Case Senario:
Alice's Story
Alice is 18 and a single mother to two young children, Joel (just turned 3) and Connie (just turned 1 year).
Alice had a difficult early childhood. She moved many times and lived with various relagtives in an urban aboriginal community. Her education was often interrupted and, as a result, her reading/writing and numeracy skills are minimal.
Alice's own mother died 2 years ago. She never really recovered from having been forcibley removed from her own family as a child. She experienced mental heal and alcohol dependency most of her life.
Her mothers death has left Alice with no real suppot and no established connections with her family in northern Queensland. Even so, Alice is resilent and resourceful.
She determined not to have this situation repeated in the lives of her own children so is keen to give them a stable home and school experience (when the time comes).
Meanwhile, Alice and the children depend totally on the support payments she receives from Centerlink. Alice has also recently been told to leave the terrace house she has been sharing with a cousin and her cousin's boyfriend. She has a week before she needs to vacate. This is the last straw for Alice and she has become uncharacteristically depressed.
1. What are the main cultural and or sociological factor in this scenario that should be considered?
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Cultural Factors
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Sociological Factors
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Mainstream
Aboriginal people can experience troubles sharing with service suppliers. People in positions of authority are often threatening to Aboriginal people. They are disturbed because of the mark of being labelled by mainstream authority.In the Past Anglo Australian authority has intruded, questioned and judged Aboriginal lifestyle because it was different from their own as well as judged and over controlled their life in the history
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Land and Spirituality
Aboriginal people often talk about their land use the term 'my country'.This concept is very dissimilar to mainstream Australians, for when they make a similar assertion of their nation, it refers to ownership by legal entitlement.Natives did not have the land as in the western world sense, the state was entrusted to them to care for, as the land is the spiritual household of their antecedents, who roamed their land as told in the dreaming..
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Transgenerational Trauma
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1. What might be some of the structural causes of disadvantage in Alice's life?Access to education and not able to go ahead with her education, single mother with 2 young children, difficulth early childhood, Health- experienced mental health and alcohol dependency. Depends on welfare centerlink.
2. What might be some of the social and cultural expectations of Alice and her family?
3. What questions could you ask Alice and her children to gain a fuller understanding of their needs and circumstances?
4. What are some of the possible impacts that social and cultural institutions, including welfare organisations, could have in this scenario? Give examples.
5. What additional information would you require to conduct an assessment of this family's needs ?