Marta is a 33-year-old woman who recently left her husband. She tells you that she and her three children had to leave after both physical and verbal abuse escalated in the past year. Her children are 3, 7, and 9.

Marta states she and her husband were married 11 years ago. They met in college and waited for her to finish her degree in accounting before getting married. Her husband is a successful engineer. No one suspects that there has been violence in the home. The few times Marta had visible bruises she explained them away as accidents while doing housework. Recently she had concluded that her family is skeptical of this explanation.

Marta states that in public and at social functions her husband is charming, both to her and to others. It is at home that he becomes sullen, critical, and demanding, escalating the smallest problem into a shouting and punching episode. Marta has noticed that all her children appear anxious around him and the oldest is not doing well in school. She has offered to leave, but he always becomes remorseful and promises to reform his ways, stating he could not get along in life without her.

“Up until now I have believed him. I would think we had turned over a new leaf, but in a week or so things would be the same. Now I have a 9-year-old who bites his nails and a 3-year-old who clams up when her father is in the room. Recently my son told me he is afraid to bring friends home because of the ‘way Daddy acts.’ I have done everything I can do alone to make this thing work. He refuses to go to counseling and I can’t live like this the rest of my life.”

Marta is seeking help with finding a place to go with her children where her husband cannot have access. She left everything behind this morning when they left the house. She has her social security card and driver’s license, but no birth certificates or other records and only 5 checks for the checking account. She read about the case management unit in an article some time ago in the paper and has carried the article in her wallet ever since. She kept the two older children out of school this morning. She has never held a job since the first year of her marriage because her husband resented her working and became furious when she was promoted.

Marta appears fearful and anxious. She frets about where she had to park and fears that her husband might see her car. At times she is tearful as she describes her futile efforts to keep the marriage together. The oldest child, Billy, stands around silently listening to his mother while the younger children color and play with toys in a playroom. He does not want to go to the playroom, but instead listens intently. He looks sad and burdened to you.

CASE STUDY 2

Dave is a 49-year-old bartender currently being divorced by his wife. He is the father of two children: a boy, 6, and a girl, 9. He states that he and wife decided to separate and then divorce after his wife complained on numerous occasions that his work hours and the social contacts he made as a result of his job at the bar were incompatible with the kind of family life she wanted for herself and her children. Dave owns his home jointly with his wife and is letting her have the house for the sake of the children. He has taken up with a woman who frequents his bar and moved in with her in a different part of town, “giving me a place to put my things.”

Dave is requesting help in restoring his marriage and is looking for marriage counseling. He is not sure his wife will agree. Meanwhile, he wants help in considering alternative training or education so that he is no longer dependent on his skills as a bar tender for his income.

Dave has a high school diploma and has completed four college courses, all of them general education courses. He is close to his sister who lives in the same part of town where Dave is currently living. “She gives me a lot of support.” He is a member of the St. Paul’s Methodist church but has not been to church in over a year. According to Dave, he joined in order to please his wife but never got much out of going there. He likes the minister at the church, however. Dave describes his relationship with his daughter as close and since he left, she calls him every night to go over homework. However, his work schedule often cuts these calls short or he is not able to take the calls.

Dave is willing to begin seeing a counselor on his own in the hope that his wife will join him at some point.

NOTES

Case management serves two purposes

1. Determining an individualized service plan for each person and monitoring that plan to be sure it is effective.

2. Ensure that the money being spent for the person’s services is being spent wisely and in the most efficient manner

Involves careful listening and encouraging people to think about what else might make their lives fuller