Rita Alabi

SW 4997
February 13, 2015
Reflection #2
Case Studies
After reading all 3 case studies, I found that social workers play important roles in
humans lives. I will begin with the case study 1-2 Using the ecological model in Generalist
Practice: Life transitions in late adulthood, p.10-14. The case of Mrs. Lilly Goodman a 77 years
older adult who is going through lifes transition because of her developmental stage, change in
status and roles and the crisis she is facing. This is a very clear example of the beliefs of older
adults who find it difficult to adapt to a new environment and getting use to new things. Even
though the team knew that Mrs. Goodman was incapable of caring for herself due to her 2
strokes episode and painful arthritis, her wish was still respected by trying to evaluate her living
condition from all areas before sending her home, the social worker helps with resources that
could help her cope with her condition at home since she cannot care for herself. The social
worker is primarily responsible for addressing life transitions to help Mrs. Goodman move
through stressful life changes by helping her to adapt and cope with the new environment, these
make the social worker an enabler, a facilitator and a teacher.
The second is the case of Trent, a 5-year-old boy with behaviors problems who was sent
out of the classroom to the hallway for a timeout due to his disrupting behaviors. The black
stigma played a role, in this case, it is stereotypical that black males have behavior problems,
with this the teacher did not take further steps to see to Trents behavior or even refer him to the
school social worker before the intervention of Jo the social work intern sighted the boy as she
was walking down the hallway. Jo the social work intern did good by choosing to intervene using

family history and genogram, it shows competency in the social workers practice, with this
intervention model, Trents behaviors improved.
The third case 8-6 empowering adolescent girls in foster care. According to the case
study, the unique developmental challenges that African American girls face in foster care are
Enough to demoralize them but I wonder if these experiences are common among the African
American girls only. These experiences are common among African-Americans in general,
people of color generally experience oppression, discrimination, racism and so on. The girls
would have preferred to work with a black worker due to their experiences in their various foster
homes but because they did not have a choice, they had to comply with the worker assigned to
them. I like the way the social worker conducted the seven sessions, even though the girls were
at first reluctant to work with her she never took it personal. Instead, she found a way to interact
with them while maintaining the ethical principles of social work. She treated the girls with
respect and did not discriminate against them nor use any derogatory words on them.
After reflecting on all 3 cases, I noticed that all of them have a common theme of the
NASW cultural competence, and diversity that make social workers well equipped to deliver
culturally competent care to clients in the helping profession.