Reflective Essay On Working With Children

Reflection on vocational experience working with children within a framework of academic theories about childhood or working with children.

In this essay I will give a detailed overview of my work experience that took place at Foundation UK situated in Leeds. The small-scale charity has two teams and I underwent my placement within the organisation of the young person’s team. The young person’s team consists of various support workers who each carry numerous caseloads of customers. Customers range from the age of sixteen to twenty-four years old. My role within placement was to shadow several support workers who had clients that were eighteen years old or younger. To provide customers with the adequate support Foundation works collectively within a consortium of three housing providers named Flagship. Depending on the different needs and type

The experience did in fact change my personal self-awareness, especially since my expectations for meeting the young boy were dubious in the fact precautions were put in place, for example, such as sitting near a door in a room that had easy access to leave. The consequences of this pose a great benefit to my future skills as a social worker since the importance of self-awareness is deemed essential for ”being able to articulate values and to develop awareness of how we see the world in the broader social realm alongside how to react to particular situations.” (Gardner (2001,p 38). Starting with such a hectic and medium risk customer visit did prepare me for any other client visits I undertook. I integrated the knowledge of knowing when was appropriate to input on a customer’s situation and when wasn’t throughout my placement. I learned to be sensitive to the fact I was a stranger to these vulnerable customers and always tried to put them at ease explaining my social position and why I was shadowing their support