Human Services Case The client in this case is Ms. Ann Schafer. Ms. Schaefer is an unemployed African-American female, 43 years of age, divorced, mother of three children.

Presenting Problem

The client is a single mother with three children who was recently evicted out of her one bed room apartment because she could not pay the rent. She is unemployed and now homeless. She has no contact with the father of her children and she receives no assistance or help financially or with the care of her children.

The following goals will be addressed:

The immediate goal is to assist the client with obtaining a temporary residence in order to get the client and her children off of the street. A longer-term goal would be to assist the client to find a stable residence that is affordable and adequate for her needs.

Immediately assist the client to obtain food and clothing for herself and her children.

Assist the client to receive in general welfare assistance.

Help the client apply for food stamps.

5. Help the client find sufficient medical coverage for herself and her family.

6. Find out why the father of the children is uninvolved in their support and care. Take appropriate steps to enlist support from the father in order to help the client and her children.

7. The client wishes to find employment but cannot afford day care. Assisting the client with career training in an area of her interests/abilities would be a longer-term goal once her situation is stabilized.

Needs

1. The immediate needs of the client are to have suitable shelter and to provide them with food and clothing.

2. Making sure the client gets healthcare for herself and her children.

3. Make sure that the client looks into getting both financial and social support from the father of the children.

4. Longer-term needs include assisting the client to obtain a stable residence where she will be able to raise her children without the threat of being evicted

5. Longer-term goals also include preparing the client to become self-sufficient by exploring career opportunities and help her to determine what type of career/profession she would like to pursue in order to become self-sufficient in the future.

6. In line with the above goal have the client explore affordable day-care options that will help her develop a career.

Crisis

The client currently is in a crisis as she and her three children are homeless. It is crucial for any other needs/goals are pursued are discussed to get the client and her children off the street and into a suitable, safe, shelter but also provide her and the children with food. Once this crisis is addressed other goals can be approached one at a time.

Recommendations

1. In order to address the crisis situation of the client being homeless and immediate referral to the Austin Shelter for Women and Children (ASWC) would be made. The ASWC is an emergency shelter facility/program that specializes in providing food and shelter to single women with children. The program is operated by the Salvation Army. The facility includes a kitchen/dining full-service, licensed childcare center for young children (18 months to four years of age), and even a computer learning Center for adults and children. The facility operates on a first-come first-served basis; however, the facility can also help with transitional housing for individuals if the facility itself is filled. So this would be the first course of action to take with this client.

2. In order to address the long -- term problem of housing the client can receive counseling at the ASWC and the social workers can work with us to help her find a suitable and affordable housing for the future. Since the average stay at the ASWC appears to be relatively long (the average stay is around 90 days and the program has kept women and their children longer than...

Another potential resource to help the client to find more stable and permanent housing include The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) which can also help to provide s rental housing assistance for single mothers (information for this assistance can be obtained online or via phone.
3. Several other national associations can be helpful in assisting the client with housing and also with offering her rental assistance once client is ready to find her own dwelling. It will be important to make sure that client has these particular resources at her disposal once efforts are made to have her find her own place to live:

a. Section 8 Housing is the federal program that is offered through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that supply single mothers with vouchers for rent. The amount of rent that the single mother pays is based on the number of dependent children they have. Single mothers can choose any housing that is approved by HUD and can pay very low rental fees for quality housing. The client will be assisted in contacting the HUD program and applying to the program.

b. Catholic charities (CC) is a national group that is heavily involved in helping single mothers find affordable housing. CC also provides additional educational resources that can help single mothers like the client become self-sufficient and it will be important to have client contact CC and to investigate the resources that they offer.

c. CoAbode is a nonprofit agency that can that help to bring single parents together in order to share their expenses. This organization screens parents and children to make sure that families that are potentially going to live together compatible with one another and then finds suitable dwellings for them. This allows single parents to share expenses such as housing and their utilities and also to potentially find them a larger domicile then they would be able to afford if they were to be on their own. A contact will be made to CoAbode in order to investigate this decline can be helped by this organization.

4. The social workers and counselors at the ASWC will also help us in assisting the client learn how to obtain government assistance and food stamps in order to help her avoid being unable to financially support her family in the future. These professionals will assist the client to apply online for programs, grants, and loans that she may qualify for.

5. Another potential source to help the client get the services that she needs is the 2-1-1 Help in Texas services. Here the client can find help with access to food stamps, welfare services, etc. A very important concern here is to get the client into the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) as soon as possible. She can be encouraged to apply for the program and to find retailers that except EBT debit card at the SNAP Retailer Locator which is provided by the USDA.

6. A serious potential issue here is that the client may not have very good health care for herself and her children. In fact it is quite difficult for a single mother to get affordable healthcare. The State of Texas offers assistance to single mothers on health care over several different venues and over a number of different ways. The State assists with paying for healthcare through the State's Medicaid program. Medicaid will offer her provisions of coverage for medical care for the client and her children as well as offering programs for vision and dental care. Based on the clients current situation it appears that if she would be a good candidate for Medicaid and is important to provide her assistance with applying for Medicaid as the process can sometimes be lengthily and discouraging. If the client does not qualify for Medicaid she will have to seek coverage for her children through the Children Health Insurance Program.

7.…