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Calero&Thoits 1
Family Assessment and Plan: The Shore Family
SW 405 Social Work Practice
Professor Wright
October 17, 2012
By: Yolanda Calero & Carin Thoits
Calero&Thoits 2
The Shore family consists of four people. The mother Nancy 43, her
husband Charley 51, and their two children Rena 18, and Michael 12 (Dorfman, 1988).
Rena their daughter was adopted as a baby, and Michael is their biological son (Dorfman,
1988). Nancy, Charley, and Michael are all currently living together on the second floor
of a duplex apartment given to Nancy by her Aunt Flo (Dorfman, 1988). Rena was living
on the first floor of the apartment since age 13 however, at age 18 she moved out and is
currently living on her own in the basement of an apartment four blocks away from the
rest of the Shore family (Dorfman, 1988). We believe the Shore family is Caucasian. It
was mentioned Charley has blonde hair, however Rena was adopted so her ethnicity may
be different, but the text does not elaborate much on that information.
Nancy and Charley have been married for 23 years. Throughout this time the
Shore family has encountered some family problems (Dorfman, 1988). Both Nancy and
Charley have had issues regarding employment (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy is overweight
and refers to herself as “grossly obese” (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy is extremely pessimistic
and blames her weight issues on a back injury she experienced while working as a nurse
years ago (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy’s back injury left her incapable of working as a nurse
and she continues to have re-occurring flare ups causing her to remain on bed rest for
weeks and sometimes months (Dorfman, 1988). Due to this injury Nancy has been
unemployed and receiving disability checks for the past ten years, which is family’s main
source of income (Dorfman, 1988). Additionally, Nancy suffers from extreme anxiety,
causing her to have panic attacks and leaving her immobilized (Dorfman, 1988). To cope
with this anxiety and panic Nancy chain smokes and does not leave the house due to her
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Panophobia (Dorfman, 1988). Furthermore, Nancy claims these anxiety attacks happen
daily (Dorfman, 1988).
Charley is a tall man with broad shoulders. Charley tends to have a difficult time
separating reality from his daydreams (Dorfman, 1988). Charley tends to come up with
illogical ideas regarding schemes on how to get rich fast (Dorfman, 1988). Additionally,
Charley seeks to be known as somebody important and always had hoped to be a movie
star (Dorfman, 1988). Charley has a hard time keeping jobs. He worked at a comedy club
five years ago doing an amateur comedy routine (Dorfman, 1988). This activity
embarrassed Nancy, however she supports him because it made him happy (Dorfman,
1988). Nancy believes it is her job to take care of Charley. Charley has had a wide range
of jobs such as sales man, self-employed carpet cleaner, and janitor (Dorfman, 1988).
However recently Charley has found it extremely difficult to find or maintaining a job
(Dorfman, 1988). Charley also some mental health concerns, he was hospitalized for four
weeks after he experienced a psychotic break two years ago (Dorfman, 1988). He was
then diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression (Dorfman, 1988). Charley has talked
about suicide and displayed manic behaviors; therefore doctors have put him on Lithium
to balance his mental health condition (Dorfman, 1988). Currently Charley is
participating in a rehabilitation program where he receives minimum wage for training in
janitorial services, an occupation he is familiar with (Dorfman, 1988). However, Nancy is
skeptical about Charley’s present job because she has not received answers regarding
Charley psychological testing (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy is concerned Charley’s
psychological state will continue to prevent him from maintaining a job (Dorfman, 1988).
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Michael, Nancy and Charley’s 12-year-old biological son has had medical
emergencies since infancy (Dorfman, 1988). Michael has chronic asthma and has been
hospitalized fourteen times for this condition (Dorfman, 1988). In addition to Michael’s
serious asthma, at 8 days old he hemorrhaged due to a circumcision complication
(Dorfman, 1988). Michael’s was prone to fevers and remained sickly throughout his
infancy (Dorfman, 1988). Furthermore, Michael experienced another medical emergency
at age 2 ½ when he had a grand mal seizure (Dorfman, 1988). Michael now takes seizure
medication to prevent another seizure from occurring. Aside from Michaels presenting
medical complications he also displays mental and behavioral issues (Dorfman, 1988). At
school Michael has a hard time fitting in with the other children and making friends. He
is constantly bullied and picked on, however he tends to relate more to adults (Dorfman,
1988). Michael’s behaviors have been problematic since kindergarten (Dorfman, 1988).
Michael was placed in a Learning Disability Classroom after the first two months of first
grade (Dorfman, 1988). Furthermore the schools psychologist diagnosed Michael with
fine and gross motor coordination problems (Dorfman, 1988). Michael is aware of his
physical restrictions due to his extreme asthma, which limits him from making any of the
sports teams at school (Dorfman, 1988). However he continues to try out for sports at
school such as softball and track even though he never makes the team (Dorfman, 1988).
Additionally, Michael stated he feels different from the other children at school and is
often rejected. Michael feels alone and unhappy (Dorfman, 1988). He desperately wants
to be accepted and find an activity he is good at (Dorfman, 1988).
Michael has a hard time playing attention in class (Dorfman, 1988). Teachers
have reported he fails to raise his hand, makes strange noises, can’t stay seated, and
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laughs at inappropriate times (Dorfman, 1988). The past summer Michael attended two
overnight camps, where he continued to have behavioral issues (Dorfman, 1988). His
parent received a letter from the camp informing them Michael was not allowed back to
camp due to his inappropriate behavior (Dorfman, 1988). The camp counselors reported
Michael had been disruptive during mealtime and was throwing food and playing with
plates and utensils (Dorfman, 1988).
Rena is attractive, smart, and gifted (Dorfman, 1988). In the past Rena had high
expectations and believed she would be successful (Dorfman, 1988). However recently
Rena has difficulty completing anything she starts. Rena cannot hold a job and currently
has no money (Dorfman, 1988). She continually takes our loans to pay for school and
classes, however she never completes them (Dorfman, 1988). Rena dropped out of high
school attained her GED and applied for Medical School that she dropped out of as well
(Dorfman, 1988). In hopes to motivate Rena Nancy and Charley kicked Rena out of the
house. Rena’s lack of motivation and inability to accomplish her set goals worried and
frustrated Nancy (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy pressured Rena to go to therapy because she
believed Rena had a serious problem (Dorfman, 1988). Rena only agreed to attend
therapy because she was lonely and because Nancy forced her to. Rena was put on the
waiting list to attend therapy at the community mental health clinic however; there is a
long wait (Dorfman, 1988).
The Shore family has multiple layers of troubled relationships (Dorfman, 1988).
One of the main issues contributing to the presenting problems is Nancy’s negative
attitude and extreme anxiety (Dorfman, 1988). If Nancy would receive help regarding her
debilitating anxiety this could potentially help change her negative attitude and improve
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the dynamics of the family (Dorfman, 1988). Nancy’s constant anxiety prevents her from
being connected to outside resources that could further assist her and the family
(Dorfman, 1988).
The family as a whole needs to make changes regarding their family structure.
The children are emotionally disengaged and the family lacks open communication,
flexibility, and structure (Olson, 1999). The Shore family is currently in a state of chaotic
disengagement. There is a lack of productive leadership from Nancy and Charley, which
contributes to an unbalanced home and a closed family system (Olson, 1999).
The value and purpose of the circumplex model in a family assessment is to
illustrate the level of cohesion, flexibility, and communication within a family (Olson,
1999). The Shore family currently lacks cohesion, and is unable to turn to each other for
support and problem solving (Olson, 1999). This further explains the disengagement that
is occurring within the family. The family lacks clear roles and healthy leadership.
Nancy and Charley are unable to communicate effectively with their children. Another
aspect of the circumplex model is to depict the family subsystems (Olson, 1999). There
are four subsystems within the Shore family (Olson, 1999). The first subsystem is
Charley and Michael. Charley and Michael tend to fight and Charley has difficulty acting
like an adult in this relationship. This threatens the relationship between them because
Charley lacks healthy leadership and appropriate father son roles (Olson, 1999). The
second subsystem is between Charley, Nancy, and Michael; they are a subsystem because
they currently live together and Charley and Nancy are still legal guardians of Michael
(Olson, 1999). The relationship between them is chaotically connected, because they all
share concern for Michael’s health condition, however the relationship is not healthy or
Calero&Thoits 7
open. Nancy calls all the shots in this subsystem (Olson, 1999). Nancy and Charley are
chaotically connected because they share a loyalty to the relationship, but there decisions
are impulsive and lack structure (Olson, 1999). Nancy and Rena are the last subsystem of
the Shore family; they share a chaotically separated relationship. Nancy and Rena have
an unhealthy relationship due to Nancy controlling Rena. They furthermore lack healthy
communication (Olson, 1999).
Figure 1 Circumplex Model: The chart below further depicts the Shore family’s
subsystems.
Calero&Thoits 8
(Olson, 1999)
Calero&Thoits 9
After reviewing the circumplex model and the Shore families presenting
problems, one clear goal is increase stability at the home. By increasing a sense of
stability at home this could lessen the stress Nancy and Charlie feel regarding playing the
bills and household expenses. A stable home would allow Michael to have a healthy
foundation to learn and grow. This may also help Rena feel comfortable returning to her
parent’s home so she can save money until she is able to maintain a job. A measurable
objective in increasing stability within the Shore family, is for the family to attended
weekly family counseling to further strengthen communication, accountability, and
respect for one another. A goal for Nancy and Charley’s family subsystem is to increase
positive communication with each other. A goal for Charley and Michael’s family
subsystem would be assisting Charley in clearly understanding and defining appropriate
parent child roles. The Shore family subsystems could achieve these goals by
participating in the same objective stated above which is attending weekly family
counseling sessions paired within their subsystem. These counseling sessions could assist
the Shore family and all it’s subsystems in re-building healthy relationships.
Calero&Thoits 10
Figure 2 Eco-Map and Genogram: The chart below further depicts the Shore family’s
personalized Eco-Map and Genogram.
(Zastrow, 2009)
Calero&Thoits 11
References:
Dorfman, R. A. (1988). Paradigms of clinical social work: the case. (pp. 25-37). New
York : Brunner/Mazel.
Olson, D. H. (1999). Circumplex model of marital & family systems . The journal of
family therapy , Retrieved from www.lifeinnovations.com
Zastrow, C. (2009). Social work with groups: a comprehensive worktext. (8th ed.). United
States: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning.
Calero&Thoits 12