M1C5 Checkpoint 5 (Case 6)

Case: Sensitive personal disclosure by a client

During an emotional interpreted interview, a caseworker asks a young mother where her baby’s father could be found, the woman starts sobbing inconsolably saying that she is extremely ashamed but that the baby had been born after a one-night stand when she had just arrived in Canada as a refugee, and she only knew the father’s first name. When the interview ends and the interpreter leaves, he/she runs into the woman outside the elevator. When the woman sees the interpreter, she basically throws herself onto the interpreter crying and saying that it was the first time she had told a soul about her baby’s father and that she hoped that the interpreter could understand her, in spite of how shameful a situation like hers can be for women of their culture and religion. The interpreter tries to leave but the distraught woman continues telling him/her about her situation.