School Counseling in This Case,

School Counseling

In this case, the student has committed an actual crime by stealing money from someone. It would actually be permissible to involve the police. However, I would not want to involve the authorities without first holding a meeting with the student and his or her parents. I would definitely consider inviting the victim and his or her parents to the meeting. The victim's presence at the meeting might soften the stance of the perpetrator's belligerent parents by adding a human face to the situation. Humanizing the crime might help get the severity of the message across both to the student who was caught stealing and to the parents, who do not seem to be cooperative. I do not believe that inviting anyone else, such as school administrators or teachers to the meeting, would be necessary or beneficial.

First we would want to ascertain whether or not this student has had any prior record of stealing. Has he ever been caught by the cops? Has he ever stolen anything from the parents, such as money from their wallet? I would directly ask the student if he or she has been shoplifting or stealing supplies from the school. This would be to establish a pattern of behavior and determine whether or not the student would be at risk for repeating the crime. I would also like to talk with other students in his class, to find out if his peers had suspected him of stealing, or had known him to have stolen things before but had not wanted to squeal.

Second I would like to find out what the student's life outside of school was like. Did he have many friends? Was he part of any extracurricular clubs and did he play any sports? Did it seem as if the student has a lot of friends? I would also find out by meeting the parents how their home life was. Parenting styles can be easily ascertained from observing how the parents react at the meeting. Getting a better understanding of the student's parenting style would greatly assist me in communicating with the parents and with understanding how to best handle the situation.

However, I would also want to ask some pointed and direct questions if the parents were being belligerent, to discover why they appeared to be hostile. Perhaps they were embarrassed by their child's behavior and were acting defensively. In that case I would try my best to talk to them in a non-threatening manner, making sure they understood that we were not trying to persecute their son (or daughter) but rather, to correct deviant, anti-social, and harmful behavior. I would avoid arguing with them if the parents refused to believe that their child had done anything wrong.