Sarah Harris, your supervisor at the New York pretrial diversion
program, has been pleased with your work and believes you are ready to
handle an entire case on your own. The facts of the case are as follows:
Steve Z. is a 15-year-old who is chronically truant to and absent
from school. He is living with his single father, Larry Z., who believes
he does not have any control or say over what his son does. The
15-year-old’s parents divorced when he was 11, and a bitter custody
fight ensued that eventually led to his father gaining sole legal and
sole physical custody of him. His mother was a severe substance abuser
addicted to methamphetamine, had several arrests for prostitution, and
had sporadic housing. While her mental health has always been
questionable, she was never formally diagnosed with any DSM IV TR mental
disorder, but this may simply be a function of her refusal to show up
at scheduled evaluations as part of her probation. She could not
physically care for him according to court documents from the parties’
custody trial. The 15-year-old was recently suspended from school for
bringing marijuana to his history class. The school contacted the police
and the 15-year-old has been charged with possession of marijuana,
which is a minor misdemeanor. The court has released him to the pretrial
diversion program. The school has reported the father to the local
Child Protective Services (CPS) Agency for educational neglect because
of the 15-year-old’s repeated absence and truancy to school.
Determine which issues are important to address
based on the fact pattern. You should identify at least 5–6 issues
raised by the scenario. Once you have determined which issues to
address, your job is to prepare a memo to your supervisor outlining an
entire case management plan for Steve Z. Your case management plan
should contain the following sections: Needs assessment
- Service plan
- Coordination of client to appropriate services
- Monitoring progress of client
- Advocacy for client
- Prepare a memo to your supervisor outlining an entire case management plan for Steve Z.
- Make
sure that your plan is constructed keeping in mind that the agency in
which you are working deals with pretrial diversion. Your memo should
demonstrate an understanding of what pretrial diversion is, and how
diversion can benefit Steve Z. - The memo should include each of the 5 functions of case management listed above, and be specific to Steve Z.’s case.
Be certain to use the facts within the scenario. Post your individual portion to the small group files.
- Your memo should define and explain the function of case management listed above.
- Discuss
in detail what you would do as the probation officer within this
function utilizing the information contained in the scenario.
Be certain to use in-text citations in APA format and to have a reference section at the end.
