Week Four

Little to nothing is known about Arturo’s biological family or origins. Arturo’s mother speaks little English and has managed to subsist on the little cash she gets from her migrant labor – that and an informal network of people who assist her here in the States. All that we know is that Arturo was born in the U.S. and was taken from his mother by Social Services. His mother visits with him once a month for 2-3 hours when she is able to find work in the local area.

The foster family lives in a relatively rural area and is in the lower range of middle income. The foster mother works in food service at a local university and the father owns a small trucking company. Both have completed high school and have lived in the local area all of their lives. They have been able to arrange for one of them to care for Arturo most of the time, and when one of them is not available, they have been able to leave Arturo with the mother’s mother who lives next door. Joel, the foster father, was ambivalent about taking in Arturo given his country of origin. He knew, however, that the family needed the money, so he reluctantly agreed. Tina, the foster mother, had been wanting a child ever since she miscarried just after the two were married. She didn’t care that Arturo was from Mexico and loved him like she was his own flesh and blood. There are no other children that live nearby.

Arturo’s hearing has come to test out in the “highly impaired” range. Since he is in foster care and is technically in the custody of the state, he qualifies for Medicaid. Now at age four, Arturo has been able to participate in some therapeutic services, and he has been developing in his use of sign language. His spoken language has been much slower to develop, and he struggles to articulate basic sounds.

Behaviorally, Arturo is a willful child and has a strong sense of initiative. He seems to “know what he wants when he wants it.” Pediatricians long ago ruled out any other disorders, and Arturo appears to be otherwise happy and healthy with the exception of his hearing loss which is thought to have been caused by early and frequent ear infections from the time he was an infant. Arturo sometimes gets on Joel’s last nerve with what Joel considers to be his “refusal to mind” him. This is frustrating to Joel, and more than once he has restrained himself from using corporal punishment with Arturo. Add that to the fact that Joel has his prejudices about “foreigners,” and, even though he agreed to take the boy in, his patience is wearing thin. Tina has noticed that her husband has a much shorter fuse with Arturo than she does, and she doesn’t like it. She knows that taking Arturo in was her idea, and the placement has lasted a lot longer than they both thought. Still, she loves Arturo and wants the best for him. The foster care social worker has asked the two about adoption, but Joel hasn’t been open to considering it.  

1) Describe services that Arturo might have received and might receive under IDEA Parts B and C. Describe the transition between the parts of IDEA that takes place and the age at which it does so.

2) In a small town, are support groups available for parents who have foster children? What services are provided for these parents? (You may use Harrisonburg as an example of a small town/rural area).

3) Cite research that presents evidence of the dangers of corporal punishment. Is there any research to support it? Is corporal punishment generally recommended for children in foster care? Why or why not?

4) How might Arturo receive assistive technology devices through Medicaid? Does Medicaid pay for such devices? How does a child qualify?

DECISION POINT ::: Do Joel and Tina adopt Arturo? 

Week Three

Arturo was removed from his mother when he was 6 months old. He was placed with a local family who took him in with love and care. Arturo’s mother was granted visitation by the court and has been a part of Arturo’s life, even though the visitations had to be supervised by the Department of Social Services. Arturo’s mother tried hard to provide him with all that she could of her Catholic faith even in the short time that she saw him. She was certain to express to the foster family in her broken English that she really wanted Arturo to be raised Catholic. Still a migrant worker, Arturo’s mother vowed to do all that she could to get Arturo back.

Now, at age 2, Arturo has known only English as a first language, and he regarded his biological mother as a kind stranger. For the most part, Arturo was a relatively healthy baby and had developed into a healthy toddler. Once he was placed in foster care, his parents got his immunizations up to date and took him regularly to his appointments with the pediatrician.

What Arturo’s foster parents found out in the first year and a half that they had him was that he suffered from many, many ear infections. In fact, the doctors were waiting to see how he did during the Winter to decide whether or not to put tubes in his ears. There was a fear that Arturo had some hearing loss; this would explain his relative lack of verbalization at age two. Arturo had only a few “words,” and those were far from clear. In spite of this, Arturo seemed to be “at home” with his foster parents, and they were able to soothe him when he was having difficulty.  

1) What are the major developmental milestones for a 2 year old? What should Arturo be doing physically, cognitively, and emotionally at this point?

2) How are foster families identified? What kind of screening is done to assure that families are suitable to care for children? What is the percentage of children who are in foster care who are eventually reunited with their biological families? What percentage are adopted by the first foster family with whom they live?

3) What kind of services are typically provided for families whose children are removed (if any)? What services are typically provided for foster families (if any)?

4) What kind of therapy are appropriate for Arturo given his hearing loss and relative lack of speech at age two?

5) What else is important for you to know about Arturo’s family at this point? (Hint: Think about all that you don’t currently know about the family that could be helpful for you with regard to demographic information.)

Week Two

6-month old Arturo experienced the world through the lens of his mother’s struggles. One small town for a few months, then on to another one to follow the work. His mother would always find someone to look after him, someone she would meet in a new town. Often, she found herself at homeless shelters, and others often were able to help her as she went to work. During one of her stays at a shelter, she spoke with another woman from Mexico who agreed to look after Arturo for the day. The woman proved untrustworthy, however, when she left Arturo sleeping for two hours to go to “hang out” with friends across town. She came back high on drugs, and while she was gone, Arturo had woken up and was crying. It was about this time that Arturo’s mother returned, just as the Department of Social Services (DSS) Child Protective Services arrived.   

1) What is migrant labor? What are the lives of people who do such labor typically like? (Hint: Check out JMU’s Migrant Education Program through IIHHS)

2) What are the major developmental milestones for a 6-month old? Given her migrant status, is Arturo’s mother likely to visit a pediatrician? What are the risks associated with a lack of early primary medical care? Is Arturo likely to receive immunizations? Why or why not? Use data on this population to support your answer. What are the risks if he does not?

3) What are the risks for Arturo in being given over to the care of relative strangers for periods of time?

4) Assess the extent to which Arturo is likely to have a secure attachment pattern with his mother given the significant disruptions in their lives. At six months of age, how is Arturo likely to respond to strangers?

5) Use information from “The Baby’s Brain” to outline Arturo’s approximate neurological development. Given the uncertainty and instability in this family’s life, evaluate the relative influence of “nurture” on Arturo’s development at this point.

DECISION POINT

* Write a dialogue of the conversation as it might have taken place between the Child Protective Services worker (from DSS), the mother, and the woman from Mexico who left the child. If you are CPS, do you remove the child from her mother and place the child in foster care? Why or why not?

Week One

Living in Oaxaca was hard. Up in the morning, work in the fields or the local multinational factory for 32 cents a day, sleep, and then up to do it again. She had to find another way. The latest trade agreement meant that the local businesses that were the lifeblood of her small town just faded away. It almost seemed to happen overnight, and now there was next to nothing left. Surely nothing for her. She made a plan to make her way to the border – she had heard that crossing was harder now, but she had to try. She heard there were coyotes for hire, and that, if you found a good one, you could get across. If you found a bad one, well . . . she knew well the saying hay muchos huesos en el desierto – there are many bones in the desert. She was ready to take the risk.

She kept having strange and unknown feelings in the morning, like she was going to get sick. She didn’t know why. Probably that multinational water she had been drinking. She didn’t think anything of it when she started her journey to el Norte.

By the time she reached a small town just south of the border, the morning feelings were getting worse. The women in Oaxaca would know what to do, would know what this sickness was. But they were miles away. She pressed on. She was unaware of the tiny child slowly taking shape in her belly.

     1) Provide demographic information regarding the number of individuals who enter the United States each year unlawfully from ALL parts of the U.S. (South of the border, North of the border, and those who are smuggled into the US in other ways). Where are they from? Why do they come?

2) What is a coyote? What are the risks associated with such individuals?

3) What are the threats to typical development that are present in the prenatal stage?