Case Scenario and Answer Questions

As a human service professional, please review the following case and answer the required questions.

Laura is 13 years old. She has lived with maternal grandmother, aunt and 2 younger siblings (ages 9 and 8) since she was 8. She has no contact with her mother and does not know who her father is. Laura’s grandmother continues to threaten to “send her away” anytime she is displeased with her attitude or behavior. Because of these threats, Laura is always on edge and thinks she will be leaving the home at any time. She has no idea where she would go. When asked where she would like to live, she says, “with my friends”. Her second choice would be to stay where she is.

Laura believes that her grandmother has very low expectations for her future. According to Laura, her grandmother thinks she (Laura) will end up like her mother…a “low life drug addict”…“ a whore” …“a criminal”. She knows her mother was recently arrested again and is in jail at this time. She does see her mother, but the visits are followed by long periods of no contact. Laura recently was suspended from school for fighting. Laura says, “It was no big deal. It was over a boy.” She has started to “run around” according to her grandmother and that she (the grandmother) usually doesn’t know where she is. Laura believes she will have an okay life because she has already been through so many difficult things in her life. Her goal is to become a lawyer and work with troubled youth. Laura does describe herself as being depressed at times and feels sad that her life “is such a mess”. Her feelings toward her grandmother have changed dramatically and, once she is “legal” she doesn’t think she will “ever see her again”.

Answer the following questions:

What are the positives in this scenario? What are the negatives? Discuss.
What are your first concerns? In what order would you address these concerns? How would you begin to address these concerns?
Are there services or community resources that would be supportive of this situation where you live?
Are there any ethnic/cultural/ethical considerations that seem relevant? Discuss why or why not.
Write 5 open-ended questions that you would ask in this situation. Who would you address these questions to? (You can address these questions to more than one person in the scenario if applicable.)
Identify any possible transference/countertransference issues that you might deal with in this situation.