Vignette 4

Christina Parker is a 28 year old Caucasian mother of two. She dropped out of high school because of her first pregnancy, but has obtained her GED. She currently works at Target as a cashier and lives in a working class neighborhood. Christina discovered that she was pregnant a week ago after her period was three weeks late. She is currently on government assistance with food but lacks health insurance. Christina is not sure if she wants to maintain her third pregnancy and would like to sit down with a counselor to discuss her options.

Please answer the following questions regarding Christina’s situation and your role as an adviser.

1. List the three most important questions you would ask her to help with advising.

2. What resources and support would you ask about to help determine if she will be able to adequately care for another child?

3. Do you think it is more important for her to consider her immediate needs and goals or should she prioritize what is important to her in the long term regardless of the short term consequences?

4. If the mother mentions that she likes to go out quite a bit and meet men, would you consider that to be a reason to think hard about having another child? A) Yes B) No.

Explain Answer.

5. If statistics show that most women in her situation receive an abortion, would you share that information if it was asked, or would you tell her that national statistics do not matter and she should focus on her own situation?