Sam, 5^th grade

Samuel is currently in the 5th grade at primary school near his grandparents’ house. 6 months ago,
Sams parents divorced and due to financial situation neither of them could afford to raise Sam and
his sister alone. They had to sell their house and use the money to pay for debts. Sam and his
sister Anna were placed at children’s home at first, but after 2 months, Samuel moved in with his
grandparents from his father side. Unfortunately, grandparents did not want to take Anna as well,
as she was not related to them (Samuel and Anna had different father). Therefore, Anna stayed at
children’s home.

Samel really likes school, but after his parents divorced and he moved in with his grandparents,
his achievement suffered a lot. He has no problem with understanding the lectures, but his grades
are below average, and he lacks motivation to do his schoolwork. The biggest issue are Samuels
aggressive outbursts during classes and breaks. He can become quite vulgar and even physically
aggressive towards his classmates. He also gets angry very easy and has problems managing his
emotions in general. Teachers repeatedly reported seeing Samuel crying/punching lockers on the
school halls during classes when he asked to use the toilet. When they asked what was happening, he
could not explain. One of the teachers also overheard other pupils teasing Samuel about his clothes
and “cheep” backpack. Situation was discussed with all sides, but Samuel did not want anyone to be
punished and said, that it was only a “fun”. No other incidents were seen after.

Aside from the outbursts and low achievement, Samuel started to hang out with a group of older boys
at his school and they were caught smoking in school areal during breaks. School tried to contact
grandparents and find any plausible solution, but the situation has not been solved yet.
Grandparents also feel that they do not have enough energy to control Samuel.

In general, grandparents and also teacher described Samuel as a happy, bright and easy-going boy
who enjoyed school and had a lot of friends there. Despite their economic situation, he was able to
fit in and prosper. After the divorce, Samuel “lost” his happy side, abandoned his friends and
found new group. He also lost motivation for his schoolwork because by his own words “it does not
matter if he tries or not”. Despite all of that, Samuel still has a very strong relationship with
his class teacher. In her classes, he somehow manages to try and listen, he has everything prepared
for the class and even does all of his homework. He also often seeks for his class teacher to have
a conversation (about how he feels or about anything that he is interested at the moment). However,
even in her classes he refuses to work in group and is only willing to do individual work that does
not require him to talk to his classmates.

Samuel parents currently do not have any visiting hours with Samuel. Grandparents also have very
little information about their current situation. From what is known, mother started to use drugs
again and father moved abroad to find better job. Samuel grandparents drive him to visit his sister
once a week, but they are still reluctant to take Anna home as well.

After last incident when Samuel was caught intoxicated during class, his grandparents decided to
admit him into 8 week boarding program at educational care centre (SVP). Based on his words, his
new friends dared him to drink with them, because they do not want to hang out with small kids.
Even though Samuel agreed to being in the program as well, he does not like the structure of the
day and ongoing supervision. He finds it hard to have everything organized but is slowly getting
used to it.