Atif Case Scenario for SWK4600b
Case scenario for SWK4600b (Knowledge) Summative Assessment (06.07.2020)
Atif aged 16 lives with his sister Fatima aged 5, and their father Haris. They all live together in their paternal grandmother, Anila’s home in south London. The family are of Punjabi Muslim ethnicity with extended family living in Pakistan.
The children’s mother Meera left the family home about a year ago and now lives with her new partner Adam west of London. Meera and Adam had a baby, Joy, six months ago. Adam is of white British ethnicity.
Atif and Fatima see Joy but it is difficult to arrange visits as the parents do not get on. Visits usually happen when arrangements are made for Meera to collect Atif and Fatima from their grandmother’s home.
Following the family break up and Meera leaving, Haris found it very difficult to cope both emotionally and with practical tasks. These difficulties increased and he lost his job. Haris found it difficult to manage financially, got into debt and the family were evicted for non- payment of rent. Whilst Haris is wary about the involvement of social workers from Children’s Services, he has cautiously agreed to referrals to offer the family support.
Haris has had a previous involvement with psychiatric services over ten years ago, where he was treated for anxiety and depression. He has found the new circumstances of his life extremely difficult and is currently experiencing low mood, irritability and anxiety, including panic attacks.
Due to the eviction, Haris and the children went to stay with their paternal grandmother, Anila. The two children share a bedroom and Haris sleeps on the sofa in the living room. Atif is studying for his GCSE’s but finding this difficult as his sister is noisy. The family are on the waiting list for social housing.
Haris and his mother had a difficult relationship when he was an adolescent and Haris spent a short time being looked after by the Local Authority and received support from the Looked After Children Team and Child in Need service.
Haris’s mother, has struggled with depression for most of her adult life, the severity of which fluctuates. She also has rheumatoid arthritis and has difficulty with her mobility. She is sometimes in a lot of pain and on really bad days has difficulty in getting up from her bed.
Fatima’s school has made a referral to Children’s Social Care because on three occasions she has not been collected from school until after 5 PM and Haris had been difficult to contact. Fatima became very distressed on these occasions, not knowing where her father was. She has come to school sometimes in dirty clothes and has had headlice several times which school staff have had to treat as efforts to engage the family have not worked.
Atif over the last year has become increasingly hostile towards teachers at his school and has had several angry outbursts, including hitting another boy who took his phone. The school are worried about his behaviour and feel he needs extra support. They are very concerned about his home environment and believe intervention from one or more services is required.On each of these occasions the school contacted the Local Authority’s Emergency Duty Team and daytime duty service. The case has not been escalated, but the family are now receiving services from two services below, as part of an ‘Early Help’ intervention.
This family is likely to come into contact with a Student Social Worker from both agencies. These are:
1-A local authority-based social work student who has been asked to work with Atif because the school have noticed a change in his behaviour and are concerned and in relation to Fatima, who has appeared to be lacking positive parental care.
AND
2. The family were referred to a voluntary organisation, a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support helpingfamilies with children through their challenging times. This service usually works with adult family members to support them with their difficulties.
Task
Choose to write about the case from either the perspective of the student social worker based in a local authority setting
or
a student social worker at the voluntary family organisation.
Although this assignment is primarily concerned with theory informed interventions please do make brief reference to the law and statutory guidance that relates to social work with children eg The Children Act (1989) (2004) and adults eg (The Care Act 2014) where appropriate, to help explain the context for intervention.
You are welcome to add the case study above as an appendix to your assignment.
For further advice please follow the guidance provided on SWK4600b Unihub.