Look at Florence’s problem as she presented it to the case manager. Decide which parts of her problem are on the micro level, which parts are on the meso level, and which parts are on the macro level. Florence came in to see a case manager in an agency that addresses child abuse and neglect. Recently her daughter Crystal was removed from the home because of complaints by neighbors that she was abusing the child. An investigation of the situation by child-care workers indicated the abuse was severe. The discipline she was administering was discipline she had experienced and witnessed as a child from her own parents and her aunts and uncles who lived on farms near her family. Florence related that she was the oldest daughter, third in line of nine children, of a farm family of 12 people. Her parents worked hard from sun up until long after dark. Much of the housework was done by Florence and her aunt, who lived with them. Her mother was ill, often in her room in bed. Florence does not know what the illness was, but does not recall her mother ever seeing a doctor. She tells the case manager that she knows her mother and her aunt did not like her.
At 18, Florence ran away with Dave, who did mechanical work on cars. “He was my first and only boyfriend,” she explains, weeping. Florence and Dave never married, and they had one child, Crystal. Last April, Dave died in a car accident on the interstate. Florence cries as she describes that night and the way the police came to her trailer and how kind they were to her. She describes how alone she has felt ever since. Florence receives welfare. She completed eighth grade before her father “yanked me out of school to do housework. Said it was no place for a girl. A girl didn’t need no schooling.” Florence had enjoyed school, mostly for the companionship of other girls. “I’m shy of people, you know. But at school I had friends.” Florence remembers school as hard, and she had trouble with subjects like math and science. “Mostly I sat there and worried about what would happen when I got home from school. It was always something: Mom was worse, I was in trouble, there was some big push to get in a harvest. I was glad when I quit.”
Leaving with Dave had alienated Florence from her family. “Dave used to say, ‘They’re just mad ’cause they can’t use you no more.’” For this reason, Florence has not seen her family since Dave’s funeral, and they have made no attempt to get in touch with her even though they are only a few miles apart. The welfare agency reports that their workers have rarely seen Florence and have not as yet offered her any services for going to work, although she is on a list of single mothers they would like to make job-ready. Child welfare tells you that they cannot return Crystal until Florence has had intensive parent training and supervised visits with her child. They also tell you that they found her home worn, but immaculate.
Florence confides that she is terrified of going to work, that she feels useless, and that she probably has little to offer on a “real job.” She also appears to be depressed, crying at intervals and hanging her head. Socially, she is isolated both because of Dave’s death and because her neighbors are fed up with her child-care practices. “The neighbors don’t like me either,” she says with resignation. The child-care agency is asking for parent training, but it is unclear who will offer that in this rural area.
What part of Florence’s problem is a micro-level problem?
What part of Florence’s problem is a mezzo-level problem?
What part of Florence’s problem is a macro-level problem?
