Case Study1:

The Family

This case study works differently from the other case studies on the website. It has been created to allow you and your organisation to consider how you might welcome and support someone who cannot speak any English. This has been developed to allow practitioners in all services to reflect on the communication barriers experienced by migrant family members with whom they work. Even if you work in a service where people cannot just ‘walk in’, the case has been created to help you consider the challenges faced during your first contact with someone who doesn’t speak English.

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The Case

A young couple walks into your service without an appointment.


They seem lost and appear to be looking for someone to talk with. You stand up from your desk and go toward them. When you try to approach them, it is clear that they cannot speak English.


Additional Information

We don’t have any further information.


Plan your strategy

On the individual level

  • What strategy would you use to first approach the couple?

  • What would you do to find out information that would help you to understand the couple’s needs?

  • Are there any tools you can consider using to facilitate communication?


On your organisation/service level

  • Is your organisation/service ready to help?

  • What resources do you have to help you communicate with the couple and explain your service to them?

  • What would you do if your organisation is not able to help, or if it is not the right service to meet the families’ needs?

  • Can you identify anyone or any organisation/service in your local networks that can help you support the family?


Step 2

Only once you have identified a strategy to communicate with the two people, move on to these different scenarios

Scenario 1

It is clear that the couple can speak some French. However, you have tried to use Google Translate and you have some translated documents in French. However, even with written documents, it looks like the couple are not able to communicate with you. What are your thoughts? And what do you do next?

Scenario 2

You understand that the woman has a medical emergency. She is visibly upset and her husband is able to say ‘baby’ and point at her stomach. You don’t recognise the language that they speak.

Scenario 3

You identify that the couple speak Arabic and you are able to start communicating with the couple using Google Translate. You are able to introduce yourself and you now know the name of the two young people: Zora and Abbas. They look very grateful because you are trying to help them, but they seem extremely nervous. They continue to repeat ‘no paper’.

Links to other themes

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: