This paper puts focus on baby Kim who, after a premature birth, tested positive for meth and a subsequent intracranial bleeding. Other manifest characteristics of baby Kim detailed poor development in feeding and learning. Following the difficulties, Kim was taken to a Child protective Services unit where it was put under the care of one McCallister.
Biophysical Considerations of the Case Study
The baby’s problems are associated with prenatal drug exposure. As evident in the case study, Kim’s mother is an ardent abuser of crystal meth, a drug whose impacts are both short term and long term. In the long term, abuse of crystal meth harbors an extreme capability of terminating pregnancies, instigating premature births or manifesting its effects on the new born (Harrow, 2007). Unluckily, Kim experienced most of the eventual impacts of the abuse. Intracranial bleeding and one month stay at the NICU are critical to poor development in children. As the bleeding retards complete development of the brain, exposure to fringe environment such as NICU is critical distorted cognitive development; relevant to attachment with the environment. Finally, the effects of crystal meth abuse are long term (Travers, 2006). The longer a patient stays, the more manifest the impacts of drug abuse. With poorly developed immune system and an indulged case of crystal meth abuse, it is thus possible that Kim will not eat or gain weight even in the long run.
Psychological Considerations
The developmental delay seen at 11 months could be rooted in a number of factors. Primarily though, Kim suffered developmental delay at eleven months following a retarded development of the brain. A well-developed brain at birth is critical to cognitive and physical development in children, an aspect that Kim has missed holistically. Notably, there is a negative goodness fit between the parent and the child. In as much as the mother shows massive love for the child, she is incapable of establishing temperaments necessary for mutual interactions between herself and the baby. Further, the baby’s development could have been tampered with through frequent movement from a foster care to another. At her state, Kim needs consistency in environmental attachments, a factor she may not achieve by hoping from one foster care unit to the other (Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2009).
Notably still, a child’s attachment to their mothers instigates a consistent and constant developmental environment. To a sane parent, thus, detachment with children could lead to inconsistency with the environment and finally poor development. A mother with drug addiction history however manifests a different case scenario. Such mothers are not fit to see children through development. According to Arnett (2015), the mother’s absence therefore bears a little impact on the child’s developmental path. Finally, the social worker has not taken the child’s best interest at the core of their activities. The well-being of the subject child could best be achieved through consistency in service provision, which is not the case in the case study. Instead, the child keeps experiencing different units; critical to retarded cognitive development.
Social Considerations
The environment through which Kim is placed to develop is not adequate for an all-inclusive development. Apparently, neither the foster homes nor the mother seem capable of taking good care of baby Kim. The fact that the parents could provide positive care from how they saw the two boys through development cannot be put under a short term consideration since just like Kim, the mother’s cognitive abilities could be deteriorating from previous abuse of the drug. In the long run, the mother could be relevant to providing a consistent care, as opposed to what is evident in the foster homes. Some of the environmental stresses that could influence the parenting ability of the parents detail social environment conformity and inadequate professionalism in handling similar situations (Deater-Deckard, 2014). With the fact that both parents play complimentary roles in the development of their children, a more united family would be relevant to development of Kim as opposed to single parenting. Currently, placement of Kim in a foster care is the best option as not only does it give the family some time to get back together, it exposes Kim to a more desirable environment among the available options.
References
Arnett, J. (2015). Human Development: A Cultural Approach, Books a la Carte Edition. Prentice Hall
Deater-Deckard, K. D. (2014). Parenting Stress. Yale University Press
Harrow, J. (2007). Crystal Meth. New York: Rosen Publishers
Papalia, D. E., Olds, S. W., & Feldman, R. D. (2009). Human Development. New York: McGraw-Hill
Travers, J. F. (2006). Handbook of Human Development for Healthcare Professionals. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers
