son, a decision that James fully supported. Two years later, Karen was pregnant again but miscarried in her fourth month. Karen was certain that the miscarried child had been a little girl, whom she called Katherine to herself. They were never able to have another child, which Karen called “God’s will.” Paul was therefore a pampered and somewhat spoiled child.
Still, Paul did very well in school, and from an early age he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps. He was interested in everything his father did, and he loved being at the hospital. By the time he was 10 years old, he had already observed one of his father’s surgeries and knew that was what he would do when he finished college.
Jane’s father, Joseph, was the eldest son and first grandson of Boston police officers. He knew from the time he was a young child that he too would be a police officer in Boston one day. Jane’s mother, Amy, was the eldest daughter of a Boston beat cop, and Joseph seemed to be a man “just like her father.” Both families were Irish and Catholic. Joseph and Amy met in high school but waited to marry until he finished the police academy and was on the job. They dated for more than 5 years, and both Joseph and Amy took pride in the fact that she was still a virgin on her wedding night. Amy was pregnant almost immediately, and their first child, Laura, named for Amy’s grandmother, was born a year later.
Although both Joseph and Amy wanted a large family, it took almost 4 years for Amy to get pregnant again. She blamed it on the stress of Joseph’s job, her worry for him, and the long hours that he put in. Still, in 1960, Amy gave birth to her son, named after his father and called Joey by everyone in the family. Amy’s devotion to her son was endless, and Laura, the daughter, soon felt that she was on her own. She became very independent and very close to her grandmothers. Two years later, Jane was born.
Jane would turn out to be the star of the family: She was good at school, she was cute and charming, she had a flair for acting, she loved animals, she was an artist, she played the violin, and she seemed to bring energy and fun to almost everything she did. She would eventually graduate magna cum laude from Boston College on scholarship with a degree in psychology.
Jane’s older sister, Laura, however, had a rough period during her late teens and young adulthood. She felt distant from her father and mother and, in any case, did not like police officers or anything about them. She had gotten pregnant in high school and arranged for an abortion without her parents’ consent. After high school, she moved out. She worked as a salesperson at Filene’s, a department store in Boston, and was a friend with almost anyone her parents would not like. When she was 24, Laura married a construction worker outside of the church. His name was John Westin, and he was a good-time boy. He drank a lot and was in almost constant verbal fights with Laura’s father, who considered him “scum.” When he hit Laura in a drunken rage, Joseph beat him to within an inch of his life and then put him in jail. John and Laura were divorced in 1984—with her father’s blessing. She began to get along with her father much better after that.
Joey, Jane’s only brother, was much loved by his mother but seemed almost incapable of doing anything for himself. He was still living at home in his early 30s, and his mother cooked for him and cleaned his clothes. She liked having two men around the house. Although Joey did not join the police force, his father did manage to get him a job with the city for a while. Joey later passed a civil service examination, got on the list, and went to work for the post office. He never married.
Jane met Paul in 1983. She was completing her degree in psychology and taking a graduate course in psychopathology as part of her undergraduate degree. Paul had finished his undergraduate work in premed in only 3 years: He was 20 years old and started in medical school immediately. Paul saw Jane across the room in the university library, and it was all over for him. He walked up to Jane, introduced himself, and asked her whether she would like to get a cup of coffee with him, and they were a couple from that point on.
They married 2 years later, and their first child was born on schedule as Paul finished his first residency in internal medicine. She was named Amy after Jane’s mother and at Paul’s suggestion. There was very little conflict between Paul and Jane—nothing that anyone really would notice. They were very happy with Amy: She was healthy, interested in others, kind, and intelligent. Two years later, Ann was born, and now Paul and Jane had two beautiful daughters. Except for some relatively early childhood bickering, the two girls settled into sisterhood and even seemed to like each other and get along.
When Amy and Ann reached their teenage years, both were gone a lot with various activities. With Amy driving, Jane did not see the girls as much as she had when she was chauffeuring them around town. It seemed as though the empty nest had arrived early for her, and Jane decided to do volunteer work at a woman’s shelter. It was there that she met a young woman from Guatemala with two small boys.
The boys were named Jason and Luke, because they were light skinned and the mother wanted to pass them off as White. They were 4 and 2 years old, respectively, when Jane first met them. They had been terribly abused by their father: They had been burned with cigarettes, had broom straw pushed under their nails, and been hit in the head and spanked mercilessly. Their mother too had been abused, and there was a court order to deport the father. Shortly after Jane met them, the mother disappeared, leaving a note that asked Jane to look after her boys. The mother was found dead a few weeks later. By that time, Jane had taken the boys in as foster children. After the mother’s death, Paul and Jane started the process of adoption, which took a little over a year.
Jane had hoped that love would make the difference in the boys’ lives, but they were 20 times more difficult than her daughters had ever been. They liked to hurt things and each other. They fought physically, kicking, biting, and hitting all the time. They beat the neighbor’s dog with a stick. They stole within the family and without—food, money, and clothes—and recently Jane had stopped Jason from setting Luke on fire. She always felt in conflict with them. Paul too felt the change in the house, and to Jane he seemed to withdraw further into his work. Amy was heavily involved in the last of her high school days and was dating a young man she would stop seeing when she went to college. Only Ann was available to help her mother with the boys. She cut back on her activities at school and after school. She did the best she could, but the boys never listened to her.
Quest Family Genogram
At the time of counseling, Paul is 45, Jane is 43, and Amy and Ann are 18 and 16, respectively. The two boys, Jason and Luke, are 6 and 4. A genogram of the Quest family appears below. A genogram is a family map that indicates both the structure and emotional relationships of a family and its members. We will take a closer look at genograms in the chapter on Bowen’s multigenerational family theory. For a complete guide to genograms, see McGoldrick et al. (2020).
In all of the theory chapters that follow, you can assume that the practitioners have access to this background information on the Quest family. Each practitioner will apply the theory and interventions of the model as they would be adapted to the Quest family. You may find it useful from time to time to refer back to the family data and genogram as you note how each theory addresses various aspects of the case.
I realize that a lot of information is contained in the story of the Quest family. This amount of information is uncommon in therapeutic practice. It constitutes the raw data that will be the foundation for the qualitative analysis and action research that will inform future therapeutic practice in the field of family counseling. How each model chooses to sort through the data, identify significant themes, and decide on therapeutic interventions says something about both the model and its practitioners. As you sort through the information contained in the story of the Quest family, what themes stand out to you? How do you prioritize the themes you identify? How would you verify that the themes you have identified as significant are also important to the family? In what ways does identifying themes, sequences, and processes inform your understanding of the family? Are you aware that just answering these questions engages you in qualitative research
