Social Work in Family assessment

The main scope of the family assessment and engagement in a social work scenario is to yield information required to respond to the individual needs of every family member in strict accordance with the urgency plans. The social workers or the welfare professionals effectively partner and collaborate with the family network to acquire the viable information needed about the family. The concerns raised are usually addressed following the family tree, including the paternal and maternal relatives. This article seeks to provide the family assessment depicted from August Wilsons Fences.

Engagement

The fictional family in August Wilsons Fences is a complex type of family. Wilsons attention focuses on Troy, a 53-year-old African-American of racial origin; he works in the sanitation department collecting the garbage in trucks. The family is situated in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Due to his athletic abilities, the protagonist is a former excellent Negro baseball player; he continues playing baseball in prison, serving a jail sentence over the murder he committed during a robbery (Shannon, 1991). Troy is in a working-class who is striving to make ends meet and provide for his family. Troy is a husband to Rose; both are parents to Cory, Lyons, and Raynell. Troy is a brother to Gabriel. As the breadwinner of his family, Troy works extra hard, but with little progress in life, this is so depressing to him. Due to the requirement of his work and the responsibilities bestowed upon him, he finds it challenging to provide attention, love, and support to those he loves. Troys brother Gabriel is an ex-soldier who suffered a psychological challenge from a head injury during the second world war (Ya?ayan, 2017). Troys brother Gabriel portrays an allegiance to salvation; apart from his name symbolizing angel Gabriel from the bible, he wears trumpets. Gabriel is constantly heard chasing unseen or unknown hellhounds, and he believes in constant conversation with Saint Peter.

From the play fences, Troys family portrays different and diverse barriers to engagement with this family. These barriers are influenced by the theoretical assumptions based on the developmental stages. The main factors attributing to the barriers of engagement are family stressors depicted in the play. These stressors include internal and external dynamics, such as inadequate communication between Troy and Rose due to his promiscuous nature. Marriage is a vital family developmental stage that fluences the nature of the family and the relationship between different people within the family setup (Hepworth et al., 2021). After some time, Troy admits having an extra-marital affair with his mistress Alberta whom he got pregnant. Alberta dies in childbirth, and Rose adopts her daughter Raynell; Rose agrees to raise the child as her own but is reluctant to accept Troy back into her life.

Another barrier to engagement in this family is an economic burden imposed on Troy; he has to work extra hard to support his family and his ailing brother Gabriel. He is the breadwinner but does not make economic progress; he is depressed about this. The lack of social support and extension of love to his family due to the scope of his economic ground and his job makes it almost impossible for Troy to keep his family together. The economic hardship extends son Lyons to Troys, a talented jazz music artist experiencing a hard time making a living; Lyons is in his teenage years of developmental stage (Ya?ayan, 2017). Troys brother Gabriel thinks he is not human due to his psychological deficits from the head injury he sustained while in the army. Troy is significantly unattached from his wife and his entire family; this makes engagement with this type of family set up very difficult and challenging to the social work practitioners.

The...…make ends meet; he survives on his father to provide financial needs (Ya?ayan, 2017). Cory is a student at the college and is expected to excel in academics rather than playing football. Reynell is a half member of the family who sings a sweet song during Troys funeral. The communication between the family members takes both formal and informal nature. Communication barriers include Troys insincerity to his wife, having an affair with Alberta. Another evidence barrier to communication is Troys nature of imposing decisions on his children, such as preventing Cory from playing college football. The heavy economic burden on Troy gets him depressed to even fully communicate to his family members.

Family life cycle

Assessing family developmental stages and life cycle enables one to understand how the family functions and the reasons behind the occurrences in the family. Troys family falls under the mild adulthood stage, generally versus stagnation. Bothe parents, Troy and Rose, are focused on building their next generation; they are devoted to guiding their children in finishing their education and want to see them get employed after their education. The family cycle comprises six stages: childbearing stage, school-age stage, adolescent, launching, and post launching stage (Golijani-Moghaddam, 2014). Troys family falls under post launching stage. They are facing the problem of marital stability to keep the family bond intact. The family rules depicted in the play include the father, Troy being the final decision maker, every other family member takes instructions from him.

Social environment

The family appears disengaged from the community; Troy is a formerly convicted robber, which makes the family suspicious about what the community thinks about them. Before assessing this family, I would like to consult a psychiatric doctor to achieve information related to mental health and risk factors. This family is unique in terms of assessment since it presents most tribulations every significant family passes through. Moreover, multiple mental…