1. Account of the incident – Reflection
. What happened, where and when; who was involved?
Emma is a young girl who has complex health needs. She was born prematurely and has been diagnosed with a kidney failure. She isn’t allowed to have anything orally as it causes her to aspirate; meaning anything she eats enters into her lungs and can be life threatening. She is fed through an NG (nasogastric) tube which is an insertion of a tube through the nose and down into the stomach. She is chronically small for her age – underdeveloped.
The family living condition is quite poor (living in private renting). There are moulds and leakages in the house. Family have tried contacting the housing agency on several occasion but with no positive outcome. Emma’s health has significantly deteriorated over the last few months and family believe this is caused by their home environment.
Enrolled in special needs school but currently not attending school, miss going to school and seeing his friends, known to many services due to her complex medical issues (Kidney Team, Speech and language specialist, Social workers etc), family have been offered respite but don’t want to go due to their culture and religion (Muslim), non-compliance of parents to take Emma to school.
. What was your role/involvement in the incident?
To carryout a Child and Family Assessment to ascertain Emma’s needs; i.e. their housing situation and get her in school. Communication, Advocacy, contact other service or professionals on behalf of the family, multi-agency working.
. What was the context of this incident, e.g. previous involvement of yourself or other from this agency with this client/client group? Involvement of different services due to her complex needs.
. What was the purpose and focus of your contact/intervention at this point? Support family with financial side, housing, respite break to give the family a break, get Emma to school, comply with medical advice.
2. Initial responses to the incident
. What were your thoughts and feelings at the time of this incident? Emma may need support throughout her life. She is underdeveloped (may not grow, have kids on her own etc), parents mental health, the burden, the stress on family, care for the other children as well, financial impact.
. What were the responses of other key individuals to this incident? If not known, what do you think these might have been? Speaking to consultants, she suffers from recurrent infections which means it will be difficult to do a transplant. Risk associated with having transplant etc.
3. Issues and dilemmas highlighted by this incident
. What practice dilemmas were identified as a result of this incident? Parents non-compliance to send Emma to school as she is susceptible of contracting infection – she is on immunosuppressant. Housing issues
. What are the values and ethical issues which are highlighted by this incident? my professional and personal values, recognising diversity, discrimination and oppression.
. Are there implications for inter-disciplinary and/or inter-agency collaborations which you have identified as a result of this incident? Speaking with other professional such as school, consultants etc to incorporate the information the assessment.
4. Learning
. What have you learned, e.g. about yourself, relationships with others, the social work task, organisational policies and procedures? Importance of building relationship with the family, access to services
. What theory (or theories) has (or might have) helped develop your understanding about some aspect of this incident? Systems (how environmental factors influence on a person), attachment theory, impact on mental health, human development, emotional development.
. What research has (or might have) helped develop your understanding about some aspect of this incident?
. How might an understanding of the legislative, organisational and policy contexts explain some aspects associated with this incident?
. What future learning needs have you identified as a result of this incident? How might this be achieved?
. Outcomes
. What were the outcomes of this incident for the various participants?
As the family refused to send Emma for respite break, the family have been offered PA support who can help Emma (take her out, do activities etc). Registered the family to bid on council housing (accessed them priority due to their child’s special needs). The case has gone to a Child In Need Plan – whereby we all come together to see if the support in place is working well Emma and her family.
. Are there ways in which this incident has led (or might lead to) changes in how you think, feel or act in particular situations?
. What are your thoughts and feelings now about this incident?
You should reflect on the incident, analysing the following:
• The context of the incident (you might want to consider organisational, professional and personal context and identity)
• The decisions that were made, the nature and impact of these decisions (this should include some reflection on your personal decision making and the impact of this on your learning and the incident)
• Power – this should include organisational, professional and personal power, including ideological power and hegemonic relations that impacted on the incident and your role in the incident
• Reflexivity – reflection on you and your personal characteristics and the way that you view the social world and how these impacted on the incident
