Free of Emotional and Familial Prison Essay

When Henry, not his real name, was in prep school, he met just like everybody else a bully who would take his lunch box away from him. Given his somewhat resistive nature, he would refuse to give his lunch up, and would even dare to fight for it. However, because of his thin body and relatively short height, and the weakness caused by his hunger, he falls down in the hands of his nemesis and was taken usually bloody to the school clinic. In one occasion, when the bully found nothing in the box but crumbs and a piece of carrot, his disappointment broke Henry’s arms. In grade school Henry’s struggling continues. Though the other aggressive kids there know that he doesn’t have much in his box, they will still take his lunch box from him to show everyone how miserable his life is. Other kids laughed and several pitied him, while the rest are indifferent from his situation. At the time his teachers found out about the commotion, the kids went away like nothing really is happening and Henry stood up from the ground, thoughtless. At home his life is dreadful. He doesn’t have his own room nor his own bed. He is only allowed to sleep in the garrage, where an unusable car is parked. The garrage has never been used now and was all dirty and webbed, it was only there to house the family’s forgotten possessions, like himself. He sleeps under the car, because he can’t sleep on top of it, there is no other place. The coldness of the room and the people around him makes him tuck himself and grip his legs with his arms. The darkness almost blinds him, he can no longer see anybody, even himself, even his future. Outside the room he is like nobody, even to his father. His mother died two years ago, that is when he was three. She died in an accident, while trying to save Henry’s older brother from being run over by a pick-up truck. He died anyway, with her mother, because she was only there in time for her head to hit the truck’s bumper. After the incident their family is dead. His father turned from being a locally respected man into someone who would be thrown out of a pub, walk in zigzag to a place he do not know. Luckily his body is used to walking home, and he is dragged by himself almost automatically to their place. At times when his body is heavily drowned in alcohol and is no longer able to take him home, neighbors will call on Henry to help him back home. Nobody really tries to help drag him, only Henry, because of his smell. Henry’s father literally stinks and this exhausts him more than on the dragging work itself. In the morning his father would still be drinking his alcohol bought out of the pub. At times when Henry brought him back home from the street, the next morning his father will condemn him of stealing his money even though he knows he spent them in the pub. Most of the time when Henry denies he is commanded back to his room, he still have a room then, and never go out. To make sure, his father locks him in. And many times also his father will forget that he was there and will go to the pub while Henry is starving inside his room, locked. Because of this he missed school consequently giving other kids a reason to bully him again. At one time when Henry cannot take the hunger he broke the window and went out. When his father found out about the broken window he sealed it and the rest of the rooms. Henry will now have to stay in the garrage with all his things, even his clothes, locked inside his own room. Fortunately he found his older brother’s old clothes in the garage. Because he feared that his father may recognize the clothes, he only took the school uniforms for himself and used it so he will not miss his classes. He used his brother’s other clothes to sleep on during the night under the car. The worn out clothes again would give his schoolmates a chance to laugh at him. He found them dreadful too, but what else can he do. His father’s drinking worsened and this led to new punishements. Since his father can’t lock him in his room now, he no longer gave him food. Although there are times when he would take home a piece of left-over chicken he bought from a diner, frequently Henry is left starving for days. Most of time when he can no longer take the hunger he would ask the neighbors for food, and thankfully they give him a loaf of bread or an egg pie. At school he would steal food from other kids and a couple of times he was caught shoplifting in a convenience store. After the first caught his father, having talked with the police the night they took Henry home from the station, is still as indifferent as before. The next time he slammed Henry’s face on car’s trunk. That’s the first time he went in Henry’s â€Å"room† in years, and in doing he never even noticed Henry’s condition inside. That started the series of physical violence committed against him. His father might have thought that he can really hurt his son, and did so many times afterward, worsening as he gets more drowned in drunkenness. He started hitting him first by slapping his face using the back of his hands, later he started slamming him anywhere near: the stairs, table, tile floor, plate he’s eating on, and on the stove. Unluckily the slamming leaves only small patches and bruises on his face, this encouraged his father to continue the assualt, and do more. One time Henry came home from school with paint on his uniform, yes his brother’s uniform, because of another aggression from his classmates, he was sphered right after he closed before him. He was hit by a sphere, like what Edge and Batista do in WWE. Unfortunately again, the hit only caused pain, no broken rib nor internal bleeding, just pain, physical and emotional pain. That could have killed him, or have him taken to the hospital, where people would know how he is treated, where he could be saved. When his father found out Henry is asking for food from their neighbors, he started using tools to hurt him, literally anything he can put his hands on. That time he took hold of his beer bottle and threw it at him and missed because of drunkenness. After several seconds he realized that he did missed, he grabbed his ceramic ashtray and pitched it to Henry, that’s it, he hit his right knee and made Henry limping for three days. From then on he would start throwing things at him. One time when Henry is on his way to his â€Å"room†, his father in the dining room obviously drunk but still have enough strength, he lifted a chair and threw it at Henry. Of course he missed, but still its a chair, he’s already on that point of violence. One night when his father is watching a replay of a baseball game, stinking from alcohol again, he asked him to stand before the wall, with his baseball in hand and another 5 pieces at his side, he practiced pitching having Henry the target. His excitement gave him the precision enough to make 5 round patches on Henry’s chest and 1 on his face. He cried, and when his father saw him did that he grabbed Henry’s face and opened his mouth wide enough for the baseball. The ball was left in his mouth until his father fell asleep. His situation couldn’t have been discovered when his father wasn’t beaten down by gangsters on his way home. Earlier that day Henry was asked by his father to clean the whole house. On his way to cleaning the bathroom holding a bottle of an acidic toilet bowl cleaner, he was called by his father. Standing in front of him having the cleaner and a pail in his hands, he saw his father totally mad, his father snapped. He smiled with his eyes red, took the acid off Henry’s hands, opened it, and asked him to put his hands in the pail. Henry, frightened by his father, obeyed and do what was commanded of him. His father opened the bottle and poured it on Henry’s hands. At first it felt hot, then it scorched his hands scalping and burning his skin. He tried to take his hands off but his father grabbed them and put them back and his strength will not allow Henry to remove them again. Henry screamed in pain and his tears fell inside the pail but won’t neutralize the acid from burning his skin. After more than a minute his father finally heard him and let go. He came back to sanity and ran away. At night he run over a gang of young men, incited by his terrible appearance, they beat him ’til he can no longer walk himself. A neighbor found him trying to walk home and helped him so. When they arrived at their house he saw Henry, his hands colored red, without skin. He immediately asked him what happened, but Henry did not speak. From there he knew what’s going on and sought the police for help. Crisis Intervention Plan After hearing from the witness what he saw in Henry’s house, the authorities immediately met with social workers and other organizations that might help in rescuing Henry from his father with minimal consequences and came up with this step by step intervention plan. Step 1 First they have to assess the situation of Henry. The authorities will see exactly what happened first in an obvious angle. As much as possible the risks and dangers of intervening must be predicted. The people involve, their attitude, behavior, and mental status should be noted well. Also, the root of the situation should be known. Henry’s father may have conjured a trauma from the accident and lost his will to have a good life. Having Henry only reminds him of his other son, whom he might be blaming for the death of his wife. That is probably why he went after Henry and brought out his his anger on him. Both the effects of the crisis and the intervention should also be assessed. What would happen to the family after the rescue? What would Henry be like afterwards? Also, the status of the family before the incident needs to be known. In assessing the situation, it is always best to know what risks are in the members of the family. Step 2 Start establishing a relationship with the family to know more about them and eventually help solve the situation. A manual on crisis intervention released by the US Department of Health and Human Services noted, â€Å"in this step of crisis intervention, a sincere, non-judgmental attitude, and sensitivity to the family’s feelings and situation, lay the groundwork for a family partnership to form quickly, as does belief in the family’s ability to overcome the crisis. Also, this step promotes a constructive partnership that aims to solving the problem† (p80). Henry is an abused child and needs to be rescued. However, more information needs to be taken and this step can definitely feed the authorities that. Furthermore, â€Å"A constructive partnership also evolves from a sense of accomplishment. It is important for the family to feel that something useful has been accomplished during the crisis intervener’s first visit and that more will be accomplished in the next† (p80) Step 3 Identify Major Problems. Dr. Albert Roberts separated this step of knowing the roots of the problems due to its cruciality in the interventions plan (Roberts, p. 261). By giving attention to the factors that cause stress to members of the family, solution can be brought out to minimize the effects of the stress and to remove the those factors. Henry’s father may have been continously thinking of their happy family before the incident and the disappointment caused by the realization his wife and son’s deaths causes him to drown himself in alcohol. The alcohol causes him to be violent towards Henry. By removing these factor we can help save the Henry and help his father as well. Step 4 Take action. This step may incorporate both rescue of Henry and a therapy for his father if that will be allowed. This should be done as soon as possible after sufficient information and evidence of abuse is gathered. Rather than staying too long on encouraging the family to solve its own problems, it is better to have Henry out of the house and away from his father in the mean time. While away both Henry and his father should be applied with therapies and medications. Henry’s father suffered from the incident and may have contacted a disease in his drinking. Also, his alcoholism must be stopped and various correctional treatments should be employed. Henry’s physical being obviously needs help. The boy needs nutrition first of all, having been starved to death by his father. The beatings may have left unnoticed fractured bones and may even have damaged some internal organs that is not treated immediately without the help of the authorities. His mother and brother’s death may have also caused some trauma but most of all the effects of his father’s abuse should be look upon. Confidence may no longer be in his eyes being beaten and humiliated at school and having deprived of support by his father. A good foster home is advisable too to allow Henry have his own start and finally blend with a family. Step 5 Establish and agreement and follow-up plan. This step will know the future of Henry’s family. Whether he will be allowed to be with his father again after his reformation or if he will have to stay in foster care and have his own life. His father may be filed with a case depending on what his psychological tests results will say. Certainly, the authorities will decide on how this issue will be ended. Continous assessment of their status and treatment should also be employed. Conclusion Life is always hard for people who suffered from a great trauma like what happened in Henry’s family. The simultaneous death of his mother and older brother definitely caused great amounts of emotional disturbances on his father and the following incidents could have been prevented if they were employed with enough help and guidance. That has always been the problem family has. Missing family support and preventive plans on traumas and other psychological stress definitely cause more complicated problems like domestic violence. Henry could have been a bright boy just like everybody else. Unfortunately he was denied of that fate during his dreadful days with his father. However, with effective intervention plans, he will surely be back on track again. Works Cited US Department of Health and Human Services. Handout 3: Steps of Crisis Intervention. Retrieved 15 May 2008. www. headstartinfo. org/pdf/supportingfam_crisis/ handout3-3. pdf Roberts, Albert. 2005. Crisis Intervention Handbook: Assessment, Treatment, and Research. Retrieved 15 May 2008. http://books. google. com/books? id=UtU5DK0ryGsC&pg=PA259&dq=step+by+step+crisis +intervention&sig=sI1qrPiQIyUx5x1mIqPgBHJmC0Q#PPA260,M1 Roberts, Albert. Robert’s Seven Stage Crisis Intervention Model. Retrieved 15 May 2008. http://www. crisisinterventionnetwork. com/intervention. html