposes of intervention and prevention practices are the provision of safety and support of other vital needs to increase the parental readiness for the improvement of their parenting style and behavior. Annas distress and drug abuse are the main problems that put her daughters development at risk as they are associated with a childs neglect and interference with the development of an infants attachment which is regarded as the basis for the establishment of sound parent-infant relationships.
The processes of attachment occur throughout the childhood, and it serves as the foundation for the physical, psychological, cognitive, and emotional development of a child (Mogi, Nagasawa, & Kikusui, 2011). The quality of child attachment to caregivers influence the course of early development and has long-term impacts on its socioemotional performance, psychological well-being, and cognitive aptitude across the lifespan.
While the positive parental attitude and emotions are associated with the development of secure attachment, emotional neglect or abuse may lead to the formation of the psychological insecurity in a child. Thus, Anna needs to refer the parenting education program, such as Parents as Teacher and Parents and Children Together, and cognitive-behavioral therapy that will assist in the adoption of the healthier lifestyle and enhancement of mental condition through the implementation of stress management practices that will increase her emotional and psychological availability to the child (DePanfilis, 2006).
Since the families that are prone to neglect tend to be poor, socially isolated, and lacking access to resources, the intervention should be developed to mobilize concrete formal and informal helping resources (DePanfilis, 2006, p. 56). Anna and her mother need to expand their interrelations with their community members, social, cultural, and religious organizations that would support them in the effective realization of the planned intervention. Although the client does not identify herself with the cultural background of her family, the referral to the culturally related organizations may have a positive impact on the improvement of her social-emotional condition.
Evaluation of Intervention
The main indicators of the intervention program efficiency are the level of maternal emotional engagement in the sessions and the development of an emphatic attitude towards the child. It is observed that the quality of alliance between social worker and mother is related to the increase of positive outcomes in the intervention practice, and many researchers pay great attention to the maternal level of participation in the evaluation of the short-term effects of the interventions (Stolk et al., 2008).
The long-term effects include the increase of the clients maternal sensitivity and self-discipline, as well as the avoidance of drug abuse and the healthier psychological state, which will result in the prevention of adverse developmental outcomes in the child.
Next Session Plan
Further sessions should include cognitive restructuring, stimulation of infant development, and intervention of physical environments at home. The cognitive restructuring may help Anna to replace the current self-defeating metal structures with the positive beliefs that will assist in the improvement of behavioral patterns and social functioning (DePanfilis, 2006). The increase in home safety helps to reduce the risk of a childs injuries and to provide a favorable environment for sound infant development.
And, finally, education about childs developmental needs and the practices that can reduce the developmental and behavioral difficulties allows the caregivers to stimulate the inherent potential of their children and contribute to the development of their welfare.
References
DePanfilis, D. (2006). Child neglect: A guide for prevention, assessment, and intervention. Web.
Mogi, K., Nagasawa, M., & Kikusui, T. (2011). Developmental consequences and biological significance of motherinfant bonding. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 35(5), 1232-1241. Web.
National Association of Social Workers. (2005). NASW Standards for social work practice in child welfare. Web.
Stolk, M. N., Mesman, J., van Zeijl, J., Alink, L. A., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., van Ijzendoorn, M. H., && Koot, H. M. (2008). Early parenting intervention aimed at maternal sensitivity and discipline: A process evaluation. Journal Of Community Psychology, 36(6), 780-797.
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