Alan's Case: The Lasting Power Of Attorney

As Alan wanted to give his stepchildren full access to make decisions and take action concerning his finances while he still had mental capacity, Alan set up an ordinary power of attorney. This legal document grants the attorney (stepchildren) temporary authority to act on his behalf, but is only valid while Alan had mental capacity to make his own decisions (Department for Constitutional Affair, 2007). The application was in the process when Alan lost capacity. A lasting power of attorney gives family members or advocates the legal authority to make decisions on his behalf, or if the service user is unable due to the lack of mental capacity or no longer wishes to make decisions for himself. There are two types of lasting power of attorney,
one for health and care decisions and the other for financial decisions (Age UK, 2016). Alan stepchildren started the process of Court of Protection for lasting power of attorney until Alan’s nephew started the process, this came to a standstill when Alan’s son became involved and he is now seeking legal advice to become lasting power of attorney. I think the hardest part of the placement was remembering all the legalisation and before informing anyone, I consistently had to research laws and regulations (Age UK, 2016), (BASW, 2016d).
I have identified several theoretical frameworks that I think are relevant when working with Alan and his family, these include psychological, sociological and social work theories, (BASW, 2016d) the first being a psychological theory of behavioural conditioning.
I observed Alan repeatedly quoting three reasons as to why he was in a care home, coached by his nephew. It was excruciating to observe, again I reflected on this with my practice educator as I found the whole situation extremely bizarre. The theory I associated with the behaviour was ‘behaviour conditioning’. This form of learning occurs when: 1) a stimulus becomes effective in evoking the desired response or 2) the response occurs regularly in a specific environment. The nephew initiated the behaviour using reinforcement, rewards of chocolate and a round of applause if Alan could cite why he was in a care home. The conditioned (conditional) stimulus, occurred when the nephew would kneel in front of Alan and before asking, Alan would start to cite the three sentences (Maclean, Harrison,
2011).
Another psychological theory can be associated with the interaction of the family members.
The ‘incentive motivation theory’ indicates that people become motivated by external rewards. Alan’s behaviour is operant conditioned and strengthened by the rewards he receives; reinforcement is also imperative in incentive motivation theory. Instead of a learned behaviour, motivation theory proposed that family members behaved intentionally to pursue and gain rewards (Geen, 1995). Alan’s last will and testament, I believed is the motivation for his nephew and son, who perceive large monetary gain; therefore they are motivated to be involved purely to pursue the reinforcement of inheritance.
The family definitely showed the signs of the sociological ‘conflict theory’ in the way they all strived for power over the situation. Conflicting sides of the family all disagreed what actions would be beneficial for Alan. I was able to study the family dynamics and the roles played by the various family members undergoing conflicts and disharmony. Again, I identified the source of the power and the cause of the conflict was to gain access to assets and wealth. The theory also uncovered how the family dealt with changes and adversity (Sociology Guide,
2017).
I recognised the dissection of the family and the sources of conflict and power and offered a solution to find an effective way to communicate, and a desire need for change in the interests of Alan, I thought this would motivate the family to participate to develop relationships that are more positive, but the family disagreed. I was hoping that as my involvement continued the family would be empathic and have understanding to each other’s concerns but the family members were not enthusiastic, and their opinion was very much expressed, to the stage the son became verbally abusive, refusing to communicate with me at all. The effects of the conflicts were concerning as Alan was unaware of the circumstances and when speaking about other sides of the family tension arose and the topic was changed. My primary goal in the situation was to address family members to learn how to manage the conflict so that it did not escalate, unfortunately my intervention proved ineffective and relationships remained estranged. I felt the family members were concerned with self-interest alone and especially the son who did state, “I will get what I am due!” before the use of intolerable language. I do not ever think this situation will improve and could possibly become worse after Alan’s death with the reading of his will. I had the conscious decision to leave the situation as I felt my presence and intervention would intensify the situation and put myself at risk.