CASE STUDY 7: Chance is a lanky 15-year-old 10th grade stu…
CASE STUDY 7: Chance is a lanky 15-year-old 10th grade student at a large (3,000-student) inner-city public high school for the Arts & Sciences. Chance and his family recently move to the United States. Chance attended a attended an Arts & Sciences focused school in Mexico City where Chance’s attendance and performance were above average. He has recently come to the attention of the school’s Attendance Officer for persistent truancy. At a school mandated parent conference, Chance’s parents revealed that Chance had been caught and charged with shoplifting at a nearby mall and has been involved in several acts of vandalism in the larger community. His parents are afraid that Chance is involved in more than truancy, shoplifting and vandalism, and accept the Attendance Officer’s referral to an interdisciplinary Family Clinic for assessment and possible intervention. According to Mrs. Day, Chance’s mother, her relationship with Chance has gone from warm and friendly to constant anger and rage. She believes that the change in their relationship is directly related to her finding Chance and “a little slut” naked in his bed during school hours. Mr. Day responds that Chance is not appreciative of how hard he works to provide for them. He feels Chance only communicates when he wants money. Mr. Day also suspects Chance is using drugs, as he once caught him smoking pot. He suspended his allowance as a consequence, but did not pursue the matter because Chance promised him he’d stop. Documentation from Chance’s teachers indicate a gradual decline in his grades over the last year, with Chance frequently falling asleep in class. School performance and attendance has been the least of Chance’s problems. He plans to quit school the day he turns 16 and does not see the need to continue to study. He thinks the last time he attempted any schoolwork was at the beginning of the 10th grade – last semester. Chance claimed both parents were too busy with their lives and were only doing this assessment because they worried that he would embarrass them. The parents expressed that in their families’ children didn’t talk back to parents, and they did as they were told. Chance does not communicate with his parents and appears to ignore all their rules. The parents communicate with Chance only to yell at him or admonish him about things that he has or has not done. They continue to use their social influence to bail him out of his acts of delinquency. They feel they do not know this “monster,” and seem to see him as a threat to their younger son Harley. They want him “fixed” so they can have the old Chance back. Parents appear to have a strong committed relationship to each other, as well as memories of positive times with Chance. As an alternative to being charged with truancy, Chance and his parents agreed to follow through on the referral. Mr. Day has already arranged for Chance to meet with the judge in private chambers so that he can do community service in lieu of detention for the incidents of shoplifting and vandalism. Chance has agreed to this and will work two evenings a week at a shelter for unhoused people. His only emotional expression is a careless shrug. Chance admits to using pot, but feels that he is in control, as he only smokes late at night so that he can “sleep it off.” He also admitted to drinking close to a liter of vodka every couple of weeks just because it made him feel good. Chance has an older “friend” purchase the vodka and has been able to get a reliable and inexpensive supply of pot at school. Chance revealed that he has been sexually active since he was 14 but felt that he didn’t need protection against pregnancy because he was too young to get anyone pregnant. He has had several sexual partners including some he didn’t know. He now has a special girlfriend who is almost 14. They engage in sexual intercourse at her house or in his bedroom about three times a week. They never use protection.