Antwone Fisher

The movie focuses on Antwone “Fish” Fisher, a temperamental young man with a violent history who is serving in the U.S. Navy. His father was killed before he was born, and his teenage mother, Eva Mae Fisher, ended up arrested soon after and put in jail, where she gave birth to him. He was then placed in an orphanage until such time as she was released and could claim him. Since she had not yet claimed him, Antwone was placed in a foster home at the age of two. The foster home was ran by a supposedly religious couple, Mr. and Mrs. Tate. While residing in the home, Antwone faced mental and physical abuse by Mrs. Tate for many years until he finally left the home at age fourteen. After living out on the streets for the next few years, he decided to join the U.S. Navy to make something out of his life. Antwone had faced an extremely rough life as a child which resulted in him obtaining a violent temper at this point in his life.

After getting into a fight with a fellow sailor, Antwone is sentenced by orders of his captain to be demoted, fined, and restricted to the ship for 45 days. His commanding officer also orders him to go to psychiatric treatment. Antwone goes in to meet Dr. Jerome Davenport. Davenport attempts to get him to open up, but Antwone is at first extremely resistant. After being released from therapy with a second chance, Antwone got into a physical altercation which he to him being arrested. Davenport meets him in jail, where Antwone confides he was sexually abused as a child by Nadine Tate, a member of the Tate household. Due to the lack of a parenting network or extended family, the abuse and neglect of Antwone Fisher impacted him in a highly negative manner. These actions led him to become angry, violent, stubborn, distant, and

very untrusting of others in fear of being hurt. Antwone was forced into being categorized as an “at-risk” youth by the lack of intervention, resources, and services that were actually available but not implemented into his life. Antwone’s family system is definitely defined as dysfunctional, and with the other numerous stressors that were emerged into his environment, he showed many signs of being a high risk youth. The behaviors and characteristics that he displayed include aggression, conduct problems, poor social skills, and violence.

I believe that the foster home that Antwone was placed in should have been thoroughly tested, and check-ups should have been placed on the child after being placed in order to assure safety and stability of the child. Child protective services should have been informed of the situations that were being performed at the Tate house. I believe that the Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care plan is a process that should be implemented within all foster homes in order to disperse the chances of children being abused, neglected, and led to be at imminent risk in life. Due to the circumstances that have led Antwone to these actions in his life, I believe that he should seek long-term therapy in order to overcome the challenges of violence and anger.

The expected outcome of Antwone’s future, according to statistics, show that he would most likely become violent with others, especially if he became a parent. His chances at having a normal and happy life were slim to none with the many forms of abuse that he had encountered through his life. Even though statistics showed these possibilities, Antwone joined the Navy and was attempting to make a good life for himself. Dr. Davenport was Antwone’s main support system while struggling through these outbreaks of violence. Dr. Davenport showed extreme effectiveness with his ability to get Antwone to open up and speak on the obstacles that he faced in his life. Dr. Davenport displayed absolute patience and determination when it came to helping Antwone face his demons. One of the strategies that could be used for Antwone is the selected approach.