- Richard--Self-employed father who has invested the family's money in making his nine-step self-help program succeed. Has a seven-year-old daughter named Olive with Sheryl.
- Sheryl--Secretly smoking mother who divorced a previous husband, bringing into the family a child, Dwayne, from that previous relationship. Argues with Richard about family finances, but thinks about the family's best interests.
- Olive--Seven year old who dreams of winning the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Kind and sweet little girl.
- Dwayne--Fifteen year old who has taken a vow of silence until he reaches his goal of becoming a pilot in the AirForce. Claims he hates his family, but protective of Olive.
- Edwin--Richard's father who comes to live with the family after getting kicked out of his retirement home for his heroin addiction. Brash and crude with a drug and porn addiction.
- Frank--Sheryl's brother who comes to live with the family after attempting suicide when his boyfriend leaves him. He loses a prestigious scholarly job as a result.
We found four potential sources of conflict for the Hoovers:
- Mental health (Frank's suicide attempt)
- Drug addiction (Edwin's heroin habit)
- Living in a multi-generational household (With grandparents, children, and then grandchildren)
- Family with a failing business; family finances tied up in this business
- Living in a blended family (With Dwayne being from a previous relationship and coming to live with Richard for example)
Gay male suicide
- 21% of gay males had made a detailed suicide plan
- 12% of these men had attempted suicide on more than one occasion
- Suicide was attempted generally before age 25, so Frank is an outlier in this case
The elderly and drug addiction
- In nursing homes, they generally take between 4 and 7 pills DAILY, so there's a high prevelance of abuse and addiction
- Almost 40% of the drugs in nursing homes are central nervous system drugs, painkillers, sedatives, or tranquilizers -- which are highly addictive prescription drugs
Multigenerational and blended families
- 4.3 million multigenerational households which account for 5.6% of family households in the U.S.
- At least 1 in 3 children are expected to live in a blended family before the age of 18
Air Force Policy
- Hopeful/potential pilots are not allowed to be colorblind
- This policy directly impacts Dwayne
- He can no longer achieve his dream of becoming a a pilot in the Air Force
- Dwayne is also now not eligible for financial aid given by the Air Force for Dwayne to go back to college
- This has the potential to have another negative financial impact on the Hoover family
- This also has the potential to cause Dwayne to become isolated from his family with this devastating news
Constructivist Perspective
- This perspective helps us as social workers to understand the beliefs that shape the lenses our clients see the world with.
- In working with this family, this perspective helps us identify that Richard believes that will power is related to success.
- This would be an important perspective to apply when working with Richard to deal with the failure of his “9 Steps Program” and working to find a new job.
Ecological Perspective
- This perspective helps us as social workers to recognize the interaction that occur between clients and their environment.
- These interactions include evolving, adapting, and interacting.
- In working with this family, this perspective helps us understand that all behavior makes sense in context rather than viewing behaviors as maladaptive.
Ex: A social worker would not just look at Dwayne and Frank’s sleeping arrangement as inappropriate but would look at it as an adaptation to the circumstances of their changing environment.
Family Systems Perspective
- This perspective helps us as social workers to recognize interactions between members in the family and seek to understand how these interactions influence each member and the client.
- In working with this family, this perspective helps us identify that Richard believes that will power is related to success.
- This would be an important perspective to apply when working with Olive because it helps us understand the roles and norms she has learned within in the family.
Strengths Perspective
- This perspective helps us as social workers to recognize the strengths in each individual and their systems.
- Strengths are important in working with families because you are working with something positive that is already present.
- In working with this family, strengths perspective helps to recognize that despite conflict, these members in this family all care deeply for each other, step up to the plate to help one another when another member need support, and they are extremely resilient.
- Strengths provide a great starting point for working with clients and we would use this when thinking about goals.
Resilience Perspective
- Resilience is the act of overcoming extreme challenges despite circumstances.
- This perspective helps us to identify protective factors in families that help them thrive and help them expand upon those.
- A protective factor in this family is that they all at least try and don’t give up.
- In working with this family I would use this perspective to help them focus on the present and future rather than past misfortunes.
Empowerment Perspective
- This perspective is used to help clients gain a sense of power and competency to take control of their situations.
- In working with this family, empowerment perspective would be very useful especially when working with Dwayne. Although he may feel like he can not achieve his dream because of circumstances out of his control, he has the power to do many other meaningful things in his life and the social worker could use this perspective to help him recognize this.
Dilemma: Edwin has died and now the Hoover family wants to access to his records from private sessions with the social worker
--> We used the ETHIC Model to break down this dilemma to help us come up with a solution
EXAMINE: The Hoover family wants access to the records because Edwin's death is sudden
- This death has left uncertainties within the family --> The family desires closure & wants answers to lingering questions
THINK: Use the Code of Ethics
- 1.07b: Social workers may only disclose confidential information with 3rd party individuals with consent from the client
- 1.07d: States that social workers need to inform clients of potential consequences and risks that accompany disclosing confidential information
IDENTIFY (who is benefiting and who is harmed) :
- Releasing records to the family -->
--Benefit: could assist the family with the grieving process
--Benefit: assist family with providing answers to questions that Edwin can no longer answer
--Risk: breaching confidentiality with the client
--Risk: consequences of breaching agency policy within the agency you are working for and becoming fired
- Not releasing records to family -->
--Risk:family could become upset and refuse to receive services from you anymore
--Benefit: not breaching agency policy or confidentiality with client
CONSULT:
- With expert social worker Tammi Nelson (aka the Tammster) LCSW, ACSW, MSW
--Tammi stated that it is not possible to receive consent to release records from a client who has passed away
- As social workers we are unable to guess or assume what our client would have wanted
OUTCOME/FINAL DECISION:
- We have come to the decision that we cannot release Edwin's records with the rest of the family. Doing so would be a breach in the social work code of ethics and confidentiality of the client
- After discussing this decision with the Hoover family we would discuss their feelings of us coming to this conclusion. We would also assess how the family is coping and continue to work with family and continue to meet them where they are at.
Final Meeting: Check in with Richard and Family
- Progression with MAPS goals
Anticipation/ Review of skills gained for:
- Richard
- Sheryl
- Olive
- Dwayne
- Frank
Little Miss Sunshine--Movie Family Presentation
Sara Hutson, Katie Moore, Kayla Sands, Blair Heidenreich
Application of Perspectives
Application of Perspectives
Application of Perspectives
Policies that Affect the Hoovers
Negative Effects of the Policy
- The Hoover family may not understand how to provide proof for looking for jobs
--They also may not have the resources to provide this information to the unemployment office
- This system can be difficult to navigate for an individual who is self- employed and runs their own business
- This could create difficulties to accurately record their revenue correctly
Some In-Depth Information
Family Problem and Challenge
Ethical Dilemma Continued...
Ethical Dilemma Continued...
Introducing: The Hoover Family
Meet the Family. Am I Right or am right?
What we Learned...
Thank you, and remember, carry some sunshine with you where ever you go