Essay On Social Needs

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Recommended: NSW values and ethics in regards to family social workers

Rebecca Lee
Social Needs Paper

According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) in regard to immigration and refugee resettlement “Working toward fair and just immigration and refugee policies is important to the profession of social work and essential to the realization of human rights. Social workers recognize migration as a complex social, cultural, and political process” (NASW, 2008). America is often held and quoted as the land of the immigrants. Immigrants coming from South America, Africa, Asia and many other places often make the United States their permanent home. Immigrant families come to the United States for a slue of reasons, many times coming simply for the increased number of opportunities. However, on many occasions, these immigrants arrive and cannot get legal permanent residency and therefore cannot meet their needs, even the most basic ones. Abraham Maslow described a hierarchy of needs, from the most basic to the most complex, in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation”. In this hierarchy, the basic needs start at physiological and go up from there to safety, love/belonging, esteem and self-actualization. When many immigrants arrive in the United States, they expect their needs to be taken care of, and they are left stupefied by the reality of very few of these needs being covered.
Welfare is a form of public aid for individuals that cannot meet the minimal level of wellbeing. The welfare system that is currently in tact in the United States does not properly adhere to immigrants. Social workers are often challenged with factors such as language barriers, lack of documentation and lack of resources. Not only are there immigration laws and customs to adhere to, but there are also new cu...

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...s to understand the impact that they have on an immigrants’ life. One of a social worker’s duties according to the National Association of Social Worker’s (NASW) Code of Ethics is that the social worker should “act to prevent and eliminate domination of, exploitation of, and discrimination against any person, group, or class on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, martial status, political belief, religion, immigration status, or mental or physical disability” (NASW, 2008, para. 2.01). With that being said, it is a social worker’s duty to insure that the immigrant will not be dominated against, exploited, or discriminated against in getting the welfare they need. Not only that, but it is important that the social worker understand the needs of an immigrant, no matter how basic or complex.

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