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I'm confused. What is the point of giving a social worker domain and responsibility over a mentally compromised individual if they have no ability to physically restrain said individual to prevent them from harming themselves or others???
So she can lose her license if something happens to the person yet she can't restrain her to assure nothing happens???
1. OP never said she was disabled in any way. Was she?
2. How do we know the 50 year old was dangerous? Maybe the 50 year old was a mentor, friend, cousin, uncle, who knows.
wealthy people dont have social workers... and dont ride in a van pool
Do you know anything about social work? People of all income levels "have social workers." Have you been to the hospital before? Know someone who had to go to a nursing home from a hospital or rehab? A social worker set that up. Know someone who had mental health issues and had to be hospitalized? They had social workers. Know someone who was a veteran and went to the VA for medical services? Had a social worker. Know someone who applied for disability? Had a social worker. Know an elderly person who had Meals on Wheels? Had a social worker. Know someone who had a kid with developmental delays and ended up getting speech therapy/physical therapy/occupational therapy? Had a social worker. Know a parent who had a kid with an IEP/ARD? Probably had a social worker work with the school. So, yes, wealthy people have social workers. And fwiw, a wealthy person's insurance could have very well paid for that transportation as a way to get home. Insurance pays for transportation to and from appointments all the time, this could just be their way of cutting corners to save money. Please be informed before spouting misinformed information about an industry you know nothing about.
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Originally Posted by dmarie123
There are details the OP didn't provide.
For good reasons, she could lose her license for confidentiality reasons if she disclosed those things. I don't think we'll be hearing from her again. And I hope we don't outside of maybe "Hey, thanks for the advice."
Why does everyone assume that this 50 year old dude is trailer trash or something? Maybe he's George Clooney-esque with a ton of money.
We don't know enough about the situation to make such a judgment and neither did OP.
Because narcissistic personality type doesn't discriminate when it comes to looks. A guy can look to have it all - money, looks, personality - yet be the biggest liar, cheater and user on the planet.
Plus, a 50 year old, if they are going to target someone to use for their own devices, is going to target a person considerably younger than themself- be it mentally, chronologically, experientially, emotionally- any way they can get a foothold and groom that person so they can control them. It won't take much for a 50 y o to control a 22 y o.
1. OP never said she was disabled in any way. Was she?
2. How do we know the 50 year old was dangerous? Maybe the 50 year old was a mentor, friend, cousin, uncle, who knows.
There are details the OP didn't provide.
50 year old was a member of the group, OP did say that. So intellectually disabled in some fashion.
What we do know is OP was responsible to make sure the clients got home, which is why she was on the transport vehicle with them, and that she was supposed to drop the girl off with her mother. instead they get to the man's home, and girl announces "I'm not going home, I'm going to his house". Again, OP was responsible for making sure the girl got home, she did not have mom's permission to let her daughter go elsewhere, and I would not have been the one to get to mom's house and when she says "where is my daughter?" To tell her I let her go to this man's home by herself.
These are adults but not independent adults. No, she didn't come right out and say they were disabled, but evidence points to of course they are....again normally functioning adults do not go to large group (14 people is huge) therapy sessions with a social worker, in a medical transport vehicle, nor are they required to be escorted home by a social worker on said vehicle. Of course they are disabled, I feel it's more than obvious.
OP was in a very tough situation. without time to come up with a plan. Calling girls mom to get permission would have been ideal, but they were not in an office with her files, and the girl refused to give OP mom's number.
Speaking as a fellow social worker, I think your best move would have been to beat her to the punch and report her for assault when you still had the scratches on you. But there are a lot of other questions here. I would get fired on the spot for attempting to restrain a client from doing anything. (This happened to a friend of mine, so I know what I'm talking about!) What does your agency's policy say about issues like these? Did this young woman have a safety plan she had signed and was agreeing to follow (including, for instance, following your safety instructions)? What rules do you, and she, have to follow? Is she her own guardian? because if she is, all you can really do is make suggestions, and if she ignores you and something bad comes out of it that's her own hard luck.
If you told her not to go and she ignored you, wouldn't it have been simpler to express your concerns to the police and request that they do a "welfare check"? Then nobody hits or scratches you and she's probably still safe, but if she's not, the man in his 50s is the one in trouble, not you.
If your boss is on your side in this, likely you weren't violating agency policy, at least.
I'm confused. What is the point of giving a social worker domain and responsibility over a mentally compromised individual if they have no ability to physically restrain said individual to prevent them from harming themselves or others???
So she can lose her license if something happens to the person yet she can't restrain her to assure nothing happens???
At least in my state, a social worker or other caregiver is not allowed to restrain someone unless there's obvious, imminent danger -- say if the person is running onto the freeway. In any other situation -- even if the person is talking suicide -- you always have to err on the side of giving the person choices and what's called "the dignity of risk." Just on general principles, I agree it's sketchy to have her just go to an older man's house unattended, especially if she doesn't know him well and so forth. But that's not the same as letting her run into rush-hour traffic. In the latter case you KNOW the danger is there, and in the former you really don't know what's going to happen. It doesn't rise to the level of imminent danger.
And her being on disability would not change that one dram!
Thank you for the replies. Sorry I haven't responded in a while. Now all the clients have some type of disability, but most of them aren't severely intellectually disabled. I just felt it wasn't a wise decision for her a 22 year old to go into some 50 year old man's home. I am older than 50 and know what can happen when a 50 year old man invite a 22 year old home alone when they aren't relatives. She wasn't listening to me so I had to restrain her to keep her from running off to his house. At least if her mother then allows her to go to his house she will be responsible for anything that happens. If she gets murdered her mother could sue me for allowing her to go into his home.
This client also refuses to apply for SSI. She never had a real job. She is receiving services at a state vocational rehab agency. All the people I know who used this agency never got jobs. I told her if she ever finds a good paying job she can get off SSI. But for now she can apply and I'll help her in the process. She refuses. I guess she thinks SSI is living off the government. Everyone thinks that when they're young. When you get to my age you will feel differently.
This client is friends with many people in the group. Another client asked me if she could come and I said yes. She filled out an application and she didn't have Medicaid. She is on her parents insurance and they hadn't paid a deductible. So I saw her for free. We have an ambulette that takes some clients to and from the group. She takes public transportation to the group but after the group she takes the ambulette. The ambulette is for people who have Medicaid and in the computer system, but if someone riding is in the computer system this driver will take anyone as long as there is room in the van.
Thank you for the replies. Sorry I haven't responded in a while. Now all the clients have some type of disability, but most of them aren't severely intellectually disabled. I just felt it wasn't a wise decision for her a 22 year old to go into some 50 year old man's home. I am older than 50 and know what can happen when a 50 year old man invite a 22 year old home alone when they aren't relatives. She wasn't listening to me so I had to restrain her to keep her from running off to his house. At least if her mother then allows her to go to his house she will be responsible for anything that happens. If she gets murdered her mother could sue me for allowing her to go into his home..
Is her mother her legal guardian or not? That's the crux of the entire problem here. A legal guardian is someone who has been designated by the court to control another person (juvenile or adult).Even if the young woman has mental disabilities, she still might be an independent adult, not a ward of anyone. May people with mental disabilities are independent. Even if they live at home, this doesn't mean their parent is their legal guardian. Simply living at home with parents is meaningless. Also, many young people can remain on their parent's insurance until they are 25 years old but this still doesn't mean their parent is their legal guardian.
If the woman does not have a legal guardian and she wanted to go to the 50 year old man's home and have sex with him, that would have been her freedom of choice. Any lawyer will tell you the same thing.
And a 50 year old man is no more likely to commit rape than a 20 year old man.
Is her mother her legal guardian or not? That's the crux of the entire problem here. A legal guardian is someone who has been designated by the court to control another person (juvenile or adult).Even if the young woman has mental disabilities, she still might be an independent adult, not a ward of anyone. May people with mental disabilities are independent. Even if they live at home, this doesn't mean their parent is their legal guardian. Simply living at home with parents is meaningless. Also, many young people can remain on their parent's insurance until they are 25 years old but this still doesn't mean their parent is their legal guardian.
If the woman does not have a legal guardian and she wanted to go to the 50 year old man's home and have sex with him, that would have been her freedom of choice. Any lawyer will tell you the same thing.
And a 50 year old man is no more likely to commit rape than a 20 year old man.
I hope you can get this issue resolved.
The OP is trying to get the young woman to apply for SSI. If she had a guardian or limited guardian (which can be available to people in some states when certain conditions are met), the guardian would be responsible for filing for SSI and would typically do that at age 18 when she’d be eligible to start getting benefits.
The young woman also rides the bus TO the appointment, which means that she’s perfectly capable of getting herself to this man’s house if she wants to. This is just a free transport for this young woman and there is no obligation on the part of the OP to ensure she gets anywhere safely because she’d otherwise just be using the public bus and would get off at the same place she wants to get off.
The statements about vocational rehabilitation are also off base since the OP probably only sees the failures and not the success stories. If a person has a disability as determined by the IEP, they often stay in until 21 or even up to 22 depending on the state and then work with vocational rehab to try to gain job skills. At 22, she probably just aged out of school and really hasn’t had time to transition yet.
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