You have developed a goal plan for a child. The parents agree with the plan, which involves summer camp and other recreational activities over the summer, all with a therapeutic program. The teacher calls to tell you that this child can hardly benefit from school and that sending him to camp is a waste of the taxpayer’s money. What he needs, she tells you, is therapy. Who owns the problem? 

In the above situations, identify who owns the problem. As you study each case, decide whether it is you, as the worker, who owns the problem; whether the client and perhaps the client’s family owns the problem; or whether both you and the client own the problem at the same time.