Kalonnie is a year-old baby who is currently under foster care in Ms. ZaNiyah Hart. Her biological parents, Mr. Rodney Herring and Ms. Pearson are struggling with drug abuse, which is why she has been placed in foster care. Ms. Pearson gets supervised visits that are two hours long every week, but Mr. Rodney Herring visited once where the SW informed him that he had to test negative on a UA test if he wanted to get supervised visits. This is because the last UA test was positive. When Kalonnie is just a month old, she is taken to Ms. Schnabel's foster home, but she gives her up, citing Ms. Pearson's constant complaints about her childcare ways. Kalonnie is then moved to Ms. Hart's house, where positive cognitive development is noted. Nonetheless, the baby is diagnosed with bronchiolitis, which leads to a prescription of a steroid for four days.
Children's cognitive development strengths are nurtured by the close relationship they have with adults around them (Brubaker, 2016). Kalonnie is doing well in both of her foster homes despite her biological mother's constant complaining. For instance, at Ms. Schnabel's foster home, she is healthy and keeping up with her food and doctor's appointments for checkups and treatments. Kalonnie's cognitive growth is witnessed under Ms. Hart's care. The child had shown a proliferated growth because by the time Ms. Hart was discussing permanent care with SW Francis, she was at 18 pounds and could fit in 12 months clothing. What is more, Kalonnie has emotionally bonded with the foster mum and the other child in the home. Her attachment with Ms. Hart is also seen in how she reacts when the foster mum picks up other children. Despite getting along with all of them, Kalonnie throws a fit when Ms. Hart picks other children up, which forces her to juggle the other child and Kalonnie on her hips. This shows how fond of Ms. Hart she is. Ms. Pearson also has a close relationship with her daughter. As one would have expected, her limited visitation time could have affected the emotional connection between them, but this is not the case. Ms. Pearson picks up her daughter, feeds her, and at one time, she prepares a pallet for her where they both fall asleep. What this shows is in spite of her distance, Ms. Pearson is still close to her daughter.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
For Hispanics, the concept of family, familisimo, is quintessential, and on most occasions, family needs trumps individual needs (Canary et al., 2019). This is evident in the way Ms. Pearson insists on finding a foster home for her daughter, a home that will provide the family care that she is unable to give. From the visitation coordinators' perspective, Ms. Pearson may come off as nagging, always complaining about one thing or another that the foster caretaker is not doing for her child. She always feels that the care given to Kalonnie is not enough. The behavior causes Ms. Schnabel to give up on the toddler by stating that in as much as she wants the best for Kalonnie, she cannot deal with her mother, which is why giving her up is the best option for the situation. From a cultural point of view, Ms. Pearson's complaints and intrusions can be understood. When it comes to childcare, Hispanics are categorical about it since they understand the importance of paying attention to personal feelings, uncertainties, and discomforts (Murillo et al., 2019). For this reason, Ms. Pearson questions everything that the caregivers did for her child, but at times, she makes unrealistic conclusions. For example, during one of the visits, and Ms. Pearson sees Kalonnie's discolored forehead, she alleges that her child is being abused. The visit to a Pediatrician proves that the child has Mongolian spots, and there are no signs of trauma whatsoever.
John Piaget, in his theory of cognitive development, outlined four developmental stages that humans go through, which are sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete, and formal operational period (Olson & Torrance, 2017). The first stage, which is sensorimotor, begins at birth to language acquisition. Kalonnie is at this stage of cognitive development as she shows familiarity with the objects around her and tries to make sense about it, for instance, by the time she is almost one year old, she can stand up and babble, though she gets flustered when she is unable to sit. SW also noted this during one of the visits since Kalonnie was able to stand but started to cry when she was unable to sit, which is when her foster caretaker carefully sat her down. This shows that despite Kalonnie's challenges of moving to two homes in less than a year and her mother's constant interference, she is healthy and well and on her way to the next development stage, which is preoperational.
Throughout the interview, the aspect of transparency in communication is visible. From Ms. Schnabel to Ms. Hart, there is clear and honest communication between them and the SW. Ms. Schnabel clearly states Kalonnie's development and is not afraid to tell the SW that she can no longer take care of her when the mother becomes a problem. Ms. Hart, on the other side, is also transparent, which is best shown when she informs the SW about her intended trip to Florida. Nevertheless, that is the furthest that transparency goes because when it comes to Ms. Pearson, she is not open and honest. This is shown by the many times she postpones the visitation and gives one excuse after another. The peak of the dishonesty, however, is seen the time she calls to ask for a reschedule, citing that she will be late. When the SW informs her that there is no available time that week, she agrees to come but never shows up, and Kalonnie goes without seeing her that week. During the interview, consent is another aspect that is taken into perspective. Before doing anything involving Kalonnie, Ms. Pearson has not only to be informed but consent to it. An example is a trip to Florida, where she allowed Ms. Hart to go with her daughter but requested constant updates through Facebook about her progress.
Going into the assignment, I assumed that either one or both of the foster homes would be rendered unfit for the child. This is not the case, as the problematic one is the mother who keeps complaining about the type of care her child is receiving. Furthermore, I assumed that in the end, the child would get back to her biological mother after she has fulfilled the requirements of foster care. Nevertheless, this was not the case, as Kalonnie is still with Ms. Hart. The assignment has enabled me to understand and appreciate the Hispanic culture, particularly their emphasis on family needs before individual needs. To some extent, I can understand the lengths that Ms. Pearson went through in complaining to ensure that Kalonnie got the best family care that she would require to grow. Such knowledge has enhanced my ability to conduct an observation in that I can now approach it from different angles. Beforehand, my observational skills were limited to theories about cognitive development, but after getting an insight into the Hispanic culture and upbringing, that has broadened my scope of observation. In the future, I will be able to apply that knowledge to ensure a more thorough observation.
References
Brubaker, J. (2016). Cognitive Development Theory. Encyclopedia of Family Studies , 1-5.
Canary, H. E., Elrick, A., Pokharel, M., Clayton, M., Champine, M., Sukovic, M., ... & Kaphingst, K. A. (2019). Family Health History Tools as Communication Resources: Perspectives from Caucasian, Hispanic, And Pacific Islander Families. Journal of Family Communication , 19 (2), 126-143.
Murillo, R., Pirzada, A., Wu, D., Gallo, L. C., Davis, S., Ostrovsky, N. W., ... & Stamler, J. (2019). The Association Between Family Social Network Size and Healthy Lifestyle Factors: Results from The Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL). Journal of Behavioral Medicine , 1-11.
Olson, D. R., & Torrance, N. G. (2017). Literacy and Cognitive Development: A Conceptual Transformation in The Early School Years. In Developing Thinking (Pp. 142-160). Routledge.
