Group Problem Solving Steps

1. Identify and Word the Problem
Symptoms of the problem: Shawn is a thirteen-year-old boy who is in need of a home, due the orphanage shutting down. At first initial meeting with others he comes off to be shy and is small for his age. He has some high-risk behaviors within school and is bored with education. Shawn is in need of a family that is motivational and helps him improve in school, his teachers have reviewed him as having a lot of potential to be successful Along with these problems; Shawn is in need of corrective surgery at some point in adolescents for his heart murmur.
--Within this step the group collaborated to understand first what each members perspective about adoption was, and their standpoint on Shawn’s personal case. As we sat around the table it was evident that everyone had similar perspectives and we could narrow our choice to two families. After a brief discussion, we all agreed on one family to place Shawn with. Our next step was analyzing the symptoms found within Shawn’s description and past history. The group easily collaborated and determined what topics mainly was a problem within Shawn’s bio.
Size/seriousness, and Impact, effect, of the problem: There is a high amount of seriousness within this case due to the amount of health, emotional and educational difficulties Shawn is undergoing. Living within the orphanage is all that Shawn has known his entire life; he is in need of a family that will provide for his needs and be able to give him a supportive and safe atmosphere. The impact of the family on the child will giving one a better life, and enabling a Shawn to thrive in a new family. The effect of the child will be impacted positively due to being given more opportunities and a strong support system.
-- Collaboration was mainly used to come to a decision of what the size, seriousness, impact, and effect of the problem were. It was clear that Shawn was in need of a home. The group mainly focused on Shawn’s needs and what family we felt would be a best fit.
Exact wording of the problem question: It is imperative that Shawn is placed within a family that will be able to meet all of his needs so that he can be successful.
-- This was determined by analyzing the overall problems occurring and the ways to solve the problem. As a group we came up with the exact wording of the problem question. Each member had a different way to put the overall background into a brief description. After looking over all the point of view and combining ideas, we came to one general idea of what the problem question was.
Define terms in the question:
Adoption: a legal process giving legal rights to an adoptive guardian
High-risk behaviors: something that is influencing a child or adolescents to act out. The action of acting out may result in the use of drugs, alcohol, violence, gang activity, unprotected sex, rebellion against guardians and professional etc.
Heart murmur: an unusual sound during a heartbeat, this typically can be fixed with surgery
Motivation: the reasoning behind the way one acts or behaves
-- We discussed the main points within the study and picked out key words that stood out from the studies. From this we were able to look up the definitions of the actual meaning and then change them to fit more accurately with the case we were studying.
Topics that need to be researched and discussed:
Process of adoption
Tutors/ extracurricular in the new families area
Background on heart murmur and procedure
Small for his age (nutrition or genetics)
-- This step was discussed due to it being the bases of the case study. We each picked the main ideas we felt were necessary and compiled a list to discuss and research.
2. Analyze the Problem
What we need to know: Our group has decided on researching and discussing the appropriate process of adoption, this includes what are specific factors that one looks for (income, education,