Casey
is about to enter high school. She has had a rough summer because she keeps
transitioning from her Mom, Sarah’s house, to her Dad, Jacob’s house. Sarah and
Casey live in government housing. Sarah has gotten rental assistance from the
Salvation Army and is in the process of qualifying for government housing. Sarah and Casey are getting used to living independently.
However, since Sarah doesn’t receive too much income, they are living in a one
bedroom apartment. Casey is not sleeping well, which means Sarah does not get
much sleep either. This also limits Sarah’s privacy because she is now living
in a one bedroom place with a teenage girl (Housing, 2014).
As
Sarah is driving to work, her car breaks down. Sarah has to get the car towed
and this costs her a major chunk of money. She is also informed that the care
is going to cost $2,000 to be repaired and she does not have the money to
currently pay for it. Sarah is now stuck in a dilemma because she can’t afford
the fix the car, yet she needs a way to commute to work and to take Casey to
where she needs to go.
Jacob
has been looking into how Fetal Alcohol Syndrome may affect Casey in her
teenage years. Casey is also now approaching puberty and is not aware of
appropriate boundaries with males. She tries to hug every male that walks in
her path, whether she knows them or not. This really concerns Jacob because he
wants to make sure she is safe and not hugging random strangers that could
potentially take advantage of her. Casey is now displaying many signs of
anxiety and depression. There is medication that may be helpful but Jacob wants
to resort to medication as a last option. So he looks into having her talk with
the high school counselor on a daily basis in order to assist with her anxiety.
However, he has not seen much progress (FASD, 2014).
Casey
is now participating in a Special Olympics soccer team. She loves to run but
doesn’t quite understand the concept of having teammates and having to work
together. She lacks a lot of fine motor skills which make the coordination of
running , and kicking, and throwing the ball in very complicated for her. She
also can’t sustain this type of activity for very long and she doesn’t retain
the muscle memory so each practice she is relearning the skills from the last
time. Although this is physically tiring for her, she is getting exercise and
she is having a social outlet.
Sarah
is now hanging out with her new boyfriend, Fred, quite often. Fred has been
introduced to Casey but this has only confused Casey even more. She has begun
calling him Dad and when Jacob found this out, he was very upset. Casey no
longer wants to go to Jacob’s house because in her mind , Fred is her “new”
Dad. This is really confusing for her and this is now causing a ton of stress
between Sarah and Jacob. Jacob is tired of this and wants to see his daughter
for his fair amount of time each week. But now Casey is refusing to go to his
place. Jacob suddenly files for divorce which is a shock to Sarah. Divorce affects everyone involved, but it is often the
most difficult for children with disabilities. When custody determinations or
modifications involve children with disabilities, the decisions regarding the
“best interests of the child” may be even more because all children are unique
and may respond differently to divorce. Because of this, Jacob’s lawyers had to
become familiar with the characteristics of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. His lawyer
is focusing on visitation agreements and transitions between homes, educational
decision making, health and medical care, and social and recreational
opportunities (Parents 2008). Being concerned parents, both Jacob and Sarah
want what is best for their daughter but right now they are not able to solve
this issue on their own, so now the court is involved.
1) Since Sarah does not currently have a car, what would be an
effective alternative for the time being? (rent a car, borrow her parents car,
public transportation, etc?)
2) How can Jacob reinforce appropriate boundaries for Casey?
3) Should Casey continue participating in a team sport or should
she switch to an individual sport such as swimming?
Decision Point: What does the court decide
in terms of custody?
Living with FASD. (2014). National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Retrieved 2014, from
http://www.nofas.org/living-with-fasd/
Local Renting Information. (2014). U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Retrieved from
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/rental_assistance/local
Special Education. (2013). Teaching Students with Fetal
Alcohol Syndrome/BC Ministry of Education. Retrieved from http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/fas/motskil.htm
When Parents of Children with Disabilities
Divorce. (2008). When Parents of Children with Disabilities Divorce. Retrived
from
https://www.americanbar.org/newsletter/publications/gp_solo_magazine_home/gp_solo_magazine_index/parentsdivorce.html
1) Since Sarah does not currently have a car, what would be an effective alternative for the time being? (rent a car, borrow her parents car, public transportation, etc?)
ReplyDeleteThe best decision for Sarah for the time being, while she doesn’t have a car to use, is to use public transportation. Sarah has the options of using the bus that comes every 15 minutes to local bus stops, using a taxi which allows her to dictate when she needs to be somewhere, or using the metro which comes every 15 minutes as well. The rates are extremely reasonable for these different transportations and could potentially save Sarah a lot of money. It is 85 cents to ride the bus and it is $1.75 for her to ride the metro (Metro, 2014). There is also a deal for people with disabilities where they get a discounted price on the metro ticket so this could work in Casey’s benefit. Sarah should try out the public transportation for some time to figure out if this would work best for her and Casey and if not then they can think about borrowing one of her parent’s car. But realistically thinking, Sarah would save a lot more money using public transportation because she wouldn’t be having to put in gas money every week.
2) How can Jacob reinforce appropriate boundaries for Casey?
Jacob needs to sit down with Casey and explain to her appropriate behavior around other people. The fact that she is touching random people and going up to them can be very concerning for a dad so it’s important that he sits down with her and discusses the importance of boundaries. He needs to also explain to her that her new boyfriend, Fred, is not her father and what it means to have a boyfriend. It is clear that she is not able to distinguish between friends and family, so Jacob needs to discuss with her what a boyfriend is and how she needs to be appropriate when she interacts with him. I think coming from her dad, a male figure, it will leave more of an impact on Casey father then her mom, Sarah trying to talk to her about this. There is no reason for Jacob to get angry at Casey, he just needs to be firm when telling her that she cannot going around touching people. He needs to tell her that there will be punishments if she continues to behave in this manner. Possibly going to her teachers and having them in on this would be a successful way for her to stop this behavior. Jacob needs to give her rewards if she goes each day without touching someone and if she does have a negative interaction with someone that she will be disciplined for it. Using the Applied Behavior Analysis method will help her distinguish what is right and wrong (ABA, 2014).
3) Should Casey continue participating in a team sport or should she switch to an individual sport such as swimming?
Casey should definitely keep participating in a team sport. She needs to gain the skills that most the kids her age have when interacting with other people. There's a greater sense of belonging and connectedness in a team sport. Other sports—baseball, basketball, football, hockey and softball among them—rely on individual efforts as part of a team performance and constitute what people typically consider team sports. They offer lessons such as "win as a team, lose as a team," which focus on overcoming individual mistakes or spinning one person's standout performance as just part of a team effort. In a team sport, a young athlete may move into or out of a specific role on the team as their skills develop or diminish in relation to their peers. When that happens, the athlete must learn to adapt to that different role. They remain a member of the team, though, and the culture of team sports encourages the athlete and his or her teammates to accept and make the most of those changes (Sampsell, 2012).
Decision Point: What does the court decide in terms of custody?
ReplyDeleteThe court decides to rule that Sarah and Jacob have joint legal custody. Joint legal custody is when both parents retain joint responsibility for the care and control of the child and joint authority to make decisions concerning the child, even though the child's primary residence may be with only one parent (Judicial System, 2014). Since Jacob is a part of Casey’s life and tries to provide for her as much as possible, it is only fair that he gets to see her just as often as Sarah does. However, since Sarah is the main provider to Casey and pays for a lot of her expenses, Casey will live with Sarah and Jacob will visit when he wants to. I think have the joint custody will help Casey transition into her parents getting divorced that way one of her parents aren’t taken away all of a sudden and she can never see them.
• Sampsell, S. (2012, July 11). Team Sports vs. Individual Sports | Kid Sports Magazine. Pittburgh Sports Report. Retrieved July 9, 2014, from http://www.kidsportsmagazine.com/PSR/node/4619
• Metrobus Fares. (2014, February 7). Metro. Retrieved July 9, 2014, from http://www.wmata.com/fares/metrobus.cfm
• Lynchburg Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court: Custody, Visitation and Support. (2014, November 3). Custody, Visitation and Support. Retrieved July 9, 2014, from http://www.courts.state.va.us/courts/jdr/Lynchburg/custody.html