Mother's Abuse of Children: A Case Study

Introduction

The case study analyzed entails a case of child abuse and neglect. The society accuses the mother of child abuse and neglect by leaving the young ones unattended for long, not disciplining them, and bringing different men to her house. Other complaints include alcohol and substance abuse. The mother has two children, a boy and a girl aged eight years and four years, respectively. Importantly, the mother was abused and neglected before in her childhood, and she avoids disciplining her children, claiming that she would not want them to go through the beating experience she did in her life. Using the guidelines by Paul Steinhauer on impulse control and parental responsibility, the primary objective of this analysis is to assess the mother’s capability in bringing up her children desirably, as per the case scenario described.

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Question 1

Paul Steinhauer’s primary goal was to aid the children’s welfare system to achieve all its goals. Steinhauer sought to find means of addressing the psychological needs of disturbed children and adolescents. The fifth guideline by Steinhauer (1992) is impulse control. Impulse control constitutes a parent’s ability to control his or her feelings when they are upset instead of exploding verbally and physically in an inappropriate, frightening, and damaging manner. In most cases, impulse control in parenting helps in reducing the chances of emotional and physical abuse. According to Devine (2015), impulse control defines a situation where a person can hardly control behaviors and emotions.

In most cases, these behaviors could be harmful and could conflict with other people. In parenting, impulse control entails a parent’s ability to control the action of the children. Impulse control fits in this category since the mother can hardly control the behavior of her children. The assessor had to intervene on some occasions, and the mother would claim that her highly unresponsive nature was right and showed that she was used living with her lively children. However, some behavior should be controlled among children. More so, they should learn to understand that they do not always get whatever they want. The children had increasingly gained weight, and the mother claimed that she could not deny them donuts and sweets whenever they wanted them. As such, the children would be aggressive in instances when they failed to get what they want in a school and a different environment away from home.

The sixth guideline by Steinhauer is parental acceptance of responsibility. According to Steinhauer (1992), some parents often believe that their parenting is right regardless of any evidence suggesting otherwise. In such situations, parents and guardians blame other people for their mishaps. Primarily, the continued blaming of others means that they lack the motivation to improve their parenting. The guideline helps in predicting the chances of behavior change in a parent. In the case scenario, parental responsibility is an applicable guideline since the children’s mother believes that her parenting is right.

Further, she asserts that she was disciplined excessively as a child and would not want her children to grow up in such an environment hence explaining her resistance to control her child’s behavior, which is one of the blames she poses. The mother argues that her past cases of abuse and neglect would not need the help of a counselor since it has not influenced her behavior in any way. From this analysis, one can see that the guideline would help in analyzing the parent’s acceptance of responsibility. It would also determine whether she is willing to change towards becoming a responsible parent to her two children.

Question 2

The information from the case scenario that can be included in the guideline of impulse control entails the mother’s incapacity to regulate the amount of alcohol and substances consumed. It is indicated in the study that the mother drinks alcohol and other soft drugs. The mother is absent on almost every weekend, where she goes out clubbing and partying. During this period, she leaves her children under the care of her sister. The inability of the mother to control her partying and clubbing tendencies and focus on the best techniques of bringing up her children is a form of behavior that falls under the guideline of impulse control. As already mentioned, impulse control entails the failure to control one’s feelings. The mother is known for bringing in different kinds of men to the house. Also, the information could include her belief in giving the children whatever they desire regardless of whether it harms her children or not. The children are prone to eating donuts and cakes that have contributed to their gross overweight nature. In such a situation, the mother can hardly control and regulate her children’s behavior; hence it could fall under this guideline.

Similarly, the guideline of parental acceptance of responsibility constitutes of information such as the blames that the mother asserts to show that she is responsible. First, she claims that the son, who provided the names of different men visiting her house every week, was confused. The mother denied all the accusations leveled against her t on irresponsible parenting by blaming her son and attributing his statements to confusion. The mother also blamed the neighbors for spreading malicious rumors with claims that they were jealous. In addition to that, she blamed her reluctant nature to instill positive discipline in her children during playtime to her upbringing since she grew up in an environment where her parents would physically discipline her whenever she was on the wrong. She thought that teaching her children as a form of torture and the children were not indiscipline, but instead, they were lively. All this information fits well in the category of parental responsibility.

Question 3

Accordingly, serious child protection concerns warrant social workers to make difficult decisions that need evaluations on the capacity of a parent to change. Social workers should decide based on whether parents can meet the needs of the children or not. Also, they should determine the aspects of behavior that a parent should chance and whether they can do so within a defined timeframe (Budd, 2001). Social workers should base their decisions on the impact of the continued children’s situation on their life its compromise on a child’s development. The guideline of impulse control is essential in allowing the children’s welfare society to analyze the areas of parenting that the children’s mother should change. Impulse control will help the social workers to determine the impulse control of a parent in a bid to foster the evaluation of the risk of abuse. Similarly, parenting responsibility is critical in allowing society to analyze the parent’s capacity to change for the sake of her children’s welfare and upbringing. Parental responsibility provides for a realistic evaluation of a parent’s desire and will to change.

Question 4

The seventh guideline on assessing the mental status of a parent would be an additional guideline that would help the social workers and child welfare society to determine the parent’s ability or inability to function. Steinhauer (1992) proposes the importance of surveying the mental status of a parent in a bid to allow social workers to analyze how the psychological issues and emotional functioning affect the parenting style of the parent. From the case scenario, it was clear that the children’s mother was lonely and longed for love and companionship, which explained why she would always go out partying on weekends. More so, the parent seems to have been affected by her upbringing. The children’s mother claims that she was frequently physically disciplined when she was a child. As such, this may have contributed to the mother’s inability to teach her children. Assessment of the mental status would help determine the mother’s psychological needs and enabling them to learn how it influences the development of her children.

Question 5

First, one of the concerns noted from the guidelines is that there is a risk of leaving children on hold for several months or years while the social workers wait to determine whether the parents can change their life-long patterns of behavior and parenting (Di Pasquale & Rivolta, 2016). In the scenario under analysis, it is worth noting that the children’s mother claimed that she was willing to change under any circumstance to give her children a better life. She claimed that she was not ready to be separated from her children. Mainly, this shows that the mother was willing to change. However, for change to be effective, she had to be enrolled in a counseling session that would help her in managing her childhood trauma that resulted from the physical discipline that influences her parenting behavior. The change would be imminent after some time. The question that arises is where her two children would be during that time.

Secondly, thorough assessments are required before any decisions are made. Therefore, the process is time-consuming. Some social workers could be biased in the choices they make in instances where they know a family well. Established relationships between community members and social workers could compromise and distort judgment hence undermining the effectiveness of these guidelines. The third concern noted from this analysis is that an adequate assessment is dependent on the cooperation and openness of parents who do not mask their behavior. Primarily, collaboration and transparency of parent help in improving the chances of acquiring the desired outcome. In an event where cooperation and openness are lacking, achieving the desired result would be a daunting task.

Conclusion

Paul Steinhauer’s child welfare guidelines help social workers to determine the risks of abuse of a child hence allowing them to decide on whether to take a child to the childcare centers or leave them under the care of the parent. When conducting these analyses, guidelines five and six were found helpful in allowing the child welfare society to determine whether the mother depicted in the case scenario has the capability of providing the necessary care and upbringing to her child. An added guideline on the assessment of the mental health status would further aid in proper decision-making.

References

Budd, K. S. (2001). Assessing parenting competence in child protection cases: A clinical practice model. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 4(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1009548509598

Devine, L. (2015). Considering social work assessment of families. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, 37(1), 70–83. https://doi.org/10.1080/09649069.2015.998005

Di Pasquale, R., & Rivolta, A. (2016). Parenting capacity assessment for the court in a multifamily group setting. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01882

Steinhauer, P. D. (1992). The Least Detrimental Alternative: A Systematic Guide to Case Planning and Decision Making for Children in Care. Toronto: University of Toronto Press