This paper applies the Just Practice Framework developed by Finn and Jacobson to a case study involving Ann, a single mother, and her son Christopher, a young man with autism transitioning out of high school. Using each of the framework's core processes — engagement, teaching-learning, action, accompaniment, evaluation, critical reflection, and celebration — the paper demonstrates how social justice-oriented practice can be brought to bear on the intersecting challenges of disability, poverty, housing instability, and caregiver mental health. The author emphasizes collaborative, non-linear praxis and draws on critical theory to argue that meaningful change requires centering the lived experiences, history, and strengths of clients.
The paper demonstrates applied theoretical analysis: the author moves systematically through each core process of the Just Practice Framework, using direct citations from Finn and Jacobson (2007) to anchor each step while narrating first-person practice encounters. This technique — weaving framework terminology with narrative case description — shows how theoretical categories translate into moment-by-moment clinical and advocacy decisions.
The paper opens with a theoretical framing section using a puzzle metaphor, followed by a standalone case study introduction. The body then moves through each core process of the Just Practice Framework (engagement, teaching-learning, action, accompaniment, evaluation, critical reflection, and celebration) as discrete but interconnected sections. A brief conclusion synthesizes the framework's value for collaborative, justice-oriented practice. The structure is explicitly acknowledged as simplified-linear for clarity, though the author notes the processes are iterative in practice.
There is a reason that jigsaw puzzles are so often used to represent complex processes and enduring problems, the solutions to which are not immediately evident to the puzzler. It is a curiosity how, at some point, each piece in a puzzle reveals where it fits in the frame. Most people have their favorite strategies for solving puzzles, and these generally do contribute to a more expedient solution — or at least, they give that illusion. Oddly, spending time not puzzling over the fit of the pieces seems to bring about a solution, and the ease with which understanding comes after such a break never ceases to astonish.
Why is it that when we cannot find a fit, we do not gain greater clarity through forced, hyper-focus on finding the missing piece? Indeed, our use of theory — as explained in Chapter 5, Just Thinking: Theoretical Perspectives on Social Justice-Oriented Practice — can be equally constricting (Finn & Jacobson, 2007). It is through the application of critical theory that we are able to see how we try to force the fit of theory to practice, as we know it to be or wish it to be. This analogy is discussed in greater detail in the section on Critical Reflection below.
Christopher lives alone with his mother Ann in Section 8 housing in an underdeveloped section of the suburbs of a thriving metropolitan area. Ann graduated from high school and has a few credits toward an Associate's Degree in accounting. She currently works as an in-home care assistant during the afternoon hours that Christopher is at school. She has intermittently received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Christopher receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI) because of his disability. Ann took the job as part of the required work program and has been doing this work since Christopher began attending high school. Because of their low household income, Christopher receives free lunches at school and Ann visits food pantries or food banks for staples.
Prior to beginning work, Ann spent a considerable amount of time at the schools Christopher attended. She would sometimes help Christopher's teachers, but she primarily felt a need to keep an eye on him. As Christopher has autism and exhibits some savant capacity — such as being able to calculate calendar dates for people and for certain historical events — he has often been the subject of inappropriate attention from non-disabled peers. Unlike many of his peers with autism or Asperger's Syndrome, Christopher does not habitually act out or engage in aggressive or violent behavior. While this is a great relief to Ann, it is troubling that Christopher is routinely placed in classrooms with other students who have autism and is therefore made vulnerable to physical attacks by peers. At minimum, Ann has expressed concern about the amount of time Christopher witnesses problem behavior from other students in the special education program to which he is assigned. She is rightly concerned that Christopher will mimic the problem behaviors modeled by other students with autism or developmental delays.
Ann has more or less devoted the majority of her time to Christopher or to organizations and associations focused on autism spectrum disorders. Her only friends appear to be other parents of children with autism, and even those associations are not close, as most of the other parents live more typically middle-class lives than Ann.
Ann does not own a car and does not have a driver's license. She depends on metropolitan buses or special shuttle bus transportation to get to her job and to appointments for Christopher. Ann's ex-husband lives in a neighboring town and occasionally attempts to reestablish contact with her, but Ann denies that her ex-husband is Christopher's father and has never permitted Christopher to meet him.
Christopher attends special education classes as well as some general education classes. Ann has always pushed for Christopher to be included in general education, although his resistance to being touched has limited his ability to establish closer relationships with his peers. Christopher is endearingly enthusiastic about asking people about important dates in their lives, and once he knows some details, he asks questions in a manner similar to the reverse style used on the television show Jeopardy. Ann puts an admirable amount of effort into helping Christopher learn to tolerate handshakes and to accept her hugs — both of which generate considerable and obvious anxiety in him.
Unless Ann is interacting with Christopher, she exhibits a flat affect and has admitted that she often experiences a depressed mood. She has considered having a mental health evaluation but has not found the time, and she expressed fear that any indication of her having difficulties could threaten the lifestyle she and Christopher currently enjoy. Christopher is most comfortable in a relatively isolated environment, and Ann seems to have adapted — perhaps overly so — to Christopher's mental health needs. Ann also explained that she is so often engaged in meetings or doing paperwork for the state on Christopher's behalf that she does not feel she has time to address her own physical or mental health needs.
This year, Christopher is transitioning out of high school to a post-secondary work program and some community college classes. He will also begin living part-time in a tenant-support program in the community in a house that he will share with one other young man with autism who is suitably matched in temperament.
Engagement. My first meeting with Ann and Christopher takes place in my office. Ann explains that it is stressful for Christopher to be left out of family meetings, as he imagines the worst. I learn that Ann does have state-funded respite care for Christopher, but that she tries to keep it in reserve for meetings or trips that Christopher cannot attend for more fundamental reasons than her convenience or the convenience of others. Christopher paces the perimeter of the office and seems to be rehearsing — just under his breath — questions he is preparing to ask me.
Because of the anxiety Christopher is exhibiting in my office, I ask whether our next meeting can be held in Ann and Christopher's home. Ann graciously agrees and seems relieved. In making this request, I find myself thinking about the comment on the writing of Paulo Freire in Chapter 6, Just Get Started: Engagement, in which Stephen Rose recalls reading: "People committed to human dignity and social justice could never fear entering into the lives of those in whose behalf they believed they were working" (Finn & Jacobson, 2007). For the duration of this first meeting, we discuss what brought Ann to request a meeting with me and how I should prepare for our next meeting in order to be most efficient. These preliminary meetings may not be especially productive in themselves, but they do lay the foundation for trust-building with clients.
Teaching-Learning. Ann may not have much formal education, but she is a bright and articulate woman who reads a great deal. Her living room holds stacks of books — mostly paperbacks because, as she explains, they are easier to carry on public transportation. Ann and Christopher have a small television set and manage to pay for a low-end cable connection, which is important because Christopher is adamant about watching his favorite shows. Ann disarmingly finds some humor in the behaviors Christopher exhibits that were popularized by the film Rain Man. She is quick to note that Christopher cannot identify at a glance the number of toothpicks spilled on the floor — or anything else in large quantities; his strength and fascination are predominantly associated with calendars.
Since Ann has associated for years with social workers, psychologists, and other specialists in fields related to Christopher's care, she is very direct in stating her concerns and ideas about the services she and Christopher need. I am reminded of the emphasis on co-learning in Chapter 7, Just Understanding: Teaching-Learning, in which the most important outcome is described as identifying the information or knowledge needed to inform action (Finn & Jacobson, 2007). Currently, Ann believes that the school has not adequately assessed Christopher's work-readiness skills or his capacity for learning skills valued in the labor market. She is concerned that without some intervention, the school will not support development of an adequate transition plan. In addition, Ann is interested in having an external audit conducted at the tenant-support facility to ensure its readiness for Christopher's transition to an independent community-based residence.
Action. Ann has given considerable thought to the transition planning process that occurs at school and that engages the many stakeholders from the school, the work-training environment, and the community. She believes the process is a sterile one, designed primarily to meet regulatory requirements and to keep the school or transition programs from losing state funding due to non-compliance. Ann suggests holding a Life Planning Session for Christopher. Based on other such sessions she has heard about — the university has established a sophisticated process and documentation booklet — she is convinced it would be helpful.
I find myself completely cheered by the way Ann and I have been able to blend the action and accompaniment dynamics of our collaborative planning, as suggested in Chapter 8, Action and Accompaniment (Finn & Jacobson, 2007). I was concerned that Ann would view my press for action as an artifact of the social work frame she has come to know, in which the intervention is the thing that receives attention. Instead, I see that she understands the thrust of critical theory, even if she cannot name it.
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