Lucy and Rowena Management Case Study

Part A – Case Studies with written answers Read the following case study, and use the information contained within to answer the questions to follow. 
Since enrolling, Lucy (5) has been a social, outgoing and confident child who actively participates in all parts of the program. In the last few weeks though, you (her Educator) noticed that she had become sad and withdrawn from children and other Educators, and no longer showed the interest she once had in participating and learning. You have a good relationship with Lucy, so you engaged in conversations with her on numerous occasions to see if there is a reason for the change. Initially, you didn’t directly ask her if anything was wrong, rather just focused on letting Lucy know you were available to chat if needed. Last week, you were particularly concerned so asked her directly if anything was wrong. Lucy just shrugged her shoulders, removed eye contact, and said “It is okay”. Recently there have been incidents involving Lucy which have caused concern. There was a minor incident over the sharing of equipment where she hit another child across the head and ran away crying. There was also another similar incident where she used physical aggression over a small incident as well. Last week, she also spilled water on the floor and immediately became upset repeating “I’ll clean it up. Please don’t get me in trouble. I’ll make sure it’s clean. It’s okay. Please don’t tell”. These incidents are very out of behaviour for Lucy. Lucy’s mother Amy is a single parent studying Education and has always stayed around to participate in the classroom or join in with events. Around 6 months ago, she told staff she had formed a relationship with a man called Tom. Amy was excited when she first met him and the relationship seemed to have given her a new lease of life. Lucy was quite excited about “Uncle Tom” too, and often mentioned him taking them on outings and buying them gifts. Around 2 months ago, Tom moved in with Amy and Lucy which they all seemed happy about. You noticed that Lucy has not mentioned Tom, or any outings or gifts since not long after he moved in though. You also noticed that Amy seems less enthusiastic when greeting Lucy in the afternoon. In the past, she would seem really happy to see Lucy and ask her how her day was. Amy usually let Lucy stay on and play with her friends a little longer too while chatting with other families and staff. Recently, Amy has been rather abrupt and short with Lucy and no longer greets her happily or asks about her day. Amy simply tells her that she must hurry up as they need to get home before Tom. Amy hasn’t stayed around to participate in the classroom or events lately either. Late last week, you noticed a lot of swelling and redness on Amy’s cheek and what looked like a black eye. When you asked her about the injury, she looked away and muttered, “I fell down and hit my cheek” and changed the subject back to Lucy. Since the weekend, Tom has dropped off and picked up Lucy. She resisted going with him on Monday, but Tom immediately clenched his jaw, took her firmly by the arm to the side of the room and spoke to her. You tried to quickly walk over to them but couldn’t hear what he said, however saw Tom had an angry look on his face. Lucy quickly complied with Tom’s interaction, but appeared very afraid and anxious. You tried to engage in conversation with them, but Tom said they were in a hurry and they had to go. They left immediately but Lucy looked at you looking like she was going to cry. Today, you went over to Lucy sitting alone at playtime. You chatted with her about her day, then asked her if her mum was still going to college. Lucy began to look upset and said “No. Tom said she isn’t allowed to go to the college anymore”. 
You say “Oh, is she doing something different now?” Lucy looked down to her hands in her lap saying “No. Tom hit mum and she has a big bruises. He hits me too if I’m naughty (Lucy lifted the side of her skirt to show two large bruises on the side of her thigh). He drinks beer and gets angry when he drinks lots of beer. Yesterday he told me I was a terrible noisy girl so he locked me in my wardrobe and I couldn’t get out. I had to sleep in there.” 

1. Identifying abuse 
a) In dot points, identify as many indicators of possible abuse in the case study as you can. You should include physical, behavioural and adult indicators in your list. 
b) Based on the indicators you have noted, do you have suspicion on reasonable grounds that Lucy is at risk of harm and/or being abused? Explain why. 
c) Make a record of the conversation that took place with Lucy when you were responding to the disclosure in the last paragraph. Use an appropriate format for recording this and include the detail required. You may record it in the box below, or you may submit the form/record as used by your education environment for such records. 

2. Responding to disclosures 
How would you respond to Lucy’s disclosure as outlined the last paragraph? Include what questions you would ask, as well as communication and interaction strategies you would use. 
3. Confidentiality

a) What will you do to maintain confidentiality about this situation? 
b) If you haven’t already included this in 3a, who would you tell about your concerns and why? Who wouldn’t you tell and why? 

4. Responding 
a) Describe the steps you would follow as a result of your observations about Lucy. Include how you will abide by... 
- The policies and procedures of your education workplace; - Your responsibilities to duty of care; and - The legislation in your state/territory regarding Child Protection 
b) What may relevant authorities want from you if they responded to this situation? What will you do to support the agencies investigations? 
 

5. Impacts: 
a) What are the potential impacts of the situation for Lucy if this not reported? 
b) What ways will you support Lucy now that she has disclosed this? Your answer should be from the perspective 
of supporting Lucy’s needs (trauma informed care) 

Assessment task B: Case study with written answers 
Read the scenario and answer the following questions 
Rowena has been an assistant educator for the past 4 years. Over this time, she has proven herself to be a great addition to the team and has valuable skills as an assistant. Since the beginning of the year, Marjorie (teacher) has noticed that she has taken a liking to one particular child Leon. Leon is an outgoing child, who also attracts the attention of the other children in the group. Rowena often joins in with the activities that Leon is completing, and Leon also seems to like the attention of Rowena. He often seeks Rowena out to help him if he needs it. It’s always been practice for children to help with preparing the information needing to go home with families each day. Usually this is done by Rowena, and she takes 2 children with her to the back of the administration area to assist. This task takes around 10 minutes and involves them helping to fold fliers and place these in home packets. As the children make a bit of noise, Rowena generally chooses the time when administration staff are on lunch so their noise doesn’t disturb anyone. The entire administration area is clearly visible to the other staff through the large glass windows. However last month, Rowena decided it would be great to decorate two of these windows. She took a group of children with her and they used acrylic paint to paint a mural. She encouraged children to fill up every piece of glass and as a result, the back section of the administration area is now no longer visible except from the front of the administration area. Lately, Marjorie noticed that Rowena takes Leon to the administration area more and more. Last week she took Leon on his own. While Marjorie noticed they were gone for what seemed like a long time, she didn’t take much notice of the time they left so couldn’t be sure. When Rowena and Leon re-joined the group, Leon was happy and seemed to have enjoyed the experience. Yesterday, Rowena did the same. Marjorie tried to see what was going on, but couldn’t see through (and couldn’t leave the group to check because no-one else was there to supervise the children). Marjorie could hear lots of laughing and chatting in low tones, but couldn’t make out what they were talking about. Today, Rowena attempted to take Leon on his own again. Marjorie intervened and suggested she take someone else instead. Rowena seemed really disappointed and decided to take no one this time saying she wanted to get the job done quickly. Although Marjorie doesn’t think that anything untoward is happening in with Leon, she feels uneasy. Marjorie decides not to worry about this situation as Rowena is a well-respected staff member and Leon is not showing any behaviour to indicate something unprofessional is occurring.

1a) Outline the concerns you have about Rowena’s behaviour. 
1b) Outline the concerns you have with Marjorie’s behaviour 
2. If you were Marjorie, describe what action you’d make to ensure child focused work practices and to protect children from possible risk of harm. Consult your workplace’s Child Protection policy/procedure before answering.