Hernandez Family Assessment
Student Name
Institution Affiliation
Hernandez Family Assessment
The paper focuses to purposely complete a comprehensive assessment of the Hernandez family by addressing all information possible from the videos presented in this week’s module.
Introduction
The assessment of parents of mental health when issues of child abuse are reported because normally parents are expected to love their children. Mental health is a topic that is commonly affecting people, but most of the population is unaware of the issue, but it has adverse effects on society. The assessment of the Hernandez family concerning the accusation of abuse of Juan Jr through punishment is essential to understand the root cause of the parent’s actions.
Part 1: Comprehensive Client Family Assessment
Demographic information
Juan Hernandez Senior and Elena Hernandez are Latino American couples who are working-class citizens and have low socioeconomic status. The couples are blessed with two sons, Juan Jr., 8-years-old and Alberto 6-years-old
Presenting problem
According to social workers, the family discipline style is too harsh, and they need parenting classes to improve their parenting skills and protect children’s rights. Social workers referred the family to the Administration for Children Services (ACS) for the allegations of child abuse.
History of present illness
The parents (Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez) questions their reasons why they are in ACS and their children taken by the social services. The family defended their stand on disciplining their children, claiming that their parents were also strict considering physical discipline as necessary. Mr. Hernandez described how his father would treat him if he failed to adhere to their advice. The family disclosed how they encountered physical punishment at their young age and considered it the best appropriate way to correct a child. The parents were raised in an emotional and physical abuse environment, which is common among Mexicans, terming it a cultural belief system.
Past psychiatric
The family portrays a generational trauma (physical punishment) that was passed from Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez’s parents to Mr. and Mrs.. Hernandez.
Medical history
Needs to be added to
Substance use history
There was no substance abuse history for the family.
Development history
The growth of the kids to the current 8 and 6 ages is a promising development because they are all healthy and active.
Family psychiatric history
Mr.. and Mrs. Hernandez appear to be good parents based on their concern after their referral and decision to open up concerning their past experiences and the reason why they support physical discipline. Their history and how their parents treated them indicated that they seem to have no mental health history.
Psychosocial history
The family main source of income based how the parents relate appears to be from Mr. Hernandez and his work schedule includes an overtime tasks that makes it inconvenient for him to attend sessions.
History of abuse/trauma
According to Juan Jr, the only extreme punishment from his father is the punishment of holding a book for a long period as a disciplinary action.
Review of Systems:
Needs to be added to
Physical assessment
All members of the family appear to be in good health based on mental health assessment. No cases of trauma experienced.
Mental status exam
The good mental status is portrayed by the appropriate and well dressing of all the Fernandez family members. The sons are playing together appropriately. Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez’s speech is clear and appropriate. Mr. Hernandez is not happy about the ACS claims and is noticeable in his facial expression. Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez appears at this time to be mentally stable with no abnormal thought processes, insight, or judgment.
Differential diagnosis
According to the therapist, the family looks good mentally but the expression from the ACS worker using the words “those Mexicans” is a valid evidence for further analysis. The punishment of holding a encyclopedia by the Juan jr also is extreme and more diagnosis is required to make the final judgment (Havock, 2015).
Diagnosis
V61.20 – Parent-Child Relational Problem (APA, 2013)
Juan Sr admitting to disciplining Juan Jr. in maybe an inappropriate manner supports the diagnosis. Although there is no physical abuse, the mental consequences of using book holding as a punishment could lead to Juan Jr. avoiding books in school. This avoidance could lead to poor performance in school later on.
Case formation
The accusation terming Mr Hernandez disciplinary actions towards his sons as abuse of child rights is valid and it was right for ACS to take action and refer Mr Harnandez for more investigations about the abuse. The response by both Mr and Mrs Hernandez shows their concern about the accusations and defended their parental skills terming them normal way of keeping children on the right tract. The sons were also present to provide their side of the story and they appear calm without aggression. Mr Hernandez claimed that his hardwork and dedication is motivated by the urge and goal of meeting his family essential requirements forcing him to miss the parental classes (Haertl, 2019). Mrs. Hernandez expresses concerns about keeping the family together. Both agree to ACS recommendations of attending parenting classes.
Treatment Goals
Goals:
Advocating for change from their past experiences
Teach safe and effective discipline skills
Teach age appropriate behavior
Teach managing of frustrations
Treatment strategy/interventions:
Positive Parenting Program and family therapy can assist with attaining set goals for this family.
Estimated completion: 12 weeks
Conclusion
Parental skills is very important for a family because it can influence the children future judgment concerning the best parental techniques when their time comes to raise kids. It is also crucial to understand the effects of punishments that might affect kids mental health like the disciplinary action of holding a book for a given period of time. Mental tourture is more severe compared to physical punishments.
Part 2: Family Genogram
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Haertl, K. (2019). Occupational Therapy in Mental Health: A Vision for Participation. Occupational Therapy In Mental Health, 35(4), 422-423. https://doi.org/10.1080/0164212x.2019.1676863
Havock. (2015). Parental ADHD affects parent and child outcomes of parental friendship coaching. Evidence Based Mental Health, 15(2), 40-40. https://doi.org/10.1136/ebmental-2011-100567