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Marriage Counseling mock exam questions and answers
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MGG 2601 MOCK QUIZ TO TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE BEFORE THE OCT 2022 EXAMRead the case study about Elvina and Thembinkosi.
The intake social worker from a child welfare agency was asked to investigate a case where
the mother, Elvina, aged 34, was diagnosed as HIV positive. Elvina suffered recurrent
infections and attended the local clinic where she was informed that she had tuberculosis
and was HIV positive. Elvira’s son, Thembinkosi, a bright boy of 10 years old, presented as
very unhappy at school. His teacher found him to be withdrawn, unable to complete
classroom tasks and sleepy during his lessons. When she approached him about what was
worrying him, he informed her that his mother was very sick and he was taking care of his
two younger siblings, his eight-year-old sister, Fikile and his brother, Nkosi, aged four. The
teacher referred him to the district school social worker who, after conducting a session with
him, referred the case to the local child welfare agency.
The social worker from child welfare paid the family a home visit late one afternoon. Elvira
was prepared for the visit by Thembinkosi’s school teacher and looked genuinely pleased
when the social worker arrived. The two younger children were bathed and in their pajamas
eating pap, and volunteered that Thembinkosi prepared their supper. When the social
worker scanned the room, she concluded that the family were experiencing financial
difficulties. She initiated a light-hearted conversation with the children, commenting on their
neatness and readiness for bed. The younger ones volunteered they had bathed and that
Thembinkosi was going to read them a story after their dinner. The social worker and family
members exchanged names and for a while the group continued with general chitchat before
Elvina sent the children to the bedroom to listen to their story. The social worker asked
Elvina if she could complete a few basic identifying details that were needed for the
organisation’s intake report before they started their discussion.
On completing the preliminary administration, the social worker explained to Elvina that the
schools had adopted an integrated approach to ensure that children attending school
received adequate support to enable them to perform well at school. This meant they were
interested in the pupil’s overall well-being. The school was concerned because Thembinkosi
had not been performing as well as he normally did, and on investigating discovered that
Elvina was unwell. The social worker explained that the purpose of her visit was to establish
whether the family needed support during this time to enable Elvina to focus on her recovery
and find ways to help Thembinkosi to cope. She asked Elvina, “Has anyone else been
involved in trying to assist you?” Elvina explained that she was alone as her husband
was a migrant worker based on a mine in the Limpopo province. Until Elvina’s illness the
family had been self-sufficient. Elvina worked as a domestic worker in one of the suburbs in
Durban, but her employer terminated her services when it was clear that Elvira was too sick
to manage. They had suggested that Elvira could reapply for her job when her health
improved. Working five days a week and taking care of her own children meant that she had
not formed friendships in her neighbourhood and had little knowledge of organisations she
could turn to for help. She mentioned that she could not rely on her husband because he
seldom came home to visit them, nor offered regular financial support. The social worker
asked whether there had been any involvement from other organisations in Elvira’s
case. Elvira stated that she and her children had not received any assistance from outsiders.
She expressed her relief when Thembinkosi’s teacher visited to ask permission to refer the
case to child welfare. She did not want to tell others about her private business and believed
, that her family would benefit from the help of social workers. The social worker made sure
she had understood Elvira and paraphrased, “You seem to be positive about being able
to speak to social worker.” Elvira nodded in agreement.
The social worker asked Elvira, “What do you think would be useful for us to discuss
today?”
The response she received from Elvira was, “Definitely Thembinkosi. He is the one who
needs help right now. I had no idea that my precious child was struggling. He always seems
to be the strong one. He’s the one whose been filling my shoes since I am sick. Now he
does all the things that I can’t do for the little ones. I hate to think what would happen if he
was not here”.
The social worker suggested, “Would you like to tell me something about what led up to
Thembinkosi filling your shoes?”
Elvira did not want the children to hear their conversation, so she turned up the radio to allow
the sound of the music playing to drown her voice. The social worker moved closer to Elvira
to make sure that she could hear what she was saying. Elvira said, “Look at me! Look at the
state I am in! I hope you won’t judge me for this. No mother should have to depend on their
ten-year-old son for so many things. This is something new in my family.”
She explained that since the birth of her youngest child she had not had the support of her
husband at all. He stopped coming home for his annual leave, seldom sent money home
and she was left to take care of her children alone. When the baby was born her mother
came to live with them and cared for the baby so that Elvira could return to her job. However,
as soon as the child was old enough to be enrolled at the Early Childhood Development
Centre in Elvira’s neighbourhood, her mother returned to the farm. Her mother was not
happy living in Inanda because she missed farm life. At that time Elvira did not know her
status.
Rumours circulated that her husband was having an affair with a younger woman who lived
in Johannesburg. She had no evidence of her husband’s infidelity until she attended the
clinic. She took time off from work six months ago because she was losing weight, suffering
with fatigue, night sweats and a persistent cough. She was devastated when they told her
that she tested positive for both TB and HIV. It was such a shock.
When she confided in her family, they told her she had to stay married. Now that she was
stronger, she had decided that there was no way that she could stay married to him. She
was angry. Angry that his poor judgement and morals had put her life at risk, angry that he
had deserted his children, angry that they had no money, and angry that he was such a
coward that he could not face her and apologise for what he had done. She thought that
since she was married to a man whose monthly salary exceeded the means test for social
grants, she would not qualify for the Child Care Support Grant. She and her children were
now living in poverty. She felt wronged and helpless. She had exhausted both her
unemployment benefits and the money she had saved for her children’s education.
In terms of her health, she shared that the clinic had developed a treatment plan for her. She
was taking her ARVS and treatment for TB religiously and keeping her appointments at the
clinic. She refused to turn to her family to help because their view was that this was “her lot
in life”. They believed that as she as a woman of God she should remain loyal to her
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