Case study 2:

The Patel Family

The case

The Citizens Advice Bureau, a local charity working with children and families, and The Local Authority all receive the email below:

Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Prisha Patel. I joined my husband here in Sheffield four months ago and I have two boys. I am writing to you because I would like to find more information about school for my first boy, who is four years old.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Kind Regards,

Prisha Patel

The Local Authority passes the information to a team of family support workers. One of the team responds to Prisha's email and asks for a telephone number to contact her and talk through the process of applying for a school place. Prisha replies, saying that she would prefer to see the support worker face-to-face, in the office. They arrange a meeting, but then Prisha cancels it at the last minute.

After this, the support worker decides to visit the person at home.

During the visit

When the support worker arrives at the house, Prisha is very welcoming and she invites the practitioner into the house, which is very clean. Prisha speaks very good English and immediately apologises for cancelling the last meeting and explains that she struggles with two children on her own, because when she was in India, she had a lot of support from her family but, now, her husband works everyday and she spends most of the day alone with her children. While sitting on the sofa, she shows the support worker a picture of her wedding, explaining that it was very nice. She adds that it was an arranged marriage, that Sai (her husband) is her cousin, and that their families were very happy.

Additional information

The Patel family are from India

Husband: Sai, 53 years old.

Wife: Prisha, 24 years old.

Children: Two boys, Bittu aged 4 and Savar aged 2.

Additional information shared by Prisha

“My husband is an engineer. He did his PhD in England and then he stayed here for his work. Now he is a manager of a company here in Sheffield. We met at the wedding of a common relative.”

“I moved here three and a half years after we got married. Sai was travelling but he started to feel tired and I thought that our children might have more opportunities here in the UK.”

“Sai is working so hard for us and sometimes he is very stressed. I would like to be of more help. I try to cook nice food for him and avoid children being too naughty and loud when he is at home”

Reflecting on 'cultural bias': Using the case study

N.B: case studies can be used by an individual, or to facilitate a group exercise for a team of practitioners.

Read the case study and write down:

Your immediate thoughts about the family in the case study.
Anything else that you would like to know, and why you would like to know this.
Anything that makes you feel uncomfortable and why this is the case.

Then consider:

How you would come into contact with the family in your professional role.
Write down the specific questions you might ask Prisha, Sai or the children.
Write down any potential risks and strengths within this family.

Return to the notes that you made about anything you identified that makes you feel uncomfortable, or as a risk or strength. Then reflect on:

If and how any of the points you identified are influenced by assumptions - or 'automatic thoughts' - about the family's cultural background.
What factors influenced and informed the assumptions that you have made.
How your own cultural background has influenced or informed these assumptions.

Finish this exercise by considering how this process of reflection is helpful and how you can build it into your practice.

Links to other themes

The focus of this exercise is to explore the ways in which a practitioner's cultural heritage, existing knowledge about cultures, and dominant stereotypes and/or labels, can impact on their work with migrant families.

Each case study is also likely to prompt reflections related to the other themes considered on this website. The themes that may be of particular use for this case study are:

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