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Human Behavioral parent Child Interview
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RUNNING HEAD: PARENT-INTERVIEW CHILD ASSESSEMENT Harrison 1
Parent Interview-Child Assessment
Tartiana Harrison
Northwestern State University
SOWK 3030
Parent-Interview Child Assessment Harrison 2
Abstract
I conducted a parent-interview child assessment with a teenage single parent mother and her two
toddlers. She has a daughter age 18 months and a son age 9 months. I interviewed the parent and
child with regard to parenting and environmental stresses, child rearing practices, and parenting
styles.
Parent-Interview Child Assessment
Parent-Interview Child Assessment Harrison 3
My parent interview child assessment was conducted with an 18 year old single African
American mother named Susan Smith(DOB 12-22-1996). She is the mother of a 19 month old
daughter named Mckenzie (DOB 07-10-2013) and a 9 month old son named Michael.(DOB 6-1-
2014) (See Genogram Appendix A). This family resides in the same home Susan was raised in.
Susan and her mother Mary (DOB 05-24-1964) and her two younger sister have lived in this
same house for over 8 years. The house is located in the southern part of the city, it is neatly kept
outside. There were some toys in the yard situated to the side neatly placed near the side of the
house. The family have a friendly, little puppy named Laila. When I arrived at the home the
mother was feeding her two kids while watching the evening news. The house was very quiet
and no one else was home with them. The home was well maintained and there were a few toys
in a corner in the living room. Everything else was in it’s proper place. I found this to be strange
with having two toddler of this age.
The home was located in a low income neighborhood that appears to be very quiet. Susan
and her two kids share a room. The room appears quite small for the three of them but the seem
to adapt to the environment well. There is a queen size bed and a baby bed located in the room.
They are situated on one side of the 3 bedroom 1 bathroom house. Her mother has two other
daughters that also live in the house a set of 16 year old twins Carla and Kayla. (DOB 9-18-
1998) Her mother’s home is not paid for, but she is currently renting to own. Susan had dated her
kid’s father Jacob Doe (DOB 09-22-1994) for 3 years and they recently separated about 9 months
ago around the same time as the birth of her son. She is in the process of getting her own low in-
come apartment about 10 miles from her mother. She does not have any transportation so her
mother takes her to doctor’s appointment and to the store when she needs anything for the kids.
She dropped out of school because she had no one to watch her daughter, but while pregnant she
Parent-Interview Child Assessment Harrison 4
did take night classes to get her GED. She explained, “This was tone of he biggest moments in
my life besides my kids I had aspiration to be a high school and college nursing graduate before I
had any kids. Then she went on to say, “I will fulfill my dreams it may not be at the moment but
in time I will, I owe this to myself and to my kids.”
Susan has been on her job at Burger King now for about 4 months. She is making mini-
mum wage of $7.45 per hour and she usually works about 30-35 hour per week. She currently
utilizes the government for food stamps, Medicaid and child assistance. She also receives $500 a
month in child support from her kid’s father. She stated that having her kids at an early age was a
big transition from what she was used to. Instead getting up every morning for school now she
has to wake up at all times of the night to see about her kids. She has to prepare clothes, bottles
and snacks for the kids at night to go to daycare. It is located about 2 miles from the family
home. She has to be at work every morning at 7:30, and this has become an issue because her
mother works at night and sometime finding a ride to work can be hard. Her mother has arranged
for a family friend to drop the kids off at daycare and to bring her to work. Awaking at all times
of the night has really taken a toll on Susan, being well rested for work. Susan said, "My main
priority is to cherish, protect and nurture my kids." She also stated that her most important goal is
to raise her children to be productive members of society and ensure they are ready to face this
cruel world. She also stated she grew up in poverty, her mother utilized the government for the
same services when she was younger, her mother now has a good job at a local casino where she
is making $13.00 hour. She said, I look up to my mother she did what she had to do tp provide
for me and my sister and I will strive to ensure my kids will not have to experience the same type
of lifestyle.”
Parent-Interview Child Assessment Harrison 5
She also stated “Being a full time mom is very stressful because when I am not at work I
am with my kids all the time. I do not get much help or time away from them, except when I
work. I can’t afford to bring them to daycare because I have to pay a portion and I really can not
afford to pay anything at all, but I have to do what I have to do.” Her mother still hold her to the
same standards as her sister, yes chores are still a part of her daily routine, while she still has to
take care of the needs of her kids. Her defense mechanism for dealing with this stress is Intellec-
tualization because she is unhappy that her kid’s father does not even try to reach out to help with
the care of the kids, but at the same time she is smiling while saying this. (Hutchinson 2013, pp.
141) Although there was no emotional evidence of her sadness, she does not have any “Me
time,” she said. She also suffers from biological stress, because she is juggling the kids, chores,
full time job and preparing to take some college courses classes online, and she is beginning to
get restless taking on all of this. (Hutchinson 2013, pp. 135) Her relationship with her kid’s father
is very rocky he may pass this week and not pass the next. She appears happy with motherhood,
but she just wish she had more time for herself. Susan stated “I did not want to have kids at such
an early age but I will do what is best for them at all cost." Religion is a big tradition in their
household. They attend church every Sunday and bible study every Thursday. She states, “This is
the only free time I get from my kids and work, because they are sent to the children section at
church." This allows her time to cope with her emotions and problems. She states “I have so
many tears built up in me this is when I can let it out with no one asking me what’s wrong.”
Susan states, “I carried both of my babies to term with no complication at all.” Both ba-
bies were born healthy with no deformities. Susan stayed in labor a long, painful 26 hours with
her baby girl McKenzie, she weighed 5 pounds and 8 ounces at birth she was 24 inches long. She
Parent-Interview Child Assessment Harrison 6
was healthy and showed no signs of distress at birth. Her APGAR score was 7 because of weak
cry but after a slap on the bottom she belted it out and all was fine. She bottle fed McKenzie until
the age of 11 months, but now she currently eats by her self in a highchair. She takes a two hour
nap every day around 2 pm and she sleeps throughout the night. She has to have her favorite
teddy bear "Whitey" to go to sleep. She is a not a needy child she is able to entertain herself with
toys and blocks while mommy tends to her baby brother. Some cognitive milestone stated by Pi-
aget that she have reached are; she is able to respond with simple one word answers like yes, no
and head shakes. She is able to put two-three words together to tell mom what she wants. She
follow simple commands and directions from mom. (Hutchinson 2013, pp. 433) Upon departure
she waves bye and and blows a kiss to me. She currently wears a pull-up her mom states she
know when she need to go but there are time when she forgets and after she has wet herself she
come to me and say, "O OOOOOO mommy I wet." She has begin to explore books and colors
mommy says. She started walking around her first birthday which is within one of her milestone
achievements, and she was able to sit alone around 7 months and crawl around five in a half
months. (Hutchinson 2013, pp. 431) She plays well with her brother and she tries very hard to
show him how the toys work. She has a good appetite, but mom is trying to cut out too much
sweet. After 4 months she did not want the pacifier anymore. She likes to play in the tub with her
bath toys. She is very attentive to the tv and the bright colors on Dora the Explorer. According to
Ainsworth, McKenzie is avoidantly-attached, it does not even matter if her mother is present or
not she is in her own little zone with her toys and the t.v.(Hutchinson 2013, pp. 442) From obser-
vation her right hand seems to be her dominant hand. According to Erickson, McKenzie is in
Stage 1 the Infancy stage and she displays trust. She is able to see mom come and go in the
Parent-Interview Child Assessment Harrison 7
house and her bond with mom lets her know she will be held when she cries and and fed when
when says she is hungry.
Susan was in labor for 14 hours with her 6 pound 2 ounce baby boy Michael. The labor
went off without a hitch. There were no complications throughout this pregnancy, therefore she
was able to carry Michael to term. Michael experienced no complications had a 8 for his AP-
GAR score. He is still sucks a pacifier to go to sleep at night, he is currently bottle fed. He tries
to feed himself with a spoon but he is able to finger feed himself. He is able to suck from a sippy
cup. He still wakes up throughout the night for a bottle. He too take a two hour nap at 2pm with
his sister. Mom take their nap time to straighten up the house and get their bed clothes ready and
supper prepared. Michael is securely-attached to mom he is very needy and cling to her.
(Hutchinson 2013, pp.442) She cannot move around the house with him not on her hip. He likes
to put everything in his mouth. He is teething mommy says. He babbles a lot and mumble DaDa.
(Hutchinson 2013, pp. 433) He started crawling around 6 months and was able to sit indepen-
dently a few weeks later. He is able to pull himself up on the coffee table and move around by
holding on to it. He crawls around at a slow pace. He does respond to his name when called. He
plays well with his sister but want to boss all the toys. He does not share freely if she picks up
something and he wants it he cries for it. He looks like he will be right handed also. He is
soothed by his mothers touch. He did not display tantrum with me but mom say he does throw
tantrums. According to Erickson, Michael is also in Stage 1 Infancy and he displays mistrust, he
clings to mom and does not try to form relationships with anyone when I tried to hold him to
give mom a break he pulled away and got even closer to mom. (Hutchinson 2013, pp. 437)
There were no signs of maltreatment, negligence, or malnutrition. Based on my assess-
ment Susan seem to have an authoritative parenting style. according to the work of Diana Baum-
Parent-Interview Child Assessment Harrison 8
riad, she is very flexible with the rules of the house. (Hutchinson 2013, pp. 490) Her parenting
style is warm and nurturing, that allow her kids to see how much she loves them. She does a
great job in praising her kids when they display good behavior. She seems to repeat a lot of what
she says and I think this is important at this stage in her young kids lives. This strengthens their
vocabulary and comprehension. All of her time is spent one-on-one with her kids because they
rarely go any where. She displays a lot of affection towards her kids. Overall I think Susan is a
very good mother. She stated to me that she has been approved for her own apartment, but she is
not sure how all of this will workout without no transportation. The apartment will be located 10
miles from her mother’s home. She is worrying about the burden this will on her mother and the
family friend who helps he with transportation. She hopes to be able to get her a care next year
with her income tax check. Her mother is going to help her furnish the house with some of her
hand me down furniture for now. Susan is just so happy about getting her the apartment. She
stated, “I am tired being cramped up in that small room with all our stuff and all the kids toys”
There is a local daycare who picks up the kids and drops them off at the end of the day. There is
also a grocery store located in walking distance of her her new apartment. Hopefully within the
next few weeks she will be able to get settled in and enjoy her new home.
All of the kids needs appears to be met. Her mothers house is considered safe and I did
not spot any unsafe conditions in the house. Mom does not have any concerns for her kids and
she think she is doing a great job. She is concerned about transportation, and involvement from
the kids father. She could use more help from the kids father and her own family, but she state
they are her kids and she will do everything possible to make sure they are safe and well taken
care of.
Parent-Interview Child Assessment Harrison 9
References
Hutchinson, E. D. (2013) Essential of Human Behavior, Integrating Person, Environment
and the Life Course. SAGE Publications, Inc.
Parent-Interview Child Assessment Harrison 10
Appendix A
Genogram
Mary Smith05-24-1964Mother of three
daughters and grandmother of two infants whom she provide
with a safe clean place to stay.
No Mention of her DAD
Kayla Smith09-18-1998
Student in High School
Karla Smith09-18-1998
Student in high school
Susan Smith12-22-
1996Mother of two infants and,
full time em-ployee. Some-
Jacob Doe09-22-1994
Father of two in-fants who spend no time with his