Marlene is a certified school counselor and licensed clinical counselor in ohio. she has spent twenty years working with adolescents in a variety of school and clinical settings and she has developed extensive competency in individual counseling of adolescents with developmental, educational, and mental health issues. she is known in her high school as the counselor "kids can trust". in the last year there have been numerous reports in the media about teenage girls who have hidden their pregnancies from their families, delivered babies alone, and had babies who died soon after birth, either because of the girl's actions or independent of them. in fact, one of the more notorious of these cases occurred in the town next to marlene's school. as a result the school principal has mandated that all personnel who know of or suspect a student pregnancy should immediately notify parents and the school principal. marlene is disturbed by this edict and fears it will jeopardize her open-door policy with students. therefore, she decides to ignore it.
