The Struggle Revealed In A Rose's Story

Rose’s Story is a book about the struggles one woman faced through most of her adult life, all while trying to remember her past and also while trying to raise a family of her own. The main character of the story, Rose herself, goes through the “system” so many times having to deal with one medical professional after another, social worker after social worker, case manager after case manager. The story however, starts off with Rose painting what her childhood was like: parents putting her into the system, extended stay at Chatwood (a mental hospital for children to be specific) and what life was like for her overall growing up as a kid. As I read this story more and more, I became attached to Rose and wanted to know more and more with each page turn. At the same time, however, I was saddened when reading this book because it made me think about the other children that are often “lost” in the welfare system and have their lives forever changed because they are passed from home to home or cannot get resolution to their past. In Rose’s case, I was saddened and also angered by how some in her life as she was older (both professionals that had Rose as a client, and certain members of Rose’s family) treated her as less than a
The person in environment perspective is simply that, we as social workers must pay attention to the environment our clients live and breathe in, while working to do our job and make changes to their environment in order to better set them up for success. An example of this is seen in Rose’s case. Her environment is that of poverty, that of lacking a stable and strong support system, all while battling mental illness to which she cannot get a diagnosis to the problem because of poor communication between all parties involved with her