• Social policy practice is a vital arena for social workers because social policy strongly impacts the social functioning of individuals, families, groups, organizations, and society. • Human rights are universal and should be protected through social policy. • Social policies are social contracts based on societal values and commonalities. • Social policy should be based on the values of equity, access, dignity, worth of the individual, opportunity, and fairness. • Social policy should proactively promote social functioning through empowerment, client involvement, and prevention of social problems. • Social policies should address social problems from all levels of practice. • Social policies should be based on both historical and future …show more content…
Of course, my thoughts on this are people should not be penalized if they cannot afford medical coverage and we need to follow suit and learn from other countries how we might provide medical coverage to everyone in the United States. In addition, one way this could be done is to look at other countries that provide health care to their citizens and see how they work and start a project in the United States using this information in a pilot program and see if it does …show more content…
Congress or your state legislator, or federal legislation relevant to social work exploring the legislative section of NASW, and exploring websites that monitor social policy, such as the Electronic Policy Network, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and World Wide Web Resources for Social Workers to name a few examples” (Garthwait, 2014, p.122-123). Of course, this might be a start to something that is too large for me to undertake alone so getting started and have others jumping aboard along the way could turn out to make something impossible quite possible and getting involved and trying to do something no matter how small or how large could or can make a difference because how would you ever know what is possible if you do not
Popple , P. R., & Leighninger, L. (2011). Social work, social welfare, and american society. (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Social Work is a profession that is committed to the promotion, restoration, maintenance, and enhancement of social functioning. Its focus is to work with individuals, groups, and communities, in helping them use the resources within themselves and the environment to cope more effectively with their problems. At its most basic level, social work is about promoting the general welfare of society by representing those who are most vulnerable. Providing social services can sometimes be a difficult task, wrought with ethical uncertainties and challenges. The Social Work Code of Ethics helps social workers navigate these challenges throughout their careers and provide a framework for the principles and standards a social worker must uphold.
After emigrating to America in my later adolescence, I was astounded by the increased level of poverty that existed. I also realized that the social policies are not always in the best interest of the more vulnerable populations. As such, when it was time to attend college, I decided to study Social work as a means of gaining knowledge and experience to better understand how policies affect social justice, and impact the lives of minorities and individuals on the lower socio-economic scale. I also wanted to gain the opportunity of being a part of encouraging and creating changes to aid in improving the well-being of the less fortunate
This includes helping those who are in need as well as to fulfill roles in society. The social work paradigm includes values such as service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationship, integrity and competence (NASW, 2008). The main mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and to help everyone to meet their needs by using all of the social work values. The central attention to social work is the environmental forces that create, contribute to, and address problems in living. Therefore, as social workers we must help our clients overcome environmental forces by providing them with the resources that this country has to offer. Social workers have a duty to strive to end discrimination and other forms of injustices through “direct practice, community organizing, supervision, consultation administration, advocacy, social and political action, policy development and implementation, education, and research and evaluation” (NASW,
Perhaps one of the most versatile and diverse careers is social work, as this career works with individuals struggling with substance abuse, low-income families, and homeless individuals. Social work is a profession that is concerned with solving personal, group, and community relationships (Farley, Smith, & Boyle, 2011). Among some of the most important aspects of social work are the restoration of impaired social functioning, the provision of social services, and prevention (Farley et al., 2011). Reducing problems in human relationships and improving human interactions among individuals are the major focuses of this profession, regardless of which people group the social workers are serving (Farley et al., 2011). Even though it is a relatively new profession, social work has existed in various forms throughout history. However, the beginning of social work’s development as a profession was primarily European in origin, with the ideals spreading to the United States
Social work as a profession strives to help the welfare of those within the community whether its persons or families through advocacy. Often times clients are those who may be vulnerable and disadvantaged. Social workers aim to help people fulfill basic needs in their everyday lives and assist them by providing beneficial resources and intervention counseling. They do more than just help them in their current situation, it’s about helping them to survive and set attainable goals to live a fuller and better life for themselves, and most time for their families.
304). Power is gained by trust. Haas and Hahn (TedTalk) were extremely influential in motivating the community on their art project. They recruited locals to assist in the design and who were also well respected within the community. “Social workers do not hand power over to people. Rather, they help people identify potential courses of action and make decisions about which options result in greater benefits, giving them more power over their own lives and futures” (Kirst-Ashman, 2011, p. 312). Social workers play a vital role the social and personal empowerment within this community. Getting involved and engaging in the social environment promotes social empowerment. Taking control of your environment and becoming socially aware of your surroundings. Social workers can assist with achieving personal empowerment by helping individuals develop self-awareness, make positive choices, and set goals. Each individual is unique which is why it is important to help those recognize their strengths and weaknesses and expose their true
Social work practice is a profession where it works alongside the ‘code of ethics’, which consists of formal statements which represent values of the professional community. National associations such as Britain state the core values within this field are human dignity and worth, social justice, service to humanity (human rights), integrity and competence. The professional field is regulated by the British Association of Social Work (BASW). The core values within social work are human rights, human dignity and social justice.... ...
I strongly considered a career in social work after completing my undergrad school; my yearning for helping and advocating for all children of the world led me to Barry University. With increased knowledge in the profession of social work, I realized, I have been absent minded in the numerous roles that a social worker plays. As advocators, counselors, mediators, and researchers, social workers uphold principles and core values written within the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics. Social workers mission is entrenched in the Code of Ethics. “Code of Ethics set fourth these values, principles, and standards to guide social workers’ conduct” (The National Association, “n. d.”). Service, Social Justice, Dignity
When they are in need we must do everything in our power to make a change. Sometimes this involve advocating for them to see a change in social problems. The definition of a social worker states that they are trained person that carries out work with the aim of alleviating conditions of those in need (12). This often calls the need for social justice. After learning about social workers throughout history, I realize there’s multiple ways to help those in need (11). They’ve been able to implement social welfare for the public.
Social workers challenge social injustice. Social workers pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. The meaning of this value is to ensure that individuals going into the social work profession pursue change, most importantly with, on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals, and with groups of people. Additionally, this social work value forces social workers to constantly affect social change primarily focused upon issues of poverty, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice by creating activities that seek to promote sensitivity to and knowledge about oppression and cultural and ethnic
The social work profession is defined as “a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people (ISFW, ‘Global Definition of Social Work’, 2016).” The definition may be true about the profession but it is more in depth than just that. To me, the profession’s primary focus is to help others through life as much as we can while letting them make their own choices and guiding them. In society, social workers are utilized in many different nonprofit and government roles. They serve the community in many different ways from monitoring parent visits to helping people through mental illnesses. Human beings are so complex and things that happen
The work of a social worker is complex and all encompassing. Social workers work in many capacities seeking justice, liberation, and equality. There work is global, as they work to put policies in place to govern practices. To keep up with societal shifts and generational changes there learning is continuous. As new questions rise so does the need for the continuation of research, not only to answer these questions but to implement into
families, and communities to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social workers are change agents and because of that, they aim to help people develop their skills and abilities to use resources provided to them to strengthen and improve their lives and communities to resolve problems. One of the main goal of social workers is to improve the well-being and lives of the most vulnerable populations, fight against poverty, unemployment, domestic violence and the underserviced population by emphasizing on the person-in-environment and social justice model. The social work profession, considerers the individuals’ internal and external struggles, while working with the individuals to examine their relationships, family, work environment, community, and other things that might impact them and identify ways to help address problems and challenges.
Social work is a profession which promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and enhance well-being. It is important to acknowledge the history of social work and the purpose of social work and why it exists. Social work is a questioned theory with different perspectives on what it is and how it should be practised. Social work helps people to deal with personal and social problems so that people can overcome or adjust to any personal difficulties. Social work is a combination of social stability and social change. Social stability promotes individual and social welfare and social change seek to change negative aspects of society. Values are implicit within the law and policy and these tend to reflect the values within society. Personal values can influence the way social workers interpret and implement their profession.