In society, sexual abuse is a never ending issue, unfortunately we may not know how often it happens since many fear disclosing the information that they may be judged. Sexual abuse is any sexual activity with a child where there was no consent, it can include the threat of force, sexual contact or even means of deception that could be used in a sexual manner (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2016, p. 243). When one happens to think about child abuse we think of a child going to daycare and not getting the proper care or being hurt at the center but in reality it is much more than that. Today, many of the offenders are male and an estimated 60-70 percent of the abuse occurs within the family (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2016, p. 244). Sexual abuse is a
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A social worker in this case could have used the ecological model to understand Brandon’s situation. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016), “An ecological approach provides a more specific view of the world within a social work perspective. It tends to place greater emphasis on individuals’ and individual family systems’ functioning within their environments” (p. 33). The first step in using the ecological model with Brandon would be to talk about his family and close friends; micro-level. Does Brandon feel like he is getting support from his mother and how is his relationship with his mother’s boyfriend. Since Brandon’s sexual abuse by his father he may have a hard time trusting any male figure; having her mother’s boyfriend around may cause Brandon some stress and reasons to act out. Brandon’s mother is very quick to call the law enforcement but when it comes to therapy, they choose to stop treatment, refused the use of psychotropic medication, and she declined educational or psychological testing because she did not want her son to be labeled (Plummer, Makris, & Brocksen, 2014, p. 48). Within school, Brandon may not have a close support system because of his use of appropriate language and he may also be pushing them away because of his inappropriate behavior. By looking at the micro-level system we can see that Brandon really does not have a good support …show more content…
14). Although Brandon has been through some pretty traumatic stuff when he was a young boy, he still carries some strengths through his hardships. Some of the strengths that the school social worker may have missed while working with Brandon is that of courage in trying to move on day by day. Brandon has had to go through many years of his life without even revealing his abuse until six years later, that is a lot of stress to take on but he made it through being strong and determined within himself to get help. The other strength that Brandon showed was being able to tell his mother that he was sexually abused. Many individuals that are sexually abused fear that no one will believe them so they feel like it does not pay to tell anyone since s/he will not be taken seriously. Another strength that the social worker missed is that in the beginning Brandon’s mother may not have been the biggest advocate for him since she was denying him some services that were necessary but in the end they both formed a connection to help with the healing process and for Brandon he never gave up trusting his mother through all his heartbreaks. If these strengths were not identified and addressed in therapy,
A social worker in this case could have used the ecological model to understand Brandon’s situation. According to Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2016), “An ecological approach provides a more specific view of the world within a social work perspective. It tends to place greater emphasis on individuals’ and individual family systems’ functioning within their environments” (p. 33). The first step in using the ecological model with Brandon would be to talk about his family and close friends; micro-level. Does Brandon feel like he is getting support from his mother and how is his relationship with his mother’s boyfriend. Since Brandon’s sexual abuse by his father he may have a hard time trusting any male figure; having her mother’s boyfriend around may cause Brandon some stress and reasons to act out. Brandon’s mother is very quick to call the law enforcement but when it comes to therapy, they choose to stop treatment, refused the use of psychotropic medication, and she declined educational or psychological testing because she did not want her son to be labeled (Plummer, Makris, & Brocksen, 2014, p. 48). Within school, Brandon may not have a close support system because of his use of appropriate language and he may also be pushing them away because of his inappropriate behavior. By looking at the micro-level system we can see that Brandon really does not have a good support …show more content…
14). Although Brandon has been through some pretty traumatic stuff when he was a young boy, he still carries some strengths through his hardships. Some of the strengths that the school social worker may have missed while working with Brandon is that of courage in trying to move on day by day. Brandon has had to go through many years of his life without even revealing his abuse until six years later, that is a lot of stress to take on but he made it through being strong and determined within himself to get help. The other strength that Brandon showed was being able to tell his mother that he was sexually abused. Many individuals that are sexually abused fear that no one will believe them so they feel like it does not pay to tell anyone since s/he will not be taken seriously. Another strength that the social worker missed is that in the beginning Brandon’s mother may not have been the biggest advocate for him since she was denying him some services that were necessary but in the end they both formed a connection to help with the healing process and for Brandon he never gave up trusting his mother through all his heartbreaks. If these strengths were not identified and addressed in therapy,