Family Assessment

Rebecca Sopelak
December 9, 2015
Developmental Stage and History of Family
The parents of the family were both born and raised in North Carolina. Mom grew up in
Charlotte, where he family had been residing for many years. Her parents were both North
Carolina natives as well and never had much interest in leaving the state. They moved to
Charlotte after they got married for work where they had three children. The mom of the family
was the oldest of the three. Dad grew up in Raleigh. His parents were originally from New
England. They moved to North Carolina for work when their children were young. They stayed
until the children, all four of them, moved out of the house and now reside in Connecticut. Both
Mom and Dad ended up in Charlotte for college where they met. They got married shortly after
graduation from college. They waited about five years to start a family. They now have two
boys, the eldest is 16 and the youngest is 11. The family has been residing in Charlotte, NC until
recently when they moved to Harrisonburg, VA due to a job promotion for the father.
The family is presently in the families with adolescents stage. The eldest son is 16 years old.
Now that he is getting his drivers license he has increasing autonomy. He still respects that his
parents are in charge and what they say goes, but is starting to push the boundaries a little more
now that he can drive himself to go hang out with his friends and doesnt have to rely on mom
and dad anymore. The parents are currently in the process of helping the eldest look into
colleges for the future and encouraging him to get a job so that he can take on more
responsibility. They are trying to teach him how to be more independent to prepare him to move
out in the next few years as he heads off to college.
The youngest son is 11. He is just entering adolescents, but you can already see how his
parents are working with him to develop more independence. He has a diagnosis of Autism and
gets frustrated easily. They encourage him to keep trying new things and speak up for what he
would like. Over the weeks that we worked with him, there was a significant increase in his
ability to express his feelings. Mom and dad were very pleased with his progress and hope he
continues with vocalization to encourage socialization. It is unclear now if he will be able to live
fully independently one day, but for now mom and dad are encouraging as much independence
as possible to get him to mature into his own person.
Environmental Data
The family lives in a three-story town house in large neighborhood built in 2001 on the
outskirts of town. The town house has 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a garage big enough for one
car, as well as a driveway that fits a car. There is guest/extra parking on the road opposite the
townhouse. The family enjoys their home for now, but is looking into buying a house sometime
within the next year. With the relocation of the dad for work, they had little notice to find a
house in the area and are saving up for one they can afford.
The neighborhood is a large 185-townhouse area. It is well kept and very friendly. There is a
gazebo in the center of the community. Many of the townhouses consist of families and young
professionals. The neighborhood is one block over from the hospital, 5 blocks from the James
Madison University, and on the opposite side of town from the police department. It is a safe
neighborhood, as no crime has been reported there in over three years. The family lives directly
between the major highway and one of the main freeways in town. It is fairly new with the

homes being built between 2001-2009. All the houses have either a basement or a garage and
everyone has at least a one-car driveway.
The mom is a stay-at-home mom who is working on her degree online. She has a car that she
primarily uses to get to the store and drive the eldest son to practice. The dad works at the lab at
a local hospital. He commutes daily to the office. Both children ride the bus to and from school
every day. The eldest son is learning how to drive, but currently has no license or car of his own.
The children both go to school and dad works out of the home. They attend local events as
much as possible, but it can be hard because the youngest son has Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The mom interacts with her friends during the day through lunches in town and with her fellow
classmates on social discussion forums for class. The eldest son has a large group of friends that
he is always interacting with both in and out of school. He tends to go out on the weekends to
events in town and the local hang out spots to hang out with his friends. The dad has a group of
friends he sees at the gym everyday. He goes after work to meet up with some of them. The
youngest son tends to keep to himself and doesnt like to leave the house much. He interacts
with the community only when his family takes him out places. Otherwise, he prefers to go to
school and come home. The family just moved from North Carolina, so they are still finding
their social networks and supports in the community. Due to the youngest childs needs, it is
hard for the whole family to go our to community events.
Familys Social Support Network: Ecomap (see last page)
Family Structure
Communication patterns
The family has an open communication pattern. They tend to tell each other everything and
confide in each other. When conversing with each other, the family has an open body language
that offers the invitation to be comfortable to share with the other person what you are thinking
as well as showing the person that you are intently listening. They make eye contact and face to
person to show that they have their full attention. The youngest son has trouble maintaining eye
contact for long and often struggles with coming up with the exact words to say, which is
common in children with Autism. The family is very patient with him and allows him time to
get out what he is trying to say. If he says something that they dont fully understand, they will
try to clarify, but never look down on him for not being able for form coherent thoughts. If a
family member is ever struggling, they are willing to talk to each other for the most part. The
eldest child is now getting to the age where he doesnt always want to tell his parents everything
that is going on in his life. His parents do encourage him to talk to them and make it known that
they are always there to listen to him if he needs it, but dont try to press him to get him to give
them information. They are great with being patient and letting their children come to them
when they need them.
The communication that the parents have allows for theyre to be an equal division of power
between the two of them in running the household. They make all family decisions together
keeping in mind what is in the best interest for the children and their family as a whole. Now
that the eldest is getting older and more mature, he is helping the decision-making. When he
wants to do things and go places, his parents talk to him about it and they call come to a decision
together. For bigger family matters, such as the move, the children get input, but the ultimate
decision falls on the parents, who try to do what is in the best interest of the family.
The roles in the family follow along gender norms, but are beginning to change. Being that
Mom is a stay-at-home mom, she manages the cleaning of the house, laundry, cooking,

shopping, and taking care of the children after school. Dad is the one who goes to work full-time
to help provide for the family. The children both attend school. Now that the eldest son is 16years old, the parents are trying to get him employed so he can start learning responsibility. The
family roles are about to change within the next six months as Mom is currently taking college
classes to become a health administrator. Once she graduates, she will be going into the
workforce full time as well. The parents have been feeling some role overload with the constant
care of their youngest son, but have recently been receiving some help from a respite care facility
that sends in volunteers who come and take care of their son so that they can have some alone
time to decompress. The eldest son often helps take care of his brother, but now that he is
getting older, wants more freedom from the family to go see friends and work. The parents have
been trying to encourage the youngest son to become more independent. They are making
strides, but it may take a while.
The family values are seen very easily. They are: education, family, health, trust, honesty,
loyalty, compassion, and independence.
Family Functions
Affective function
The family is a close-nit family. They are very caring and kind towards one each other. They
seem to have a some struggles with the ability to have independence apart from one another
because someone always has to be in close proximity to the youngest son, but there is no
resentment towards him because of this. They see the youngest sons diagnosis as a blessing to
be more compassionate and patient towards others. Currently, they do not have a large support
system outside of the nuclear family. They do extended family members that they keep in touch
with, but because almost all of their family is in North Carolina, they arent close enough to help
the family immediately when needed, unless the issue can be resolved over the phone. They are
starting to build a larger support network within the community, but for not the major support
network for them is each other, which is why the family is very close and connected.
Socialization function
Both of the parents were involved in the child-rearing practices as their children were
growing up. Now that the children are older, there arent many situations that need to be
addressed in the situation of bad behavior. When the children were little, time outs were used for
discipline. Now that the children are older, discipline is done in the form of sending the child to
their room, taking away a favorite item, such as a cell-phone or video gaming system, or if
necessary, grounding the child and limiting their social interactions.
For the children, the main socialization that they get comes from attending school. The
eldest son often sees his friends outside of school. The youngest has a harder time with
socialization, which is common with Autism Spectrum Disorder. He gets his socialization
mainly from the interactions he has at school. The respite care coordination has allowed for him
to gain more socialization outside of school, allowing him to become more open about
socialization in school. He still prefers to be alone and play his video games at home, but the
family is working towards continued socialization outside of the school setting.
The children are valued highly in the family. The parents want the best for their children and
will do anything to see them succeed. They try to encourage their children to kind, caring, and
compassionate young men. They encourage independence and increase their responsibilities as
they age. The oldest son is currently looking for a job to help teach him responsibility and give
him some independence.

Health Care function

The family values health highly. The dad works in the lab at a local health center in town
that provides the family with medical and dental insurance. The family members all have
primary care physicians in the town. The youngest son also has a psychiatrist and social worker
to help him and the family with resources for them that may help with his diagnosis. Because
the youngest son has the diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, the family tends to define
illness as anything that alters their normal level of functioning. They dont see the youngest
childs diagnosis as an illness, but rather as blessing. They would consider illness as colds, the
flu, pneumonia, etc. Because Dad is works in the lab at a local health center in town, the
familys house is well kept and clean, thus reducing their susceptibility to illness.
As for resources that they family has in regards to health care, the youngest child is part
of a respite care program that allows nursing students into the house to interact with him. This
allows the family to do other things. The mom often uses the time to do her schoolwork while
the brother often stays around and hangs out or goes to do things with his friend. Dad is normally
heading home during the visits and often uses the time to head to the gym. The family seems to
very much enjoy the respite care. The agency is easy to work with, the students are helpful, and
they have yet to have a problem with the process.
The family is relatively healthy. They have some seasonal allergies that run in the family
throughout the fall, but other than that, none of the members of the family have had to go to the
doctor for anything but an annual physical since the springtime. The family tries to stay active to
keep themselves healthy. The dad goes to the gym daily with some of his co-workers. The
oldest son play sports afterschool that allows him to keep active. Both the children have to take
a gym class as part of their schooling. The mom tries to go on daily walks around the
neighborhood to get her up and moving. The physical activity throughout the day helps the
family members rest well. Both parents say they sleep at least 8 hours a night. They say that the
youngest son averages about 9-10 hours of sleep a night depending on how long it takes for them
to wind him down and get him into bed. They are unsure of how many hours the oldest son
averages a night because he often stays up on his phone at night, so they are unsure of when he
truly goes to bed. They say that they can tell the next morning if it was a late night or not for
him by his attitude and they encourage him to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but let him make
the decision for himself.
The family tends to eat relatively healthy. The family eats a home cooked meal almost
every night. They do eat out once a week, but make sure to not make it a daily habit. They dont
normally sit down to eat all together until later in the evening, around 7pm, so the children often
snack when they get home around 4pm to hold them over until dinner time. Mom is the one that
normally cooks the meals. She is also the one who does most of the grocery shopping for the
meals and packs lunches for the family.
Drug use does not occur in this household by the children. The only drugs that the
children are allowed to take are prescribed medications. The parents do not use drugs that arent
prescribed medications, but they do drink occasionally. They tend to be more social drinkers and
only drink when out with friends or on a date and never drink in excess.
Family Stress and Coping
A long-term stressor for the family is the fact that one of the children does have a chronic
medical condition that doesnt allow the family to leave him alone. The stressors of taking care
of a child with a long-term disability can take a great toll on the family. The familys strength is

that when they are in the home, they have the trust to allow the youngest child to self-entertain
with his games and movies. When mom or dad cant be around, the brother has no problem
stepping in and watching his younger brother so mom and dad can get work down. When in
public, they all take on the responsibility of caring for each other and making sure the youngest
isnt off on his own. As of right now, there are no acute stressors facing the family, but they have
identified that the stress that will occur when needing to repay student loans once the mom
finishes school will become a temporary stressor until the adjust to life with the payment.
The family is very quick to respond to stress. They tend to balance each other out to allow
the stressors to be minimized and not become a crisis. They have healthy coping mechanisms to
help them reduce their stress. For the Dad, he uses his gym time as a way to relieve his stress.
The brother uses sports and taking time to go out with friends and be apart from the family as a
way to distress. The mom uses the dad as he outlet as someone to talk to. If he isnt around to
talk to, she often likes to take some alone time in her room, her mommy time out as she calls
it, to clear her head and take some time to relax and cool down. The youngest son has the
hardest time coping with stress. For him, it is hard for him to express his emotions well. When
he does get stressed, he tends to throw a fit that starts as whining, but can escalate into
screaming. The family tries to notice these triggers coming on and encourage him to use his
words to tell them what is bothering him. If he cant do that, they talk softly to him to try to help
soothe him. If necessary, they will remove him from the area triggering the stressor and may
need to give him some time to cool off.

Grandpa
65
Retired
NK PMH

Grandm
a
64
Retired
NK PMH

Grandm
a
66
Retired
NK PMH

Dad
46
Lab
Work
HTN

Grandpa
68
Retired
NK PMH

Mom
45
Stay-athome
Seasonal
allergies

Son
16
Student
Seasonal
allergies

Son
11
Student
ASD

School

Wor
k

Dad

Mom

Son

Son

Respite
Care

Key
Strong
Extended
family

Friend
s

Tenuous
Stressful
Energy flow