Description
Documentary Review Assignment: The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez Guidelines and Prompts
For your final, you will be watching the Netflix Docuseries, “The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez” (also available on Roku). If access is an issue, please let me know ASAP, so we can work to remedy the situation.
Points Available – 20
This assignment will require you to watch the Netflix Docuseries closely, paying particular attention to all of the people involved in Gabriel’s life, along with reflections from throughout our course together – including lectures, readings and discussions. You must demonstrate your analysis and assessment skills.
DISCLAIMER: Please note that Part 2 is especially difficult to watch. Details of Gabriel’s torture are explained in detail and accompanied by visual imagery. While it is important to see the docuseries in its entirety, please use your personal judgment about whether to view that segment. It is more important to ensure your own emotional wellness.
Submission Options
Paper Submission: APA format, 12pt. Times New Roman font, double spaced, & one-inch margins. Minimum 8 pages, maximum 10 pages (not counting cover or reference pages).
OR
PowerPoint Submission: You must use/provide a minimum of 1 slide per question. Minimum slide length is 15, 20 slides maximum. Must include Cover Page and References Page slides.
Your Assignment Must Consist of the Following Sections:
Cover Page
Responses to Prompts (10 points)
Your Reflections (5 points)
A minimum of 3 quotations/citations from the Netflix Docuseries “The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez” (5 points)
References Page
Prompts (select 5-8 questions to address over 6-8 pages):
What are your impressions about how the medical team and EMTs respond to what they’re seeing when they first encounter Gabriel? Did their emotions surprise you?
Name all of the key agencies/players involved who knew or who could’ve possibly known or helped Gabriel. What are your thoughts on the gaps/disconnect across the systems?
Based on what you now know about child maltreatment, do you imagine that Gabriel and Pearl were properly bonded/attached? Do you believe that this could have played into how Pearl and Isauro felt about and interacted with Gabriel?
Does the criminal prosecution of the social workers on the case give you pause in choosing child protective services work as a career?
How did you feel about the prosecutor Jonathan Hatami after hearing his story and why he does this work?
Malissa Fernandez, Pearl’s younger sister, testifies that she slept over to protect her niece and nephews. What do you make of this child, Malissa, attempting to help keep these children safe?
Why do you think it is that the narrative of a woman being the abuser or the aggressor is not often told?
Gabriel’s mother Pearl had a court-ordered psychological evaluation and brain scans completed. Findings included that she presented with significant learning disabilities, low intellectual functioning, completed only the eighth grade and was using drugs and alcohol by the time she was 12, further damaging her cognitive development. Further, they revealed eating disorders, frontal lobe damage, gang rape, sexual abuse by a relative and exposure to domestic violence. What are your impressions of these findings as they relate to Gabriel’s torture and death?
Pearl doesn’t want to be pregnant with Gabriel. She gives birth to Gabriel and leaves him in the hospital, and then gives custody of him to her great uncle, with whom he spent the first 4 years of his life. Given what you’ve learned in this course, was Gabriel more likely to be abused by his mother and why?
Looking at the extended family dynamics of Pearl, Gabriel goes to live with his grandparents from age 4 to age 8, at least in part due to concern about him being raised by two gay men. The grandparents allow Pearl and Isauro to take and keep Gabriel for the last 8 months of his life. The grandparents also raised Gabriel’s siblings off and on all of their lives. How would you have approached these complex family relationships?
What are your thoughts about putting brand new social workers in emergency response positions? Do you think that played into why Gabriel was never seen at a medical hub?
Do you think that the school had more of a responsibility? Could they have intervened by sending him to a school psychologist, or counselor or calling up the chain of command at DCFS when he was showing up with cuts and bruises and reporting to other kids that he was being abused at home? His teacher was alone in her concern, struck down by her principal. Would you have handled it differently?
Elizabeth Bartholet of Harvard Law School’s Child Advocacy Program states “The system is broken because it favors adult rights rather than child rights.” What do you think of that statement?
Did you notice that the questions being asked of Gabriel’s siblings by law enforcement, were close-ended, yes or no questions? They were not open-ended questions, which can glean more information, and hold up better in court, as not being coerced or leading. If you were in a position to interview a child which style of questioning would you use?
Do you think the jury got Isauro’s outcome of first-degree murder right? What about the sentence, including a death sentence, that was handed down? What about Pearl’s plea deal? Do you think she knew she would lose at trial and opted for the plea? Do you think she just wanted to avoid the death penalty or to spare her children from having to testify again?
Reflections (1-2 pages max)
What do you think you would have done differently if your supervisor instructed you to do something against your code of ethics?
Which interventions would you have chosen had you been Gabriel’s social worker, what would you have done differently, and why?
What did you learn about yourself from watching this docuseries?
