A man and woman have been referred by the county Children and Youth Services for parenting skills training. They are poor and have had their four children removed from the home. They have been told the children will be returned when they complete the course and demonstrate they can use the skills they learned in supervised visitations. The worker asks, “Are your children good kids?” What would you ask? 

Put yourself in the place of the worker in the above vignettes, and decide what question you would ask in each situation. Write an open question that you think might work better than the one asked by the worker, and be prepared to tell why you think the closed question is not useful.