CNL-545 Child Abuse Assessment Case Study
Directions: Read the case study of Rachel and answer the questions following the case study.
1. Identify three follow up questions you have for Rachel.
- In the group home, are there girls of your age? If so, how do you socialize with them?
- What problems do you encounter when trying to make friends within the group home?
- If you have challenges to make friendships, what better approach can you use in order to have the kind of friends you desire?
2. Identify three follow up questions you have for the case worker.
- How does Rachel interact with the other members of the group home? What social cues does she exhibit?
- What actions have you taken upon realizing that Rachel has been communicating with an unknown make over a social media website?
- Have you engaged Rachel on a talk to discuss together the adverse impacts of “sexting” with an individual she does not know his name, age, or true identity?
3. Describe at least three indicators/symptoms you would be assessing for in Rachel’s case.
- Sexualized behaviors: The case worker reports that Rachel has been chatting with a strange male over the social networking website, and the material exchanged involves sexting and inappropriate sexual language to children of her age.
- Learning and social networking difficulties: Rachel has been diagnosed with cognitive disability and inappropriate social networking cues when interacting with group home girls and workers.
- Behavioral changes: Rachel can be assessed of behavioral changes, including depression, fear and anxiety, withdrawal, stress, and aggression. Based on the case, Rachel is fearing and afraid of the other girls in the group home.
- Mood swings assessment: Rachel is in the group home following her unwelcome patterns of truancy and arrests. Thus, the counselor should assess these symptoms to diagnose and treat Rachel.
4. Is Rachel a victim of sexual exploitation? I Explain.
According to the case study, Rachel is an apparent victim of sexual exploitation. As a 15-year old girl, it is unethical and immoral to expose Rachel to sexual material. In this case, a stranger is sending inappropriate sexual content to Rachel over the social networking site. As a result, Rachel is hoodwinked into believing that she is in a consensual relationship with the unknown male who she met over the social site. Since Rachel is underage, the stranger is thus exploiting her sexually. Besides, the unknown make has persuaded Rachel to share her sexual images over the social networking website. Given the vulnerability of her state in the home group, the strange male is exercising exploitative sexual power over her, to the extent of sexting. Thus, Rachel is a sexual exploitation victim.