Daniella's Story: Healthy Family Relationship

Daniella is a 10 year old Hispanic female who was referred to the Community Family Guidance Center by her social worker because she was recently placed in a foster home by Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) when she was left at home alone with her two younger brothers overnight.  Her mother tested positive for drugs, and agreed to go to a drug rehabilitation facility. 
 
Daniella began seeing one of our therapists because she was acting out in class, not following the rules, was starting to fail her classes, and had gotten into a fight with another girl at school.  In therapy, Daniella and her therapist used art and play activities to help Daniella express her anger and sadness.  Through the trusting relationship she built with her therapist, Daniella was able to talk about how she missed her mother and brothers, who had been placed in another home. 
 
The Community Family Guidance Center's therapist worked with Daniella's foster family and her mother on addressing Daniella's behaviors.  Through this process Daniella's grades began to improve, she was more focused in school, and was getting along with her peers. In the meantime, Daniella's mother was seeking help for her substance abuse problem. After ten months DCFS made plans to return Daniella and her brothers to their mother.  Daniella continued a few more months with individual and family therapy at Community Family Guidance Center.   Through family therapy, Daniella and her mother were able to build a new, healthy, mother-child relationship, and Daniella’s mother was able to learn new ways of parenting her three children.  Daniella and her brothers have been living back with their mother for 6 months, and DCFS is no longer concerned about the safety in the home. 

* The name and age of the person in this story have been changed to protect client confidentiality.