The Otero Family Assignment
Marife AlstonTorres
Brook
ANTH201_02
Part A:
The purpose of the table below is to identify the various individuals and organizations that contributed to the eventual collapse of the Otero family. Individuals,
Nature of Contact Job Description
Agencies/Organizations
Evaluation of Job Performance
School Attendance
Officer
First came into contact with Otero’s after their initial move to New York.
Required to investigate why the children were not attending school.
Responsible for ensuring that the
Otero children were attending school and living in a healthy home environment. Seemed to be concerned about the conditions in which the Otero children were living, and with the state of Maria’s mental health. Should be commended for calling Jesus and encouraging
Maria to seek help for her initial condition.
Doctor From Medical
Clinic
Met the Otero’s under the circumstances of
Maria’s difficulty breathing. Responsible for diagnosing Maria’s condition and determining the current state of her health
Unfortunately, this doctor could not speak
Spanish, therefore, he was not able to make a personal connection with his patient in order to treat her properly. He also noted that Maria may be suffering from a possible “anxiety reaction”, however, he did not take the steps to follow up with that suspicion. At most, he only scheduled
Maria for urine and blood tests.
Surgical Resident from
ER
Came in contact with Otero’s after
Maria’s first breakdown Responsible for diagnosing why
Maria was having difficulty breathing
This doctor was able to communicate with Maria in spanish and therefore obtained a much beter understanding of her mental state. Which, he determined, was not entirely sound. However, he was not able to properly diagnose her because he was not a psychiatrist. Doing the right thing, he referred the Otero’s to a mental health clinic.
Psychiatrist from Clinic
Met the Otero’s after they were referred to him following Maria’s breakdown Responsible for determining what was causing
Maria’s anxiety
This doctor was able to diagnose Maria with an
“acute schizophrenic reaction” due to culture shock. This was very important in terms of evaluating what kind of help Maria needed. After determining that she was unstable, he was the doctor who suggested she be hospitalized
Social Worker from
Hospital
Was referred to the
Otero family after
Jesus was having
Responsible for helping Jesus to find domestic
This social worked was unsuccessful at finding any kind of assistance for Jesus with the children.
Although she offered to personally step in and
difficulty finding help with the children, post
Maria’s
hospitalization
help/ help with supervising the
Otero children while Maria was away. watch the children for a short period of time, her assistance was very shortlived. What would have been helpful for the Otero’s was if she had provided alternatives for Jesus in terms of supervision for the children. However, it seems once the job could not be immediately solved she stepped out fo the picture. And it was not stated that she frequently checked up on the Otero family for any improvements on their state of affairs.
Judge Working on Julio's Came in contact
Cases
with the Otero family after Julio's runins with the law. Responsible for ensuring that Julio would not get into any more legal trouble and refrain from committing any more illegal acts
Ordered that Juilio be remanded into a state training school after his second charge. However,
Julion should have been on probation or some other form of intervention. This is because he would have been able to live in his environment
(which he would be more comfortable in, rather than a foreign institution)
The State Training
School
Attended by Julio after the Judge ordered him to do
so.
