University of Wisconsin–Madison



Post Family Safety Intervention Narrative Instructions: The Post family will be used extensively throughout the two days you will spend in Safety in Child Protective Services – Impending Danger. The narrative should be read after the completion of the Pre-service Online Module – Safety and in close proximity to the beginning of training as there will be minimal time to review.As you are reading, highlight the areas that generate concern regarding child safety and underline parental strengths. Please print and bring the completed Post family narrative to training with you. You should anticipate this activity taking 30 to 40 minutes.FamilyDanielle Post – MotherJared Post – Father of Jimmy; stepfather of Amanda and JasonAmanda Halleran – 12 years oldJason Halleran – 6 years oldJimmy Post – 7 months oldFamily Notes:Danielle has not worked outside the home for about a year.Jared is a truck driver who is home only weekends.Eric Halleran – divorced from Danielle; currently incarceratedCriminal Record checks reveal no history for Danielle or Jared. No child welfare history for Jared.Agency RecordsFive years ago, the agency worked with Danielle, Amanda and Jason for about 6 months. There was a police report to CPS stemming from the domestic violence incident that led to Eric’s incarceration.Danielle described a long history of domestic violence by Eric and physical abuse of Amanda. The violence included sexual assault and threats with weapons (gun and knife). Amanda had witnessed much of this. Eric sometimes physically abused Amanda as a means to control Danielle’s actions. This included hitting with a belt and leaving bruises and abrasions. It was never reported. Danielle would do as Eric demanded to stop him from harming Amanda. Eric prevented Danielle from leaving by removing the phone, threatening Danielle with weapons and hiding their shoes and coats in the winter. He drank about a 12 pack of beer every night and was often drunk when he abused Danielle or Amanda.In the incident that precipitated the police report to CPS, the landlord heard fighting and called the police. When they arrived, Eric held Danielle with a knife to her throat. During his struggle with police, Eric slashed an officer with the knife and was eventually subdued with a taser. He was convicted of battery to Danielle and assault of an officer. He was sentenced to 15 years and is currently in prison.CPS worked with Danielle and the children for 6 months. Danielle and Amanda attended support groups at the battered women’s shelter. Danielle was diagnosed with major depression and prescribed medication. The family lived with Danielle’s parents.Access ReportAfter hours report from medical staff in the ER. Reporter states that a 12 year-old female, Amanda Halleran, was brought in by her stepfather, Jared Post. Jared was half carrying/half dragging Amanda in to the ER while she was physically attacking and swearing at him. The police were called and the responding officers and nurses were able to separate Amanda from Jared and she was administered a B52 injection – a combination of Lorazepam and Haldol for physical and psychological stability. Amanda has been examined and is found to have a dislocated shoulder and bruises to her arms where Jared restrained her. Police and hospital personnel detected a smell of beer on Jared. He was administered a breathalyzer since he had driven Amanda to the ER. He registered a .10 and OWI charges have since been filed.Present Danger Threats at Access:Child is currently being maltreated at the time of the report or contactSevere to extreme maltreatment of the child is suspected, observed, or confirmedParent is intoxicated (alcohol or other drugs) now or is consistently under the influenceThis Access report was Screened-In with a Same Day response.Initial Contact at the Emergency RoomAfter Hours worker made contact with Jared and Amanda in the ER at 1 AM. The worker made the following case note after interviewing both Amanda (who was sedated but awake) and Jared. The worker confirmed the following Present Danger Threats from the Access Report:Child is currently being maltreated at the time of the report or contactSevere to extreme maltreatment of the child is suspected, observed, or confirmedThe worker added the Present Danger Threat:The child has multiple or different kinds of injuries. The worker confirmed that Amanda’s shoulder was dislocated and observed hand shaped bruising to both of her arms.The worker ruled out the Present Danger Threat:Parent is intoxicated (alcohol or other drugs) now or is consistently under the influence. The worker was able to interview Jared who did not appear to be under the influence. While Jared did admit that he had been drinking, the worker assessed his consumption of alcohol had no effect on this behavior. Jared was very detailed in his description of the events of that evening and provided the worker with information about his consumption of four beers in about an hour and half. Despite knowing he had been drinking, Jared made the decision to drive Amanda to the ER rather than waiting for an ambulance.Due to the identification of PDTs, a protective plan was developed for Amanda to remain in the hospital. Since she was given a B52 injection, Amanda will need monitoring for the next 24 hours. The After Hours worker gained Jared’s consent (in person) and contacted Danielle via phone for consent to the protective plan. Initial Contact in the Post home – Following DayAn Initial Assessment worker went to the Post family home during the afternoon. It took a long time for Danielle to answer the door and she had clearly been sleeping. Jimmy was crying in the high chair. He had a very dirty diaper, dried food on the tray and had slid into an awkward position down into the chair. The worker indicated the following Present Danger Threats:The child is currently being maltreated at the time of the report or contactChild is unsupervised and unable to care for selfParent is unable or unwilling to perform basic careDue to the identification of PDTs, protective action is required. The decision was made that Jimmy would stay with Jared’s sister, Patty, and her husband, Jeff, on a Protective Plan. They are willing to care for Jimmy short term and are assessed to be a safe placement resource. Since Patty is willing to cut back to part-time for a few weeks, Jimmy is receiving day care three days per week. Both Danielle and Jared consent to Jimmy staying with the relatives and Danielle added, “just make sure they don’t spoil him”. The Initial Assessment worker followed up with hospital staff who reported Amanda is ready for discharge. The IA worker spoke with the parents about the continued need for a Protective Plan, to which the parents agreed and offered information about some friends Amanda had mentioned from school. The IA worker collected some of Amanda’s belongings from the Post home and moved Amanda to a friend’s home on a Protective Plan. The home was found to be safe by the worker. The friend’s mother reports Amanda has stayed with them on the weekends in the past and is willing to care for her short-term. The family does not have enough space and the girls are starting to argue and compete.The IA worker made a collateral contact with the Police Department. The police have forwarded their report to the district attorney. The only charge under consideration is an OWI (first offense). The worker determined there were no Present Danger Threats associated with Jason. Once Amanda and Jimmy’s safety was controlled, the worker continued with Initial Assessment information gathering and found:What is the extent of the maltreatment?Observations related to Physical AbuseAmanda had a dislocated shoulder and hand-shaped bruising to both arms from Jared’s attempts to restrain her. By all family members’ accounts, the injuries were an isolated incident. Though Amanda and Jared had fights fairly frequently on weekend nights, she had never been injured before.There is a pattern of Jared and Amanda fighting on weekend nights. While this does not take place every weekend, it may happen a couple of times per month. All family members report these fights start with Amanda calling Jared names, telling him to leave them alone and hitting and shoving at him.On this occasion, Jared had met friends at a bar returning home about 10 pm. All family members report that the fight started with Amanda calling Jared names, swearing at him and pushing or hitting him. Amanda says she can’t stand it when he drinks though she admits he is not really drunk and does not do anything threatening. “I just can’t stand the smell of it. I get so scared that I just want to kill him. Why does he have to do that?” “I just go crazy when he is like that. It’s scary.”Both hospital personnel and the officers called to the hospital describe Amanda as being very difficult to restrain. The worker judged Amanda was accidentally injured when Jared tried to restrain her on his own. Amanda’s behavior required restraint or she would have injured Jared or herself.Observations related to NeglectThe house is in general disarray but isn’t a threat to physical safety. The house is very cluttered with dirty laundry scattered throughout the house, beds without bedding, and some spoiled food in the refrigerator. There is also fresh food. The basic needs of the children (food, clothing, shelter) are being met.The parents are, for the most part, uninvolved in Amanda’s life. They are unaware of her behavior and minimally supervise her. Neither parent could name her teachers and they have not responded to the school’s attempts to contact them with concerns about Amanda.The two youngest children appear unkempt and dirty in terms of clothing and personal hygiene. Jason has visible dirt around his neck and smells unclean. Jimmy’s clothing smells of urine and spoiled formula. Jimmy is at the 90th percentile for height and the 35th percentile for weight. While his pediatrician says this requires monitoring, it is not dangerous to his physical health.Danielle often goes back to bed after the older children have gone to school. The extent of the neglect is unclear as Danielle reports even though she is exhausted she gives Jimmy lunch and two bottles per day but can only confidently describe the meals she feeds him when the other children are present. She could not provide a clear feeding schedule but spoke in general terms of “lunch” and “late afternoon”. Many of the daytime hours Jimmy is in his crib or highchair and Danielle sleeps through or ignores his cries. Circumstances Surrounding the MaltreatmentDanielle’s lack of supervision of Jimmy appears to be a pattern since his birth. She will not tend to Jimmy and complains about others intervening to stop his crying, though she does not prevent them from doing so. Danielle minimizes the impact this lack of care has on Jimmy and justifies it as a means to keep him from being spoiled.Child FunctioningAmanda HalleranAmanda is in 7th grade. She gets Cs and an occasional D in regular classes, though her teacher reports she is bright and capable of much more. Her homework is frequently missing. Teachers report she frequently daydreams in class.Her teacher reports she is generally quiet and has a couple of good friends. She generally is not a discipline problem, but was involved in an event at a school dance that resulted in suspension. Several students had been drinking before the dance. When one asked her to dance, she started screaming and hitting him. It turned into a huge fight and 8 students were suspended. The school required a conference with parents before they could return to class, but were unable to meet with Amanda’s parents. No one answered the phone or responded to letters. They eventually let Amanda return because it didn’t seem fair to penalize her for her parents’ behavior.She is articulate and appears independent and self-reliant.She speaks about her siblings with affection. She can describe how to mix Jimmy’s formula. She provides some care for both boys when she is home from school. She isn't happy about it but says "my mom needs the help". Her level of responsibility is high for her age. It is not clear how much she takes on herself and how much is required of her.Amanda seems generally emotionally quite stable. The exception is her outbursts toward Jared. When they occur, they are loud and violent. On previous occasions, Jared and Danielle have forced Amanda into her room and blocked the door to restrain her. She has yelled and beaten on the door, then dissolved into crying until she went to sleep. The next day, no one has mentioned them. When asked about Jared, she didn’t have much to say. She reports he isn’t around much and has never physically or sexually abused her.She describes both her mother and stepfather as “kind of losers. They don’t make enough money. My mom just lies in bed and takes anything that’s dished out to her. Jared is OK, I guess. He’s not here much and when he is, he doesn’t do anything anyway. At least he takes care of Jimmy sometimes so I don’t have to.”The only time Amanda was unable to participate in the interview was when she was asked about her father. She was clearly upset, tearful and shaking. Eventually she said, “He’s not my father” but would not discuss this any further.Ms. Anderson, who has been providing care to Amanda under the Protective Plan, reports she has been emotionally stable during her time in their home. There have not been any outbursts or aggressive behavior. Amanda has done a lot to help around the house without being asked. The only problems have come from the tension developing between the girls – arguing about space in the bedroom, competing about friends and vying for attention from other family members.Jason HalleranJason is in 1st grade. His teacher reports he is generally pleasant and easy going in school. He frequently talks with other students during instruction time and has to be re-directed. He does well academically and reports having “a bunch of friends”. The teacher confirms this and reports Jason does well at playground sports.Jason sometimes wears the same clothes for a week and is generally dirty. The teacher has tried to talk to the parents about this but has been unable to contact them.Jason reports he likes school and “would rather be at school than at home. Home is boring and Jimmy cries too much and spits up smelly stuff.”Despite this, he says he likes having a little brother and hopes he’ll play sports someday.He says Amanda is too bossy and mean to Jared.Jimmy PostJimmy’s general physical health appears to be ok, despite the height and weight discrepancy. At the time of the Initial Assessment, he has a rash on his chin from formula and drool and a slight case of diaper rash.He has an infant reflux condition that makes it difficult for him to eat and keep food down. He needs to eat a special soy formula mixed with rice cereal that smells unpleasant. He frequently spits up large quantities that require his caregiver to change clothes. Danielle and Amanda report it usually takes about 45 minutes to get him to take the bottle and he is often uncomfortable and cries after eating. While this condition requires some extra attention, his pediatrician says it is not uncommon and does not have serious health implications. The pediatrician has been monitoring the reflux and is satisfied with Jimmy’s progress. Danielle has attended all of Jimmy’s well-child exams. Patty also reports that feeding him is time consuming but not a major problem.Jimmy has started to eat solids with breakfast, lunch and dinner in addition to bottles in the morning (around breakfast), a couple of bottles during the day and a bottle before bed around 8 pm. Jimmy was observed feeding himself Cheerio-s in his high chair and both Danielle and Patty say Jimmy enjoys the food.Both parents describe Jimmy as “fussy”. He sleeps well at night, however. Danielle says, “Maybe he wears himself out during the day because he sleeps better than my other kids ever did when they were babies.” Danielle, Jeff and Patty report that Jimmy sleeps predictably and consistently. Jimmy naps, on average, three times per day and regularly sleeps from about 8 pm until 7 am the next morning. It does seem as though Jimmy is a child that requires more energy than most. Whether he cries so much because he is a difficult child to comfort or because he is not being attended to is difficult to determine. It does seem, however, that Jimmy’s disposition, demeanor and physical condition are cause for concern and increase his vulnerability.Adult FunctioningDanielle PostDanielle reports she feels like a real survivor of her relationship with Eric and wonders how she ever made it out alive. She was depressed during that relationship and for about a year after his arrest and participated in counseling and took antidepressants. She went on to move out of her parents’ house, get a job and support her kids. She is proud of that. She still feels afraid sometimes when she thinks about Eric getting out and, perhaps, trying to find her again.Danielle is fairly open with her feelings when discussing them with the worker. She says she learned how to do that when she was in therapy. She says she doesn’t talk to anyone else about how she feels. Jared is rarely home, she doesn’t have friends she sees anymore and her parents have their own troubles. She says she is “the kind of person who bottles everything up even though I know that’s not good.” Danielle feels trapped and isolated in her current circumstances and can’t picture things ever being different. She didn’t want another child, but usually does what Jared wants. “He is a good man and there aren’t very many of those. He wanted a baby and I didn’t want it to be with someone else. He meets plenty of women when he’s on the road.”Danielle says she has had very little energy since Jimmy was born. She feels overwhelmed. She has problems figuring out how to manage even basic things such as grocery shopping. Danielle stated it takes every ounce of energy she has to be awake and take care of the kids during the weekend. She looks forward to Mondays when she gets a “break”. Once the two older children are at school, she frequently goes back to bed. She feels like she can’t think straight, deal with problems or talk with other people. She never answers the phone. She cries when describing this and says she never thought she’d have to feel this way again. She describes her life as a “black hole”. She denies feeling suicidal because “it would take too much energy and one of the kids might find me.”Danielle could be suffering from postpartum depression. She acknowledges having feelings of hopelessness and sadness. She states she never has any energy. She sleeps poorly, but feels exhausted even when she gets a full night’s sleep. She thinks things have been worse since Jimmy’s birth but “it’s hard to think back that far. Sometimes I think I’ve been like this forever and things will never get better.”According to Jared, Danielle has been different since Jimmy’s birth. “She sure wasn’t like this when I married her. We used to have fun and she took good care of me. Now she hardly gets out of bed. She’s angry all the time. I don’t know much about having babies though. Don’t lots of women get the “baby blues”? I think it’s time for her to take the bull by the horns and do something about Amanda and get back to work.”Jared PostJared describes himself as “easy going and laid back”. He doesn’t worry too much. “Things have a way of working out if you just leave them alone.”No indications of mental health issues. He does drink beer sometimes, whether on the road or at home. Both he and Danielle report this is not to excess and doesn’t pose a problem. He appears generally emotionally controlled and stable.There are no indications he has been violent in his relationship with Danielle or any previous relationship. The only time he shows elevated emotion is when talking about Eric Halleran. “I can’t tell you what I’d like to do to that man. He isn’t a man; he’s an animal. It takes a lot to get me going, but if he comes around here after he gets out, I’d like to make him pay for everything he did.”Jared doesn’t seem to have much insight into what is going on in his family. He is gone much of the time and wants to enjoy things while he’s home. He and Danielle don’t talk about family issues very often. Sometimes she starts, but he tells her “she just thinks too much. No wonder she’s feeling all down.” He spends a lot of time in the garage where he is restoring a motorcycle. He sees earning money as the major role for a man. Truck driving provided a reasonable living when he was single and when Danielle was working, too. She quit work during her pregnancy with Jimmy because it was medically difficult. Now they are really tight for money and he thinks it’s about time she takes a job again. He is particularly concerned he could lose his job with the OWI charge. He did not think he was at the legal level for intoxication and was focused on getting help for Amanda.Parenting PracticesDanielle PostDanielle reports being fed up with her role as a parent. She feels she has had to work hard to meet the needs of her children and just doesn’t have anything left. She views the birth of Jimmy as the last straw. She was just getting to the point she “might be able to get just a little life for herself” and now she’s starting all over again.She feels inadequate to the task ahead of her. She doesn’t know what is going on with Amanda and how to address it and is struggling with “how to deal with Jimmy”.The only time she speaks at all positively is in describing Jason and this appears to be because he makes so few demands.Danielle appears to resent Jared because he takes so little responsibility for the children. “He never did a thing to help with Amanda or Jason, but I figured I couldn’t complain too much because they aren’t his kids and things weren’t so bad then. You’d think if he wanted that baby so much, he could at least do a little more. These days I spend all my time listening to his baby cry and wiping up his messes.” Danielle said that while Jared doesn’t regularly initiate any care for the kids he will do something to “pick up the slack” if the crying bothers him enough. Danielle will tell Jared what to do for Amanda and Jason and sometimes hand Jimmy and a bottle to Jared, telling him to “feed your son”.Danielle indicates she feels Jimmy “cries on purpose” and when she picks him up “he throws his head back on purpose to try to hurt me. He just likes to punish me. I can just see what kind of man he’s going to grow up to be.”Danielle’s negative feelings toward Jimmy appear to be fairly constant. It appears she has resented him since birth and family members report she sometimes avoids him by isolating him in his crib or high chair. She says too much attention will spoil him and he needs to learn to treat her better.During one discussion of the difficulty feeding Jimmy, Danielle said “I don’t know how much I’m supposed to take from that little shit”. She then seemed embarrassed by her statement.Despite her current low energy, Danielle sees that the children have breakfast and makes dinner each night. She gets up with them in the morning around 7 am and makes sure all 3 children have eaten. Danielle gets Amanda and Jason on the bus at 8:04 am. She reports she often has to set an alarm for herself, but she is awake when they get home from school at 4 pm. Danielle says she doesn’t cook entire meals anymore like she used to but does make sure all 3 children have dinner around 5:30 pm each night. She frequently goes to bed early, as early as the children around 8 pm.Patty and Jeff report that Danielle has come to the home the 3 times per week that are scheduled since Jimmy has been with them. Though they said they were open to additional visits, she has never initiated one. While she is there, she is responsive to Jimmy's physical needs with little prompting. She does not spontaneously play with him or talk to him, however.Jared PostTo a large extent, Jared is not directly involved in the actual parenting of the children. He always considered dealing with the two older children to be Danielle’s job since they are not his children. Jared describes having plans to take Jimmy fishing and teach him mechanics when he is older, but considers babies to be a mother’s responsibility. He has had very little experience with children, in general.Jared does speak of the children with some affection, though this seems like a fairly general emotion and he is not able to describe individual interests or qualities of the children.Since he is only home weekends, he admits he doesn’t know much about the expectations for the children and what is happening in his absence. Jared reports he tries to “pitch in” where he can. He will take cues from Amanda as to what she, Jason and Jimmy need. Jared feels watching the kids during Saturdays and Sundays is tiresome which is why he needs time with his buddies at night.Jared describes being confused and concerned about Amanda. He sees her as generally being even-tempered and helpful. She helps her mom with the younger kids, especially Jimmy. She generally is pleasant in her conversations with him. “It’s just like sometimes she goes crazy. I don’t know what gets into her. She just goes nuts and it’s always towards me. I don’t know what I ever did to her. I didn’t want to hurt her, but she was going after me like she was really going to do some damage. I warned her a dozen times. When she gets like that, usually Danielle and I together can get her down. That night Danielle was in bed and the whole thing went bad.”Jared sees Jimmy as a difficult baby. “I never knew babies could cry so much and that spitting up is a real mess. I try to feed him some when I am home on the weekends. That’s more than you would have ever seen my father do. Do I get thanks for it? No. Danielle just bitches about how I’m doing it and doesn’t ever thank me.”Jared has not visited Jimmy since he was placed with Jeff and Patty.DisciplineDanielle PostIt is Danielle’s perception that she is responsible for all the discipline in the family. “I thought when I married Jared I was getting a father for the kids, but I was wrong. If Jared ever took care of anything with them, I’d die.”Danielle states she never has any problems with Jason. If she does, she just corrects him and that takes care of things.Danielle states she used to give the kids time-outs and assign chores they had to do. Now she doesn’t seem to have the energy for these tasks.Danielle’s feelings of generally being overwhelmed and angry have led to lots of yelling at the children when she is up.The way Danielle speaks about isolating Jimmy in his crib or high chair seems to have a quality of discipline about it, even though Jimmy is too young to be disciplined to teach appropriate behavior. Alternatively, she may be using this isolation to keep from being aggressive to him.Jared PostJared has very few ideas about discipline. He states he was spanked as a child, but early in their relationship when he suggested spanking to Danielle she told him her children could never be spanked because of the abuse by their father. Jared sees discipline as Danielle’s job. He thinks he may need to discipline Jimmy when he gets older but “figure I’ll deal with that when the time comes. No use borrowing trouble.”He has no idea about how to deal with Amanda when she “picks a fight. I don’t know what anybody could do about that girl when she’s like that. I’m just going to do my best to stay away from her.”Case Findings at the conclusion of the Initial AssessmentNeglect is substantiated due to lack of necessary care of Jimmy. Danielle returns to bed after the older children go to school, often leaving Jimmy in his high chair or crib and sleeps through or ignores his crying. Danielle admits to leaving him unsupervised for periods of up to two hours during these week days. Physical abuse is unsubstantiated due to the judgment that Amanda was accidentally injured when Jared attempted to restrain her to prevent injury to herself or him. ................
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