Introduction
The family that this paper will analyze by running a multidimensional test includes a single mother who belongs to Nicaragua, a less developed country of Africa. She currently has four children. The family has three sons and one daughter. The mother married multiple times, but now she is living a dissociative life, and her focus remains on the well-being of her children. Her parents are alive, and therefore, she has a home to go to, if everything fails in her life. The family is hand to mouth as far as financial circumstances are concerned. However, the leader of the small collective is cautioneously optimistic that she will see a better future in coming days along with her kids.
Family Stress and Coping
The mother does not want her worries and difficulties in life to influence the brought up of her offspring, and therefore, she takes them to the park every evening so that they can unwind and relax from the tight regime of school, and then, they have to handle their homework as well. The senior female no doubt has a big heart, and she is attempting to provide happiness to her children in the budget she has in prevalent hard times. The days will get better, and the family will succeed in bettering themselves and their condition as well because they are committed to their objective of having a fulfilling life for themselves. The nature miraculously works for those who do not have the courage to give up and they keep on charging ahead in order to find better and brilliant perspectives for themselves. The mother made some rash mistakes in the past, but presently, she is struggling to make both ends meet. She is having traditional catholic beliefs, and therefore, she has the ability to get out of herself, and do something substantial for her family. Additionally, she is receiving help from the society as well. Her second husband has allowed her to drive his car until she becomes fully capable of affording her own convince. Furthermore, her religious values are aiding her in terms of fighting her war of prevalence because modernists do not have these kinds of character, and they would have admitted their children into the foster homes, as they could not have paid their fees for school, and they would not be able to provide them clothing properly. They have to let alone their kids’ entertainment needs. However, the featured mother provides for all sorts of needs that her juniors face in their daily lives. She keeps it together though, but she is doing a wonderful job regarding meeting the physical and psychological needs of her family. Above all, the kids feel the warmth of motherhood, and because of this very reason, they have developed the ability to have patience in their lives. They know that their mother loves and cares about them and their needs, and she will have them fulfilled in due time. The brave lady, at the same time knows her duties, and she does not break pledges with the children, and tries her best to meet the hopes of her younger selves.
Stage of Development
The family has been operating at the basic and fundamental level of the family developmental process, and therefore, they do not have any kind of savings developed in the recent years. The lady does not have sufficient monetary strength to sponsor the provision of household needs of regular nature. She has to open credit lines with the shopkeepers in order to fulfill immediate requirements of her family. Given the situation, she is performing quite admirably, and the financial managers can learn one or two lessons from her on the topic negotiations. The family is no way near completing the basic stage of the development process because in order to do that, mother needs to find a better paying job, and after that, she will need one or two years before lifting off her family’s standard of living substantially.
Condition of Residence
When I visited their home, it was clean and neat, but by observing the situation of furniture, I came to the conclusion that they are not doing well in terms of income generation. However, the home was presentable, and they maintained it enough so that they can appear as a civilized set of people in the given setting.
Surrounding Society and Geographic Mobility
The family lives in the lower middle class of the community, and they have to travel local in most of the cases because they cannot afford to take their ride to distant parts of the country, and they have to take public transport and trains in this regard.
Social Relations and Community Linkages of the Family: Family Care Plan
The mother works as a cleaner at houses that are yet to be constructed and furnished, and she receives 240 dollars against her three day services in the week. She is currently receiving childcare services for two of her kids, but other two have to live on her salary, and they do not have any kind of social support in the present. I also helped her by filling an application form so that she can receive childcare payments. I also told her to contact Centro Mate Daycare in order to receive assistance regarding care of her two children who do not receive any daycare services. The family also end up at the receiving end of food stamps as well.
Family Structure
The family operates under the headship of the mother, and therefore, the communication occurs from top to bottom. She has the utmost authority to take any decision, and all family members have to follow the lead. Power is residing in the hands of the mother, and she has the centralized responsibility to earn as well. The conventional Christian values are prominent in the mindset of the target household.
Bio-ecological Systems
Following are the bio-ecological systems that operate at various levels of the group: -
Micro-systems
The micro-systems are mechanisms that operate at emotional level in order to facilitate growing in children. In the given case, the leading female will have a defining role in terms of crafting emotional and ethical personalities of the kids.
Meso-systems
These systems are made up of various subunits, and they record interactions and interconnections amongst multiple ones. The target family has a single mother, who is overprotective of her children, and therefore, upward to downward communication is expected, and mother will control the family until the juniors grow up considerably.
Exo-Systems
These systems record the interaction of the individual, and his or her social setting in that he or she is living. The featured family is receiving different benefits from the society such childcare and food stamps, and the services are not enough, but the family has a hope that community is sharing some degree of burden with them.
Macro-systems
These systems work to register the influence of culture that surrounds a person or a family. The families do not have the capability to change their cultural setting. However, the abovementioned family is working to drive away the negative implications of the surrounding community by integrating faith and hope in their lives.
Chrono-systems
The changes in personal lives can deeply affect the behaviors and attitudes of people, and the family has a mother who made some questionable choices in her past life, but divorces and resultant difficulties worked their numbers on her, and changed her into a caring and loving mother with the passage of time.
References
Canda, E. (1988). Conceptualizing spirituality for social work: Insights from diverse perspectives. Social Thought Vol 14 (1), 30-46.
Kaynak, O., Winters, K. C., Cacciola, J., Kirby, K. C., & Arria, A. M. (2014). Providing Alcohol for Underage Youth: What Messages Should We Be Sending Parents? Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs Vol 75 (4) , 34-45.
Tudge, J. R., Mokrova, I., Hatfield, B. E., & B, K. R. (2009). Uses and Misuses of Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Theory of Human Development. Journal of Family Theory & Review Vol 1 (4), 198–210.
Appendix 1
Health Risks
