Working with Children
The Matthews family live in a 3 bedroomed terraced house in Ynysybwl, a village on the outskirts of Pontypridd in South Wales. The house is privately rented from a landlord who owns several houses in the neighbourhood. Unemployment is high in the local area and many of the residents are below the poverty line. The Matthews family have had to apply for help from a food bank twice in the past year. Barbara Matthews (41), from a black Caribbean background, is in relationship with Peter Jones (44), who is white Welsh. They have two children, Chloe, aged 4, and Otis, aged 18 months. Barbara has two children from a previous marriage, Natasha, aged 14, and Marie, aged 11. Their father, Billy (42, white Welsh) is now in a relationship with another man, Tony (35). Neither Barbara nor Peter work and are reliant on welfare benefits. However, these have been stopped twice in the last year due to the parents failing to attend the job centre and failing to fill in and send off the correct paperwork. Barbara suffers from clinical depression for which she is treated through her GP. However, she frequently forgets to take her medication.
Billy is very keen to have regular contact with his two children and Barbara has no objection to this. However, Peter thinks that he should not be allowed near children because of his sexuality and verbally abuses Billy whenever he comes to collect his children. As a result, Billy no longer comes to the door, so the children walk to meet him at the end of the road. However, Peter will still shout insults at Billy and his partner, in front of all the other neighbours. His behaviour is definitely at its worst when he is under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Peter drinks heavily on a daily basis and also injects amphetamines several times a week. This causes him to be agitated and aggressive. Neighbours have reported hearing violent rows between Barbara and Peter to the police on several occasions. On one occasion Peter was arrested for criminal damage and on two other occasions he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Barbara. However, she has refused to give any evidence against Peter and has always denied that he has physically assaulted her. Recently, Otis’s health visitor was concerned to see that Barbara had a black eye when she called around. Barbara said that this was caused by a fall, although this did not convince the health visitor.
The family home is in a very poor state of repair. There is rising damp in the downstairs area and there is a severe problem with the plumbing. In heavy rain, the sewers appear to flood, causing the toilet and sinks to overflow with sewerage. Peter has contacted the landlord about this, but he has said that they need to take the problem up directly with the water company. He says that if he is to fix the rising damp he will have to put up their rent. As they have fallen into arrears twice in the last year, Barbara and Peter know that they cannot afford a rent increase and say nothing. There is no heating in the house and the windows in the bedrooms do not shut properly. The family rely on electronic storage heaters in the winter when they can afford to run them, but for much of the time have to make do by wearing extra layers of clothing.
Natasha has become a cause for concern to her teachers at school. She used to be a cheerful and friendly young person, but over the past year has become increasingly sullen. She has also been caught and arrested several times for shoplifting and now has a Youth Offending Service officer supervising her on a short community order. Even more concerning is her risky sexual behaviour. Natasha has taken to wearing very revealing clothes and has a ‘boyfriend’ who is 19 years old. She often leaves the house late in the evening to go out with him and frequently does not return home all night. On such occasions, Barbara has not called the police but has had screamed at Natasha when she returned home. Recently there was an incident in which Barbara slapped her across the face and pulled her into the house by her hair. Peter and Natasha do not get on well. He often refers to her using offensive words such as ‘slut’ and ‘slag’ and has also made some racist comments to both Barbara and Natasha, implying that all black women are promiscuous. Recently, after one big family argument, Natasha walked out and said she was going to live with her father. Billy was willing for her to stay with him, but she soon returned home when it became clear that he would not tolerate her risky sexual behaviour and called the police about her ‘boyfriend’.
Marie tends to try to be the peace maker at home. Although she is only 11, she normally cooks the evening meal for all of the family and does many of the chores around the home. She gets very upset when she sees family members arguing, so tries to distract them by drawing them pictures or singing to them. Her teacher is worried about how she will cope when she starts secondary school next year, as she is already targeted by bullies. She wears thick glasses and has an unwashed and unkempt appearance and is often picked on by other children. She has one best friend in school, though, a girl in her class who uses a wheelchair. At home, Barbara tends to ignore Marie, while Peter often makes jokes at her expense, particularly about her glasses. He does impressions of her which Barbara laughs at. Marie is very close to her dad but doesn’t like to stay for too long at a time with him as she worries about what might be going on at home when she is not there.
Chloe is of an age where she could be going to nursery, but she has not been registered with a school either for a nursery place or to start reception, which she should be doing next term. She is also behind on her immunisations. Chloe has extremely violent temper tantrums, and can make herself pass out by holding her breath when she is upset. As a result, everybody in the family tends to do things to make sure that she is kept happy at all times. She is given whatever sweets and toys she demands, even when the family is short of money. Peter dotes on Chloe, calling her his ‘princess’. Whenever Chloe is upset, Peter ends up shouting at one of the other family members, blaming them for upsetting her.
Otis does not appear to be meeting his developmental milestones. At 18 months old, he is barely able to walk and frequently falls over. When the health visitor came to the house, she found him strapped into a car seat in front of the television. When he was allowed out of the car seat he simply crawled over to a corner of the room and sat watching his mother and the health visitor. When offered toys by the health visitor, he took them reluctantly and discarded them after a couple of minutes. He did not react when Barbara left or re-entered the room and did not give any response when the health visitor picked him up to give him a cuddle. Barbara admitted that he ‘gets overlooked’ because the other children and Peter keep her so busy. He appeared especially tense and watchful when Peter entered the room.
TITLE: “From the case study: Assess the overall strengths and needs of this family, taking full account of their culture (40%). For each child, describe their current state of development and how the situation may affect them (60%).
