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Absence of Parents and Its Effect on Families

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Case Study: Absence of Parents and its Effect on Families
Eric Anderson
New Mexico State University

This case will shed light on the challenges of substance abuse and family that is affected while a head family member is dealing with the corrections system. This case also shows the challenges faced by such a family as they struggle to keep their well-being when the provider is away, and the important role resiliency plays in the families ability to survive, and the why the family is affected just as much, if not more, by the absence of the provider.
On January 24, 2014, I was able to interview the Smiths family for the purpose of including the results in a case study needed for my CJ 300 class. Andrew Smith is the father that has been taken away from his family for over a year because of a DWI that he received in 2013. Left outside of the system is his wife Angela Smith, Tyler Smith, 12, and his brother Paul Smith, 14.
Last year Andrew was caught for a DWI and incarcerated as it was his 5th DWI offense. He has been in and out of jail for DWI and this has caused much financial strain on the family as DWI’s are hard on a low income family. Alcoholism has run in Andrew’s side of the family and his father even died from complications of being a long time alcoholic. The two boys are enrolled in school and Angela is working two minimum wage jobs to keep the family going financially. The boy’s friend’s parents must take the boys to and from school and they are left at home unsupervised when they get back. Angela is mostly away from the house because of the long hours she must put in to make enough money to support the family. The only time that she is home is late hours, usually when the boys have gone to sleep.
I concluded from my research that Andrew as well as the family has financial struggles as well as a fight for the psychological issues that come from having a spouse or father come and go for a year or two at a time. The boys are old enough to understand why the father is gone for years at a time yet they struggle to figure out who they are without their parents around while Angela struggles to financially support their family while Andrew is incarcerated. The children have a hard time at school trying to figure out their own identity and have hard time making friends as they are socially awkward and struggle with the education system.
According to my views the family is very capable of surviving on their own and has a bond that keeps them together. The children act up in school and are very rebellious to other adults and kids but in their own home they help each other and even lie to help out another member. The mother is a very strong woman practically raising the boys on her own and working a lot to keep the family financially stable and on their feet. The father not setting a good example to the kids and putting that financial strain on his family as he does causes the family issues that they experience, such as socially, financially, and mentally. The issue begs the questions, are the kids properly cared for, is this the best situation for the children, what psychological effect does unsupervised childhood have on the children, is this setting up a life for the kids to follow in their father’s footsteps, and is having a substance abuse patriarch come and go worth the financial and psychological strain put on the family.

Social Environment
The Ecodevelopmental states that there are risks the different levels of the social environment and each level has an effect on the other levels (Pantin, Schwartz, Sullivan & Coatsworth, 2003); this will be a good example of how various aspects of the social environment affects the Smith family.
There are four systems to the Ecodevelopmental theory which go as follow, macro, exo, meso and micro. The macrosystem is about the social ideas that are brought forth by a certain culture or society. Growing up in the U.S. the kids have become accustomed to the culture as it is the only one they have ever known. The American culture has taught the family how to be individualistic, self-sufficient and independent. Growing up in this culture the family has gone through the hardships of the criminal justice system and has become accustomed to the nature of those hardships. Families without a father or head provider have had to become self-sufficient when the provider of the family is taken away and have had to almost raise themselves and become independent. The resiliency of these families are measured based on the productivity and health of the family mentally and physically.
The second level is the exosystem. This has to do with the conditions of the parents. Since the father is in prison we will focus on Angela. Since the sole provider role falls on the mother when the father is away this creates many risks as well as issues for the family. Angela needs to work long hours at low paying jobs due to her lack of education. This causes many issues such as working in unsanitary conditions due to the need to make money and little time to rest to stay healthy and recuperate. If Angela has health issues this can cause financial strain for the family and while there are programs in place such as welfare and other government programs, Angela still needs the financial means to support the issues created by the imprisonment of the father.
The third level is the Mesosystem. This deals with the young adolescent boys and their world. Due to the multiple absences of a father figure during developmental periods for the boys raises many issues as well as their unsupervised life styles. The boys don’t have parent involvement as the mother is always working and the father is removed. This causes problems in the education system as well as their personal lives. The parents rely on the boys own motivation to deal with school and to raise themselves since they aren’t around.
The fourth level is the microsystem. This deals with the boys social relationships. The boys have a hard time with social relationships because they have a rough social relationship internally with their own families. They mostly keep to themselves and are viewed as outsiders in the education environment. They don’t understand authority as they have lived most of their lives without an authoritative figurehead at home which has proven difficult for the boys as they are always getting in trouble with the school. This will lead to bigger problems later in life if the boys are unable to grasp the idea themselves or are taught to.
In conclusion it is known that the hardships caused by the decisions made by the father have caused many issues for the family mentally and physically. From social interactions and behavioral problems found in the children and the health and financial problems burdened on the mother, practically having one parent figure around has deemed itself to be an issue. Seeing how the social environment has been paved for the adolescents has shown how they have come to behave in socially deemed negative ways. Using the Ecodevelopmental approach helps break down the social environment from one general idea into looking at the specific stages of the environment and how they have had an effect on the family as separate pieces and as a whole. This makes it a lot easy to analyze the family and issues that they have.

Cited:
Schwartz, Seth J., J. Douglas Coathsworth, Hilda Pantin, Guillermo Prado, Erin Hiley Sharp, and Jose Szapocznik. "The Role of Ecodevelopmental Context and Self-concept in Depressive and Externalizing Symptoms in Hispanic Adolescents." International Journal of Behavioral Development. Sage Publications, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

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