Success Stories / Case Studies

The Gonzalez Family
The second time their daughter, Juanita, tried to run away from home, the Gonzalez family called The Family Center. They had heard about the Center from a friend. Although it hurt their pride to ask outsiders for help, they were desperate. They did not want to lose their only child.

Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez doted on Juanita. Nicaraguan immigrants who worked at low-wage jobs, they gave their daughter everything – the best computer, the best TV, and outfits by the dozen, all with matching shoes. But Juanita desperately needed two things her parents did not provide: freedom and responsibility.

The Gonzalez’s Family Center therapist quickly recognized that these well-meaning parents did not understand the fast-moving American culture in which their daughter was coming of age. In an effort to protect her, they treated her more like an eight-year-old than the fourteen-year-old she was. They dropped her off and picked her up from school. They forbid her from seeing all but one friend, the daughter of a cousin. At the same time, they demanded little of Juanita. She had no household chores. She was not punished for her slipping grades, her rude and insulting behavior toward her parents, or even for running away.
Over many sessions of meeting with the family as a whole, Juanita individually, and her parents as a couple, the family’s therapist helped all family members better understand one another’s needs, fears, and expectations. She encouraged Juanita to find after-school activities her parents could agree to and she did: Juanita got a job in a daycare center and joined the school’s cheerleading squad. The therapist mediated as daughter and parents negotiated these new freedoms as well as a range of responsibilities for Juanita, from paying for her own clothes to setting the dinner table. She referred Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez to Parenting in America, the Family Center’s support program for immigrant families, and encouraged them to reestablish a life as a couple, which they had sacrificed in order to always be home with Juanita. When therapy ended, Juanita was no longer talking about running away. Although she chaffed at her chores and wanted even more freedom, she loved her job and the cheerleading and started to do better at school. Her parents, seeing the positive change, were eager to begin their Parenting in America journey and to further create a harmonious and supportive family life.
The McNeely Family
When 4-year-old Meg McNeely’s father walked out, her family spiraled into emotional and economic chaos. Her grandmother raged against her son-in-law’s betrayal at every chance. She told Meg that a boogeyman had taken him because he had been bad.

Meg’s mother, Lisa, ricocheted from grief to anger to panic. Her husband would not pay for a divorce or for child support. Lisa increased her hours at work but still couldn’t meet the monthly bills. Worry kept her up at night and the long nights exhausted her during the day.

Then Meg began having nightmares. The four-year-old would awaken screaming and inconsolable, terrified that the boogeyman would grab her, too. Previously calm and cheerful, she began hitting and biting her preschool classmates. Lisa became alarmed. She consulted Meg’s pediatrician who referred her to the Family Center.
The Family Center therapist moved quickly to help the McNeely’s regain stability and hope. She connected Lisa with a state program that paid for divorces for indigent families and worked with her to establish a visitation schedule for Meg and her dad. She recognized that an undiagnosed speech impediment was frustrating Meg’s efforts to communicate and contributing to her aggression. She referred Meg for treatment.

Over time, the therapist helped Meg’s mother and grandmother understand their own and Meg’s feelings about the father’s abandonment and what Meg needed to feel secure – including the truth about her dad. With Meg, the therapist made a box to hold the terrors of the night. Meg drew her nightmares as she talked about them, then crumbled each drawing, put it in the box, and tied the box with string. Meg chose a safe place – under her grandmother’s bed – to store her nightmares. Having thus entrusted her fears to her much loved and trusted grandmother, Meg began sleeping through the night again. The nightmares that had plagued this family were well on the way to becoming a thing of the past.
The Brown Family
Marva Brown is a mother with a mission; she doesn’t want another family to suffer as hers has suffered. Three years ago, Marva turned her back for a moment and her youngest child toppled through a window a visitor had just opened. Although the baby lived, her injuries were severe.

Two-year-old Tina wasn’t the only one injured by that fall. Exhausted from guilt and grief, Marva began neglecting her other children. Her oldest son, Will, felt anxious about his own and his siblings’ safety. Nightmares kept him awake at night. Worry consumed his days. Social Services referred him to The Family Center.
The Browns’ Family Center therapist realized that the tragedy had affected all family members, not just Will. She drew the whole family into therapeutic activities designed to help them discuss Tina’s fall. In one, the family created a collage of their strengths and resources and pasted it on the outside of a box. Inside, they placed clay objects representing family problems, including Tina. They worked together to build the strengths necessary to get Tina out of the box. As Marva joined her children in such activities, she began to realize her power to help them – and herself – to heal. Marva’s therapist also urged Marva to join The Parenting Journey. In the group, Marva was able to connect with other parents working toward goals similar to her own: to keep their children safe while also trying to be the best parents they could be. The Browns grew strong. And, in time, Marva transformed a personal tragedy into a public mission. She succeeded in getting the housing authority to provide safety screens on all the project’s windows.