Children From The Home example essay topic

Community-Based Nursing: Analysis and Application Essay and Presentation Rachel A. Long South Dakota State University Long 1 Sometimes We Should Just Cry by Barb Mannenbach "Sometimes I wonder if, when we want some action on behalf of the children we visit, we should just cry."Sometimes We Should Just Cry" is a story about a public health nurse who is asked to go with the police to see a family she had previously visited. They were investigating a report that the children were not being cared for properly. When they arrived at the home, the heat was unbearable and the stench of the house made them nauseated. There were eight children from two different families in the home along with five adults. All of the children were covered with scabies, and the baby was skin and bones. "The baby looked like he was from some famine-struck third world country".

After the police saw the nurse cry at this terrible site, they removed the children from the home. They took the children and bathed them and checked them for lice. The children were eventually adopted into good homes. At the end of that day, the nurse was driving home and got a speeding ticket. "I was so upset, I must have been going too fast, thinking about the day". She found out a year later at the children's hearing, that if she had explained the situation to the officer, she probably wouldn't have gotten a ticket at all.

The nurse in this story intervened by going along with the police and the Children's Services Division. She was an educated woman who acted as the children's advocate and also the educator by knowing what to look for in the home. The police had later told her that they aren't sure what to look for when they have to decide to remove kids from homes for health reasons. As an educated nurse, she knew that the baby had pertussis, all of the children had scabies, one of the children had an abscess on the leg Long 2 that could " ve caused osteomyelitis, and they were all dehydrated and malnourished. Her reaction to this situation allowed the authorities to remove these children from this environment and put them into good adopted homes. This story showed that the initial family was relatively large, in that there were several children, adults, and grandparents living together.

Children's Services Department tried to keep the children with their family and placed the youngest with another grandmother. After the nurse visited again, she noticed he continued to be neglected, and eventually all the children were adopted into better families. The nurse continued to follow the other family that was living in the same home. "Despite all their shortcomings, they really seemed to care about their kids".

That family eventually was chosen to receive a Habitat For Humanity house and was able to raise the children in a better atmosphere. I believe that the nurse did everything that she could do to keep the children within the family, and since that was no longer possible, she helped the authorities get these children adopted into good, loving families. It is always sad when a child is taken from a home, but the outcome of these children is going to be so much better for them now. All in all, I would say that this was a definite positive health outcome.

If I were the public health nurse under these circumstances, I would continue to keep in contact with all of these children to ensure that they are all developing properly and that their new family life is going well. I would also stay in contact with the other family and try to do everything that I could to help them continue to care for their children appropriately. I think both the children and the families would benefit by the Long 3 nurse keeping in contact with them, whether it be for health concerns, behavioral concerns, or just to let them know that you are wishing them the best.