The Beta Family

Members: Adults. Mr. Beta, 36 years old, is a city policeman of 8 years. He enjoys coaching his children’s sports activities, attending sporting events, and participating in golf, adult basketball, and community projects.

Mrs. Beta, 36 years old, is a medical laboratory technologist. She has been working at the same facility for 12 years. She is active in the parent organization at the children’s school, belongs to a women’s health club, and transports her children to and from activities.

Dependents. Oldest daughter is 10 years old. She participates in dance, swimming, and soccer.

Oldest son is 8 years old. He plays ice hockey and baseball, and is a member of the local Boy Scouts.

Youngest son is 6 years old. He plays T-ball and is a Cub Scout.

The family has a small indoor dog and an aquarium with fish.

Strengths: Father works 3 days on, 3 days off, 6 am to 6 pm. Mother works 4 days on, 2 days off, 9 am to 7 pm. Family belongs to the local YMCA, which provides before- and after-school programs. Home is less than 5 years old and is valued at 3 times the combined gross annual incomes of both adults. It is mortgaged at 90% of its value. Family owns a 3-year-old pickup with no outstanding loan and a new sports utility vehicle with an outstanding loan of 75% purchase price. Health insurance is provided through either parent at a reduced rate, and the mother’s company provides life insurance policies on both adults, worth 5 times the annual income of each. Both adults have pension balances equal to their annual income and they continue to add to those funds by adding 5% of their gross incomes monthly.

Challenges: Taxes, mortgage, insurance, utilities, and upkeep of the new home are required. Both vehicles must be licensed, taxed, insured, and maintained. The family has a credit card balance equal to 1 month’s combined incomes. A recent furniture credit purchase has a balance equal to 80% of one month’s combined incomes. The family is 1,000 miles away from the mother’s family and 3,000 miles away from the father’s family.

After reading the description of your case family, provide a summary/description about them that includes at least 2 strengths and challenges facing the family. Make sure you explain why they are strengths and challenges.

Next you will use the five-step decision making process to guide the family through problem solving and setting attainable goals to help them improve their situation. Make sure you identify any outside influences that may interfere with the decision making process as well as possible solutions to those issues.

Provide their “plan”. How are they going to move forward? For example: What are the needs of the family? What goals have they set to meet those needs and how will they reach them? What help do they need from community resources, etc.?

Conclude your paper by writing an “ending” to the Case Study. Reflect on what you learned throughout the course, your own experiences, the experiences of people you know, etc. What do you think happened? Did the family follow their plan? Were they successful? Why or why not? The ending is up to you.   

Your paper needs to be a Word doc that contains factual information from the textbook, at least 2 resources from your community to assist the family (based on their needs), as well as any other academic resources you need to complete the assignment.

Your paper needs to be at least 2 pages in APA format. 

Grading Rubric:

Required Elements of Assignment

Points Possible

Points Earned

Identify family chosen and provide a summary about them with strengths and challenges explained.

10

Five step decision making process

25

Outside influences and possible solutions

10

Plan for family that includes at least 2 community resources based on their needs

25

Conclusion contains an ending to the family’s story.

10

Writing Structure is clear and follows spelling, grammar and punctuation rules.

10

Paper is in APA format

10