Question

What is the presenting problem?

Jenna Harris is a 33 year old Caucasian woman and a single mother of three children; a 16 year old boy named Jimmy, a 10 year old boy named Hector, and a 7 year old girl name Kim. All of the children have different fathers, none of whom Jenna married. Jimmy’s father is Caucasian, Hector’s father is Mexican, and Kim’s father is Korean; Hector and Kim’s fathers are both immigrants. Jimmy loves his siblings, but they perceive that he is treated better than them because he is Caucasian. Jimmy is popular in school, enjoys playing on the football team, and works part-time after school at the supermarket. Jenna’s new boyfriend of six months, Sean, who is Caucasian, has recently moved in with her and the children into a two bedroom house in a rural community in Sussex County. This has caused a conflict especially for Hector who is bright but has recently been demonstrating negative behaviors in school such as failing to follow directions, talking back to his teacher, and picking fights with his peers. In addition, his grades are beginning to slip. Kim, a quiet child, does not want to go to school because she is often teased on the bus and in school for being “Chinese.” Sometimes Hector gets in trouble for defending and protecting his sister from the teasing and taunting. None of the children have a good relationship with their fathers or their fathers’ families. And, while Hector’s father provides financial support, Kim and Jimmy’s father do not. This has provided economic hardship for Jenna who has had to move the family often to find affordable housing. She sees Sean as a hope for some financial stability since he has a good job as a plumber with a local company. Jenna dropped out of high school when she was pregnant with Hector but completed her GED a few years ago. She works at Wal-Mart as an Associate.

Answer 1

The presenting problem is a mixture of problems being faced by the mother Jenna as well as her three children due to the moving in of Sean (Jenna's boyfriend). Thus, we can say that Sean's moving in is a precipitating factor.

Coming to the problems, the main problems are of Hector ( the middle child), which are:

• Not being able to follow instructions given to him
• Deterioration of academic performance
• Fights with peers
• Misbehaving with teachers
• Temper tantrums

The other problems which Kim (the youngest child) is facing is getting teased and mocked due to her looks. Jenna is facing financial troubles and for her, Sean brings a lot of financial help but on the others hand, this moving in of Sean is the precipitating factor of Hector's problems.

Thus, the problems are in a cyclic pattern and intervention must be planned carefully.