The Jones’s family structure is considered “extended family”. This consists of two or more adults that are either related by marriage or blood and they live in the same home. Their relatives also reside in the same residence. This family structure includes all of the relatives living with one another and working toward common goals like raising children and maintaining the household duties. Due to financial hardships or health issues a lot of extended families include cousins, aunts, uncles, or grandparents living with one another.
Their belief in God and their local church are the main strengths within this family. The patriarch of this family is an ex pastor and he made sure that his daughter, brothers and sisters, and his grandkids were brought up in the church and made sure that they took the lessons with them throughout their life. This family didn’t pass through their life cycle smoothly. They suffered from illnesses, financial problems, and mental health issues. The stages of the life cycle are: independence, marriage, parenting, launching adult children, and senior years of the different family members. The mother, Marissa, grew up in the rough area of South Georgia where she went through financial hardships with her siblings. A few years after high school she gave birth to her daughter, Ella. Being a young parent and the contributions that come with it are never easy. While her daughter Ella was in high school, she married a man name, Kaden. Upon marrying him she was informed of the burdens that he came with. He has history of drug abuse and he is still a user as of today. After bringing him into her home he was very active in participating in frequent drug abuse. He was recently released from jail due to a probation violation. They are currently looking for a rehabilitation center for him to go too. Her only daughter went off for school and she just shared that she was having issues with her sexuality. With the hectic situation within her home, She’s the primary caregiver of her elderly father and her brother has recently moved in with her and her husband. There is no form of communication that is used in the household. This has affected the actual structure of the family. Two relationships that work well for the family are the relationship with Marissa and her elderly father. This has been a benefit to the family because the father, who is an ex pastor, gives Marissa faith that everything will work out in the end. Ongoing stress from her life has been a disruption for her to attain a normal life cycle. She does not know how to cope with the challenges with her life struggles and it has affected who she is and what she is currently becoming.
In the article, “Parenting in Recovery Program: Participant Responses and Case Examples” the authors Wanna Thompson, Chuck Roper, and Laura Peveto have come to the conclusion that “many communities across the United States are struggling to meet the needs of children whose families are dealing with substance abuse”. It goes on to state how parent substance abuse has a great affect in the child in significant ways. It affects the “maladaptive behaviors and poorer development outcomes”. This intertwines with the Jones’s family because the father of the home suffers with substance abuse. Housing security, parenting classes, and substance abuse treatment are all comprehensive services that could be offered to aid this family with their main issue.
In the second article, “Burnout in familial caregivers of patients with dementia”, by Annibal Truzzi, Lectice Valente, Ingun Ulstein, and Kunt Engedal they focus on how familial caregivers of patients with dementia may suffer from an intense level of burden of care. The burnout in this group are emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduce personal accomplishments. Their intentions were to investigate the burnout methods within the caregivers. This situation associates to the article and the Jones’s family is that the mother, Marissa, is the caregiver of her elderly father who in fact suffers from dementia. A self-administered sociodemographic questionnaire was could be conducted to see if she is a victim of the burden of care.
Understanding cultural values as a social worker will help while working with this family because they have views and participate in different practices that may seem indifferent to you, but if you understand diversity and remove your personal beliefs and systems from the situation, you will be more of an aid to this family. According to system theory, all systems are interrelated parts constituting an ordered whole and each subsystem influences other parts of the whole. In this case, the client, Marissa’s, family environment heavily influenced her individual actions, and her actions influenced the way she interacted with others at work and in the home. The recommended interventions thus involved strengthening the missing part of her family unit, referring her to counseling services.