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SDR404 Self-Care and Developing Resilience
Assessment 3 Case Study
It’s Monday at Sacred Heart primary school in Alice Springs. It’s a cold day, but few of the children are
bundled in warm clothes and several wear socks but no shoes as they play in the sheltered school yard.
The school mostly serves the local Aboriginal community, where poverty is widespread and social
problems affect many of the children. One of the teachers wanders into the canteen to make herself a
hot cup of coffee before lunch ends and classes begin again. She is standing waiting for the kettle to boil
when something catches her eye. It’s one of the boys from year 4. She knows him. He’s a sweet boy, but
his hair and clothes are always very dirty and he rarely seems able to pay attention in class. He looks
shame-faced as he realises he has been spotted, and quickly moves to hide something behind his back.
The teacher calls him over and asks why he is in the kitchen and not playing with the other children
outside. She asks him what he is hiding behind his back. Reluctantly he retrieves a piece of bread and half
a banana. The teacher asks him where he got the food from. He tells her he took it from the dustbin and
says he didn’t think anyone would mind because it had already been thrown away.
The teacher is slightly confused and concerned at hearing this. She doesn’t ask him to return the food to
the dustbin, but asks him if he is hungry, to which he answers ‘yes’. She opens the fridge and finds
ingredients to make him a sandwich. She sits down with him at a table and invites him to eat. He gobbles
the sandwich very quickly, but seems to squirm as he chews. When he has finished, the teacher asks him
when the last time was that he ate. He tells her that it was Friday, before the weekend. The teacher asks
him why, and he replies that his parents were out all weekend and forgot to leave him and his sister food
to eat. He gave a bag of crisps to his younger sister, but they didn’t have anything else in the house. The
teacher asks him if this is the first time this has happened, but the boy says that it happens often. His
parents are both drug addicts and their money mostly gets spent on drugs, with little left for much else.
On a hunch, she asks him whether he has toothache and whether she can have a quick look at his teeth.
The little boy looks up at her and opens his mouth. She can see that many of his teeth are black and he
has red sores on his gums.
The teacher thinks she needs to take further action and asks the boy if he wouldn’t mind going to see the
school nurse with her. He asks if he is in trouble and looks really scared. She reassures him that she just
wants to get him some help with his teeth.
When they get to the nurse’s office, the nurse takes a look at the boy’s mouth and asks him if he
wouldn’t mind lifting up his shirt so she can listen to his lungs. Reluctantly the boy lifts his shirt up for her.
One glance at the boy’s emaciated chest and the teacher lets out a gasp. There appear to be burn marks
and bruises spread all across his torso. One rib looks as if it is slightly poking out, as if it may have been
broken and healed badly. The nurse softly asks him to lower his shirt but roll up his sleeves. This reveals
some self-inflicted cuts on his left forearm. The nurse asks the boy gently if he wouldn’t mind removing
his trousers for her and hands him a towel to protect his modesty. The boy’s legs, too, are covered in
bruises and there is a large wound on his knee that looks sore and infected. The nurse asks how he hurt
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his knee. He replies that he was hungry and took a few crackers intended for his father. For his
‘naughtiness’ his mother made him kneel on a hot coal as a punishment.
The nurse calls social services whilst the teacher waits with the boy. They tell her that the family are
already known to them, and the parents are enrolled in a drug rehabilitation programme, so that there is
little more they can do other than add the incident to their file and make an appointment to see the
family the following day. They suggest that the teacher takes the boy to the hospital to be patched up
and sends him home.
On the way to the hospital the boy asks the teacher if he can stay with her for a while. She doesn’t want
to say ‘no’, but has no choice. The boy looks resigned and says little else for the rest of the journey.