Maria Sanchez: Case Scenario

Identify the Problem

Maria Sanchez is the service user that is immediately involved in the situation at hand. She is 91 years old and lives in a city-run long-term care facility where she is very sociable and engages in all the activities that are offered at the facility. Judging by her name, we may be able to assume that she is of Spanish descent. Although she has no immediate family, her distant cousin Paola Sanchez and his wife, Margarita, visit her weekly with sweets which brings Maria great joy. It is discovered that Maria is in need of new clothing as hers are old and ragged, therefore, I, the social worker, must now explore her financial arrangements, never doing so before because Maria’s needs have always been met. Maria receives the

Since Maria is at an older age and her health is not as good since she is at an older age, this means that she is very vulnerable. Although she was not struggling financially, now that she needs money for new clothes and needs the money from GIS that her relatives had been taken under false pretences, Maria is even more vulnerable. Taking these factors into consideration, it may be likely that her relatives would face jail time or at least a fine, undoubtedly severing the relationship. I would not have any duty to report Paola or Margarita for fraudulent behaviour as Paola and Margarita are not putting themselves or Maria in immediate harm and although the Government of Canada strongly encourages reports of fraud, I am not legally obligated to, even anonymously (Criminal Code, 1985). As stated above, I as the social worker, cannot file a complaint with the Public Pensions department. Maria is the only one that can lodge a complaint, but it may be unlikely that she would file a report against the only family she has left. Thus, it is my job as a social worker to provide her with all the information and possible outcomes to help her make this decision. Perhaps if the agency I was working for required me to report about fraudulent means, then this

Many people from Spain are Christian and therefore believe in certain values, mainly the importance of family or perhaps treating people the way you would like to be treated. As someone who is not religious, I am not an expert on Christian values, though a Western society reflects a lot of the same values. I would consider doing research on Maria’s spirituality, religion, and culture, but I do not believe it is a barrier in regards to working with Maria in this context. There are many social phenomena that come into play in this situation. For example, Maria’s age is a huge factor in her injustice as it may be a way of justifying Paola and Margarita’s actions as it could be said that she is old and therefore not going to need the money for much longer anyway, though this is a harsh perception. People may also abuse the elderly as they are viewed as a largely vulnerable population. Racism would not an issue between the conflict of Maria and her relatives because it could be assumed that they are of the same race, thus racism would not be a cause of the injustice. Heterosexism and transphobia would not be at play as it was not mentioned if Maria was part of the LGBTQ+ community. Classism would be another social phenomena involved as both parties—Maria and her relatives—are all on the poorer side of the spectrum. Under these circumstances, both parties