Hello, please help me with a social work question. Thank you.

You are a social worker in a family service centre. Fiona, your client is a 15-year old

student from a single-parent family. She lives with her mother, Alice and her younger

brother, Francis, age 12, in a flat owned by her mothers boyfriend Malcolm.

Last week, you received a call from the form teacher of Fionas class. She indicated

that Fiona had not been coming to school for more than a week. The schools attempt

to contact her or her mother had not been successful.

You decided to make an unannounced home visit and managed to find both Alice and

Francis at home. Alice admitted that Fiona had left home about 10 days ago, after a

quarrel with her. After some probing, Alice said that Fiona complained to her that

Malcolm tried to peep on her on several occasions. These occurred either when she was

bathing or when she was changing clothes in her room. There were also other occasions

that Malcolm asked Francis to buy contraband cigarettes from some pushers in the

neighbourhood. Francis nodded in agreement and told you that Malcolm would give

him $2 each time he completed the errand. Fiona told Alice that she was worried about

her safety.

Alice, on the other hand, did not think Malcolm would do such things and chided Fiona

for being overly sensitive. Their quarrel escalated and Fiona left the house. On hind

sight, Alice felt that she should have taken Fionas complaint more seriously. However,

she was also worried that Malcolm would get angry about those allegations and throw

the whole family out of his flat. Alice and her two children would then become

homeless.

Question: Explain and discuss the relevant laws in the United States that you have to take into consideration

when managing the case.