Joe Brown Substance Abuse Case Study

Browns Family’s Assessment

Joe Brown

Joe Brown is a thirty five year old, African-American male. He has a history of alcohol abuse dating back approximately twenty years. He has quit drinking and has six years of sobriety. He has been married to Cindy for six years and they have two children together, Joe Jr. five years old and Jewel two years old. Joe also has a son from a previous marriage, Corey age sixteen. Joe is a carpenter by trade, but currently works at the airport. He is the primary income earner for the family. Joe has a strong belief in his faith and he hopes his family can become involved in his faith. Joe is concern with the family’s living arrangement above the bar and the alcohol and drug usage at the bar. Joe is angry

with his wife drug relapse and worries about her sobriety. Joe is also concern with his oldest son’s behavior problems. Joe is dissatisfied with his current job at the airport and even though the family’s income is over the poverty guidelines, Joe is having difficulty paying the household’s bills. Joe wants the family to stay together.
Cindy Brown
Cindy Brown is a twenty eight year old, African-American female. She has a history of drug abuse. She had stopped using after giving birth to Joe Jr., but had a relapse during her pregnancy with Jewel. Afterwards, Children and Family Services became involved with the family for six months. She has been married to Joe for six years. Cindy has a cosmetology license and she worked part time as a beautician before becoming pregnant with Jewel. She is currently styling her neighbor’s and friend’s hair at her house. She does not have a driver license and it becomes difficult to go shopping on the bus with the children. She usually ends up waiting for Joe in his free time to take her shopping. She is the primary caretaker of the family. Cindy is concern with Joe Jr. recent change in behavior, and she feels it is related with Corey being in the household. She feels that Corey’s bad influence is spreading to Joe and Joe Jr., leaving her with the feeling of disrespect. She does not want to be disrespected in her house. Cindy is confused about the family’s feelings and she wants to avoid stress. Cindy admits to having impulses to use drugs again. She is afraid that Corey’s behavior will again get Children and Family services involved with her family.
Corey
Corey is a sixteen year old, biracial male. He has lived with his mother, Janelle, Caucasian female for his first thirteen years. Janelle arranged for Corey to live with his father after episodes of sneaking out of the house during late hours, hanging with the wrong crowd, and a decline of his grades in school. Corey has shown incidents of behavior problems and resentment feelings toward his parents. Corey’s resentment stems from feelings of abandonment. He does not like his new school, nor has he made any new friends, and he is having difficulty with the bus routes. Corey admits to being angry and he does not know how to express his feeling into words. Corey has express an interest in obtaining his driver license. Corey admits to being confused in relation to his biracial identity.
Joe Jr.
Joe Jr. is a five year old, male. He is the eldest of the two children of Joe and Cindy. He is starting kindergarten and is display a behavioral change. He is resisting both multiple activities and going to bed at night. His sudden change has enacted some frustration from his parents.

Janelle
Janelle is a Caucasian female and the mother of Corey. She arranged for Corey to live with his father, Joe, after some behavior issues. Janelle feared Corey was heading in the same path as Joe had traveled during his early years. Janelle stated she had failed raising Corey and hoped Joe would be able to influence Corey to do better. Janelle also hoped Corey could connect with his African-American Heritage.
Jewel
Jewel is a two year old, African-American female.

She is the younger of the two children of Joe and Cindy. She was born during her mother bout of drug use. Children and Family Services was monitoring the case and closed the case after six months.

1. I can say the entire family is the client. The entire family have issues that needs to be addressed, and as a social worker, I can suggest a few goals for the family so it will not overwhelm the family unit. I feel Cindy’s issues are a priority over the other family’s needs, because she is the primary caretaker of the family. Cindy has also stated she is under stress and have impulses of using again. Working with Cindy also crosses over to the other family members to also help them.

2. The family is in the pre-contemplation stage. The family has not consider its issues as problems and the family members are looking at other individuals as the problem.

3. One motivation for change will be the family staying together. Another would be building trust, positive communication, and prevent a negative experience.

4. Environmental supports for the family are Joe’s job at the airport, Corey’s school, and the local stores where Cindy shops. The bus as transportation can be an example of environmental

support.
5. Cindy environmental barriers were taking the bus to go shopping, and living above a bar. There were known drug and alcohol use at the bar that could entice Cindy’s past behaviors. Corey’s barrier are not knowing the bus routes and not knowing how to respond to classmates in school. Joe’s barrier is his dislike toward his workplace.
6. Cindy’s strength is having a cosmetology license, and managing the household. She is also resilient concerning her past drug use. Joe’s strength as the family earner is stated. Joe belief in his faith is a strength. Corey’s strength is that he wants to comply with the family rules and he wants to fit in.
7. I see the family challenges starting with communication, no one is talking with the other members. Everyone seems to be holding their thoughts or feeling inward instead of expressing their feelings. Corey stated he does not know how to express his feeling. Joe seems to be holding on to anger toward his wife relapse that was over two years ago. His anger is hinging on mistrust that his wife is going to break her sobriety again.
8. Cindy has social support from her family and friends. Her family and friends come to Cindy’s house for hair appointments. Corey has not made any friends at school, but he is supported by his father, Joe, and his mother, Janelle. Joe has social support from his wife. Joe is also very critical of Cindy’s relapse and Cindy is very critical of Corey’s behavior issues both resulting in negative support.
9. Joe felt that he was unjustly fired from his carpenter job because he was African-American. Corey is dealing with his place in society as a biracial person. It sounds like he left a mostly white neighborhood to arrive in a mostly black neighborhood, and he is having identity issues with the surrounding cultures.
10. Sexual orientation regarding the family was unknown.
11. Cindy and Corey do not mention any spiritual affiliation but Joe is strongly involved in his faith and wishes for his family to get deeply engage into it.
12. Cindy’s responsibilities are managing the household, taking care of the children, and styling her neighbors’ and friends’ hair when needed. Joe’s responsibilities are financial earnings, making family decisions, and giving his feedback. Corey responsibilities are going to school, making good grades, and staying out of trouble.
13. The family has unclear communication patterns, their style of communication falls onto the Laissez-Faire style of communicating. In this style of communication, family members are often described as "emotionally divorced" from one another. Not much is discussed among members of the family, and parents often don't have an interest or investment in the decisions made by their children. Conflicts tend to be rare in these family situations, as everyone is free to do as they want (Yanca Y.J., & Johnson, L.C., 2008).
14. The decision making pattern is dominated by Joe. Joe decides on the important issues concerning the family. For example, Cindy feels that Corey is a bad influence on the family and does not want him around, but Joe has made a strong demand that Corey is staying. Joe has also stated that if his family join his faith, then things would be alright. When Joe allowed Corey into the family, he did not consult with Cindy. Joe also is making the decision on Corey not being allowed to get his driving license.
15. Cindy’s area of concern is she believes Corey is having a negative and disrespectful effect on the family. She thinks her son’s change of behavior is cause by Corey’s behavior. She is also concern about the bus rides she has to take to the store when Joe is not available. Joe is concern over his wife sobriety, he questions if she will use again. Corey’s concerns involved getting his driver license, fitting into society, and being accepted by his family.
16. A goal for the family would be to arrange a day in which the family can openly speak to one other about their issues and concerns. The objective is to learn a communication style to fully express their feelings. A task would be to speak with each member of the family and learn about the issues of concern and to address their concerns to the other family members.
17. Based on the problem I have identified, the type of change will begin to open up communication within the family unit. Family members will learn how to express their thoughts and feelings among one another. Understanding will bring trust.
18. The unit of attention is the family.
19. The strategy in which I would use is the family-centered practice. I have choose this practice because the unit of attention is the family. It allows for the entire family to be involved in the development of an intervention, and gives everyone a voice to determine what is right by them. Since Joe is the primary decision making, family-centered practice allows other members to be able to injection their decisions without feeling left out of the process. Since the family is making their own decisions, they are more likely to continue and complete the tasks.
20.

The one principle I can use to take action with this family is “The Non-Judgement Attitude” principle. I chose this principle because the family members have been judging each other regarding their perception of their issues. A main goal for the family would be to stop judging each other and to help one another to succeed in obtaining goals by working together.

21. One immediate crisis is Cindy being overwhelmed with the day to day activities and her impulses to use again. Corey has a crisis because he has failed to make friends in school, and he has alienated himself from his classmates. Corey has resentment feeling toward his parents. Joe is dissatisfied with his new job.

22. I would make alcohol and drug referral services for Cindy, counseling services for the entire family, parenting classes for both parents, a father engagement program for Joe, a mentoring program for Corey, Early Head Start program for Joe Jr., Cindy can also work on marketing her business to generate additional income for the

family.