Assignment # 2 Take Home Assignment: Provided to students in Week 7 Due Date: March 10th, 11:59pm Week 7: Take Home Assignment #2 Case Study (Worth 25% of final grade) Please carefully read the case study below and respond to the questions in a separate word document to be submitted week 8. Refer to previous course lectures and PowerPoints on the Family Life Cycle, Genograms, Sibling Relationships & Birth Order to assist you in answering the questions. CASE STUDY: Bernie Bernie is a CYCP, and works part time for Toronto Catholic District School Board. She was the only one in her family to emigrate from Nigeria to Canada when she was a young teen-age girl. At the time she came to Canada, there were increasing fatalities by Boko Haram terrorists and by the national army in Nigeria. Violence was increasing, and young girls were in more danger. At the time, Adaolisa, who felt shattered by the death of her daughter, and worried about the future, felt it would be a good idea to send her last surviving daughter to her brother Idris who had immigrated to Canada. Idris and his family sponsored Bemi. Bernie's Uncle Idris and Aunt Daluchi, and her two older twin cousins, Kingsley and Kemi are her only family in Canada, and are close to her; she often considers them her psychological family. Kingsley and Kemi are like siblings to her, although she will always feel the ache for her twin sister Nnenne. Nnenne died when she was 13 years old - - a victim of a car bomb. Bemi's journey has been long and often painful, and she attributes the strength she has to her mother Adaolisa, who has had to overcome so much, to her wonderful Uncle Idris and Aunty Daluchi, who have always been there for her, along with her cousin-siblings, and to her strong Christian faith. Berni tries to go back to Nigeria to visit her mother at least once every two years. Adaolisa now lives in the bustling city of Lagos, and feels she was very fortunate in many ways. Not the least of which was her ability to study. Her father always believed girls should be educated along with boys and so she never let an early pregnancy deter her from her dreams. She attended Obafemi Awolowo University when her twins were young, and graduated as an Engineer at a time when there were only seven graduating women in her whole year. Adaolisa's true love now, is tirelessly working with the "Women of Vision" organization as a volunteer mentor, empowering and helping young women on their journeys to success through education and career development. Adaolisa is beginning to think about retirement, and Bemi is hopeful that once her Mother slows down at work, it will mean she can visit Canada more often. Bemi does not know very much about her father, and wants to talk to her Mom more about this side of her family. Her Mother has always been reluctant to do so, but just lately, began to open up a little about her early years. Bernie is hoping they can talk more next time her Mom visits. Bernie has been married to Jahmal for 16 years, and they live in Toronto. They are both 41 years old. Bernie and Jahmal met at University, as they both belonged to several human rights and student lead initiatives. When Kingsley introduced Jahmal to Bemi, he says he fell in love at first sight, and that he greatly admires his wife, whom he sees as the rock of the family. They hold very similar values, and enjoy each other's company. They have many friends, and even though their life is very busy, they make sure that they spend time together as a couple. Jahmal's own parents have been together for 50 years, and do everything they can to support Bemi and Jahmal, as do Idris and Daluchi, who feel blessed to have Bernie and Jahmal in their lives. Bemi and Jahmal have two children; Latoya, who is the eldest, and is 15 years old, and D'shon, their son, who is 13. Everyone says that Latoya is just like her father, earnest and hard working. She always does well in math and sciences, and one day wants to work for the family business too. D'shon is the musician of the family, and plays three instruments, sings in the choir with his cousins, and has recently been asked to sing some solos and duets in the adult church choir where his mom, his Gramma Larissa, Nani D and Dadi Idris, all sing too. In fact, no one can remember a time that family get togethers weren't gatherings of music making too. D'Shon is sure he will be the next Drake someday. Bemi and Jahmal are also Foster parents, who have done emergency foster parenting for the CAS for a decade. Over the years, they have fostered 15 children, most of whom returned home. At the moment, they foster two boys who are brothers, Trevor and Daniel who are 8 and 9 years old. They have been with the family now for only two months and are just settling in. Bemi and Jahmal have met often with the boy's mother Terry, who is a lone parent and is currently in rehab. Bemi and Jahmal are hopeful that she will do well, and the boys will be returned to her care. They have worked hard to be trusted by Terry and are hopeful that Terry will see them as extended family after the boys are back with her. Bemi considers fostering her full time job! They also have an adopted child Dymond, who has been with them since they were five years old. They are now 11. Dymond was born a female, but began to identify as a male by the age of 3. It was all too much for Dymond's Mom, Eralia, who felt she could not raise her daughter as a son, especially given the anger of her husband and reaction of her extended family and Church family. Although Bemi and Jahmal also consider themselves Christian, they believe that we are all God's children, and have a more progressive attitude towards gender. Given that Berni believes in relational practices and understands the strains of fostering and adoption, she has done what she can to befriend Eralia, who continues to have contact with Dymond and the family, and is like an Auntie to the kids. Dymond is happy to be able to still see their Mom from time to time, and know that other kids have two moms too. Eralia is under a great deal of pressure to break ties from Bemi and Jahmal, especially from her husband and other family members, but she remains determined to keep in touch. She believes that Jahmal and Bemi can give Dymond the family and life that she cannot, and she is glad they agreed to have an open adoption. Kingsley is still Jahmal's best friend, and the families get together often. Kingsley and his wife Nella, who is a Social Worker, have three children that a just a bit older than Latoya. Their son Gabriel is at Western, in his third year of mechatronic engineering. Maya is in her first year at U. of T., and wants to study speech pathology, and Abigail just got accepted at Ryerson, in health sciences. Both girls still live at home and feel they will until school is done. Lately, Bernie has been working less for the TCDSB, so that she can spend time with her Aunty Daluchi, who has just been diagnosed with M.S. While Daluchi is very brave and determined to fight this disease as long as she can, she is sad, because her health has meant she finally had to retire for good. She worked for years as a Principal, starting her career as a science teacher, then, retired from full time, only to take on a part time role as a consultant for the school board. Idris is really worried about her, as is Kemi, who hates the fact that she lives far away and can't visit as often as she would like. Daluchi is very happy, because Kemi and her husband Desmond will be moving back to Canada from England at the end of the year. They are hoping that Nova Scotia will prove to be closer to home, and they might be able to see each other more often. It's been a year since they last saw their two grandchildren, Abi who is 10 and Idris (named for his grandfather), who is 7, although they face time often. Daluchi and Idris are worried about the move to Nova Scotia, fearing that racism will be worse there than in larger more diverse city centres like London and Toronto. They are praying for the best as they know that this move will be a promotion for Desmond, who works in the field of Biomedical science as does Kemi. The two met at their first job, and shortly thereafter, moved to London with that company. Idris is relieved that Kemi has already been invited to teach part time at Dalhousie University, and is hopeful it will lead to a tenure track position. Jahmal's Father Egbert and his Uncle Justin emigrated from Jamaica and started a small housewares company that has become very successful. Jahmal's father is extremely proud of his son, as he is the first in the family to achieve his M.B.A. Education has always been a strong value, and most of Jahmal's extended family have gone to post-secondary school. Jahmal's older brother Devan is an Accountant, just like Egbert and their Mother Larissa. Devan is not as outgoing as his little brother Jahmal, and is happy to support the business without being the front man. Devan and his girlfriend have been going out together now for four years, which is a relief, since no one thought Devan would find anyone else, after his wife died over a decade ago. The couple love to spend time out of the city, and are seriously thinking of moving to a smaller community like Newmarket. Jahmal's Uncle Justin co-owns the company, and has a degree in Marketing as does his wife Nella, Their only daughter Patrice has her degree in Creative Advertising. Everyone works in the family business, except Jayda, Jahmal's twin sister, who is a Nurse. Patrice, Jayda and Bemi are close, and Jayda often helps Bemi with all the kids. Jayda is gay, and her longtime partner Sarah died in December of cancer. The entire family is heartbroken. Kingsley, who is the Pastor of the church the family attends, has been a huge support and help in these tough times, along with Nella. Bemi realizes that life can often be very hard, and she is really happy she was raised, and is raising kids in an environment that models and develops resiliency. She feels her life couldn't be more blessed than it is at the moment. Questions: 1. How might looking at a detailed genogram of this family, help shape your understanding of the relationships in Bernie's family? (10 marks) 2. What stage of the Family Life Cycle are Bernie and Jahmal in? Explain. Given this stage, what are some of the tasks they will need to work through? (5 marks) 3. Identify 5 strengths within this family (5 marks) 4. What family dynamics are important in this family? (ie. Sibling relationships, parent-child relationships, extended family, etc.) (5 marks)