Case Study…Teenage Pregnancy

Part 1

Betty’s mother has problems with consumption of alcohol. Betty and her sisters are living in a home where there’s minimal food, heat, and a huge infestation of bed bugs. Betty and her sisters spent their childhood in and out of foster homes.  Betty is developing truancy tendencies in her early teens and became pregnant from her relationship when they were both 16. Betty needs care during her pregnancy.  She isn’t eating well because she feels as if she’ll gain weight.  She is also fighting with her boyfriend and has come into the office with bruises on her face and arms.  She has also stop going to school and has a hard time getting along with peers.  Betty doesn’t have any health insurance and as a result is not going regularly for doctor’s visits.

Part 2

Betty deliver’s her child.

Betty has decided to keep her child, rather than give her up for adoption, and because Betty doesn’t have a stable home and lives in and out of shelters, DCP&P has gotten involved with baby Candy and has put the baby in a foster home.

Part 3

Betty has left her mother’s home.  She has no job or skills.  Betty is homeless.  When the shelter Betty was staying in could no longer handle Betty’s defiance in breaking curfew, she was asked to leave.  Betty’s sisters, followed by Betty came to live with their father. All the children is living with their father however, he has a one bed room apartment and DCP&P  is telling him he needs more space for the family or they can no longer live with him.  Betty’s father doesn’t work however, he is looking for employment but has very little skills.  Betty’s father also has a alcohol and cocaine addiction.  He cannot control his rages when he is withdrawing from the drugs and alcohol.

The death of Betty’s mother has come all of a sudden.  It has caused Betty to suffer with restlessness, confusion, lack of eating and stress.  Her social service records reveal that she suffered from speech disorder episodes in her childhood as well. Betty has also spoken to her social worker about her difficult relationship with her daughter Candy. The child is doing well in school and is liked by people, she behaves very badly with her mother.

An investigation of Betty’s history reveals that she may well have been neglected during her childhood. Both her father and mother had drug and alcohol related problems and DCP&P is afraid that Candy will suffer from the same treatment. Her mother left home when Betty and her sisters were very young, following which she was placed in a home for children. Betty and her sisters were taken in the care of social services when they were young and placed in a children’s home. They certainly did not have anybody to provide them with emotional or psychological support or to help them with their school work.

1.Identify and sort through the relevant facts presented by Betty.
Identify the problems, issues, and concerns that arise with Betty’s situation.

2. What are the most pressing issues that Betty should be encouraged to assess and address?

3. Identify the positive and strengths aspects of Betty’s situation.

4. Analyze the issues in terms of knowledge presented in the readings.

5. Use resources to develop a list of options and an initial plan of action for intervention with Betty. Who should be involved in the intervention for Betty? Who should also be referred for intervention?

6. Identify any additional information, research knowledge, and resources that are needed to develop and select options; identify ways to gather what you need; gather what you can.

7. Develop a strategy for social work practice with Patricia. Be sure that you have a concrete and specific strategy for how you would address her social problems. What are the intervention goals? Following treatment, what kinds of referrals in your practice community would you make and why?

8. Identify methods for evaluating outcomes of your plan and next steps/revisions of the plan, depending on various possible outcomes.

9. Discuss implications for community intervention, prevention planning, social policy reform, and advocacy that are associated with Betty’s situation.