Case Study and City Care Policy

Case Study, Campbell Family

Steven has three children: Michael, Tora and Madee Campbell. The family were living in Geelong and had been referred to an agency in Geelong by ChildFIRST for family support following the death of the children's mother, May, three years ago. The family moved to Melbourne six months ago and have again been referred to Child FIRST, this case has just been picked up by CityCare.

Steven has a mental illness that needs treatment. He hasn't followed up treatment in Melbourne and has not been taking his medication. You decide he is in a crisis, and he needs immediate medical attention; and emergency services are called. Emergency services informs you thatSteven needs intensive, inpatient treatment, followed by outpatient care. May's brother and his family live in Albury, and the extended family live in Myanmar.

You have worked with the Department and it has been determined that the children should be placed into a voluntary out of home care placement with their aunt Shauna (Stephen's sister), in their Melbourne home. Steven had agreed to the voluntary out of home care for Michael, Madee, and Tora. It is expected that this will be required for 6 months. This is your first visit to with Campbell family.

Michael

Michael is 13 years old, is neurodiverse and has a formal diagnosis of Autism. He is receiving NDIS support.

Michael is really good at computer games and has a special interest in maps. Michael attends a specialist school, he can communicate effectively with tools such as bear cards and is an active participant at sports events.

Michael experiences some challenges with his social skills and can become anxious when meeting new people, or when introduced to a new environment as he likes having known routines. Michael can't tolerate loud sounds, such as a ringing telephone or alarms.

Michael's younger sisters constantly tell him he's 'weird' and yell at him if he tries to go into the bathroom when either one of them are in the bath or shower. Michael can get frustrated and upset when they don't understand his needs and has shoved his sisters in the past.

At school, the staff have reported that Michael occasionally demonstrates challenging behaviour when transitioning from one activity to another. Michael can get frustrated if his routine is altered, recently he kicked another student and damaged their artwork. Michael hasn't been to school for a few weeks because Steven finds it difficult to get him ready.

Tora and Madee

Identical twins Tora and Madee are 11 years old.

They haven't had medical or dental checks for at least 12 months. Tora and Madee have largely been caring for themselves, Michael and Steven for several months. Because of Steven's illness, they have been doing the shopping, and cooking, and their diet is poor. The twins say Michael starts throwing things if he doesn't get fed at 7:00 pm.

Even when Steven was feeling well, his focus was largely on Michel and his behaviour, and the twins have missed out on guidance about things such as hygiene and coping with physical changes.

Michael is much taller than them and strong for his age and hurts Madee and Tora when he shoves them. They say it's creepy how he is always trying to come into the bathroom when they are bathing or showering. They spend a lot of time in their bedroom listing to music.

School attendance has been irregular, and they are just at developmental levels expected for their age. Tora , who is much quieter than Madee, is experiencing bullying by two other children at school.

Tora and Madee have little contact with other children and adults outside of school. They have only met their aunt Shauna once as Steven has been unwell and has been scared that Shauna would report him to Child Protection if she saw how they lived.

Madee said she used to play soccer and would like to again. Tora likes to sing and dance but is lacking in confidence.

The family has not participated in any formal religious activities but they do celebrate Christmas and Easter. The twins say they used to celebrate Buddhist holidays with their uncle when their mum was alive, but they haven't seen their uncle and cousins for a long time. The children only speak English.

Questions

1. As a Case Manager working with Michael, Tora and Madee, what would you do to help prepare them for participation in a case conference? Explain the actions you would take in 20 words or more, making reference to appropriate communication

2. What support and advocacy were required for Tora to access individual counselling from the School Counsellor? In your response, make reference to verbal contacts for service provision. (20 words maximum)

3. You need to work with the School Counsellor to coordinate the services of an individual counsellor for Tora. When engaging service providers for support, what information should be included in a contract?

4. During the conference, there was conflict.

a. What conflict resolution strategies did you apply to help the participants reach an agreement? Describe the strategies used, in 20 words or more.

5. Not all of the service providers were present for this case conference. Apart from case conferences, what methods would you use to:

a. maintain relationships with other care team providers. Describe two (2) methods

6. In your case conference, Tora did not participate. How could the Campbell children participate in a case conference when it is not appropriate for them to attend? (30-50 words).

7. Consider the following scenario:

At the end of the conference, you check in with Shauna. You feel she is tired, and admits she is finding it challenging in managing the children's care, transporting them to school and other activities, work, shopping, cooking and cleaning. Shauna occasionally feels out of her depth in caring for the children. Shauna rejects the idea of counselling for herself.

a. What types of community groups could you develop a relationship with for Shauna to receive additional support to address these issues?

b. What actions would you take to develop and maintain these relationships to ensure services provided are meeting Shauna's needs and are relevant? (0-80 words)

8. Consider the following scenario:

You are organising a case conference to review Michael's progress and check on currency of needs and interests.

a. Who would you invite in the case meeting to provide specialist guidance for Michael?

b. If one of the participants couldn't attend in person, how could they still contribute to the case conference?