Introduction 'Social workers have a professional and ethical responsibility to (...) interact and intervene with clients and their environments' (Teater, 2010, p.4). According to this premise, the ecological approach in social work interventions offers an effective method of relating children, young people and their families to their environment. It is an approach that allows social workers to intervene in cases where a child is abused or neglected, while providing a good theoretical framework for social workers' direct work. This essay is going to assess the ecological model within a social work practice directed at children. It will stress the importance of this model, and explain its application in today's child protection work. Firstly, the text will introduce the ecological approach by introducing its origins and a theoretical framework. Secondly, it will be described how social workers carry out an assessment within the given model, and how it is applied in practice in a direct work of practitioners. Finally, significant strengths and deficits of the approach will be contrasted in order to assess importance of the ecological perspective. 'It is (…) important to be aware that the abusiveness of any act cannot be understood except in context' (Beckett, 2007, p.16), and thus ecological approach allows social work practitioners to explore environmental and social causes of children’s maltreatment in an afford to consequently eliminate these. The ecological approach and its theoretical framework In a child protection work, formal knowledge is not only an understanding of the law, official regulations, and ways of practice, but also a theoretical view of 'child development, family dynamics and methods of intervention' (Munro, 20... ... middle of paper ... ...son, E. D. (2008). Dimensions of Human Behaviour: Person and Environment. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Kirton, D. (2008). Child, Social Work, Policy and Practice. London: Sage. Kondrat, M. E. (2002). Actor-centered Social Work: Re-visioning ‘Persons-in-Environment’ Through a Critical Theory Lens. Social Work, 47, pp. 435–48. Munro, E. (2008). Effective Child Protection. London: Sage. Parker, J. and Bradley, G. (2003). Social Work Practice: Assessment, Planning, Intervention and Review. Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd. Teater, B. (2010). Applying Social Work Theories and Methods. Berkshire: McGraw-Hill Education. Turner, F. J. (1978). Psychosocial Therapy. New York: Free Press. United Nations (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child.[online] Available at: [Accessed 1 April 2014].
During the court case the judge said that lead social worker Gunn Wahlstrom was “naïve beyond belief”. This report brought over 68 recommendations to make sure cases like this did not happen again. The recommendations included putting the child first and the parent’s second. “Jasmines’ fate illustrates all too clearly the disastrous consequences of the misguides attitude of the social workers having treated Morris Beckford and Beverley Lorrington as the clients first and foremost” (London Borough of Brent, 1985,p295). The social workers in Jasmine’s c...
Johnson, M. M. & Rhodes, R. (2010). Human behavior and the larger social environment: A new synthesis (2nd ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Children’s Social Care work with parents and other agencies to assess the stages of child protection procedures, record information and make decisions on taking further action. The police work closely with this agency to act on decisions made such as removing a child or the person responsible for the abuse while gathering evidence and carrying out investigations regarding the matter. Health professionals have a duty to report suspected non-accidental injuries to Children’s Social Care and examine children to give evidence of abuse. The Children Act 2004 requires every local area to have a Local Safeguarding Children Board to oversee the work of agencies involved in child protection, place policies and procedures for people who work with children and conduct serious case reviews when children die as a result of abuse. The NSPCC is the only charitable organisation that has the statutory power to take action when children are at risk of abuse. They provide services to support families and children and two helplines for children in danger and adults who are concerned for a child’s safety. They also raise awareness of abuse, share their expertise with other professionals and work to influence the law and social policy protect children more efficiently. There are also acts in place to protect children such as the Children Act 1989, the United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child 1989, the Education Act 2002 and the Children Act 2004. Legal framework from such acts are provided for Every Child Matters which requires early years practitioners to demonstrate that they provide activities that help children protect themselves. This may be through books and group talks known as “Stranger
WHITE, R., BROADBENT, G. and BROWN, K., 2009. Law and the social work practitioner: a manual for practice. Exeter England]: Learning Matters.
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Galpin, D. and Bates, N. 2009. Social work practice with adults. Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd.
First of all I would like to explain why the child observation is important for social workers. It is important because it focus on the problems that arise when a child‘s situation is not taken seriously and consequently have harsh consequences for both worker and child (Climbié Report, 2002). Observation is something that leads to formation of hypotheses and gives new insights about the child’s world. Child observations assist social workers understand, through assessments, the children’s communication between them and their carer or parents. The aim of the observation is to understand the child and his/her world (Briggs, 1992).
O'Neil, L. (2012, August 3). Using theory in social work practice | Social Care Network | Guardian Professional. Retrieved November 10, 2013, from http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/social-life-blog/2012/aug/03/using-theory-social-work-practice.
Drury-Hudson, J. (1999). Decision making in Child Protection: The Use of Theoretical, Empirical and Procedural Knowledge by Novices and Experts and Implications for Fieldwork Placement. British Journal Of Social Work, 29(1), 147-169.
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The Conventions on the Right of the Child is a very important treaty as it was the first legally binding treaty, adopted in 1989 but came into force in 1990, which covers human rights specifically for individuals under the age of 18. [2] According to the treaty all countries must insure that their citizens under the age of 18 have "easy access to human rights such as civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights." 2. (Play the video on the treaty).
Therefore, the theories I used in my work with the clients were psychosocial, ecologically-oriented, competence-centered and completely client-centred (Mullaly, 2007, p. 48). My practice at SEWA was aimed at studying and addressing the correlation between clients and their “impinging” environment as a cumulative to the problem in question (Maluccio et. al., 1992, p. 31). For example, in addressing maternal health issues of a rural pregnant woman, as a social worker I would probe her existing knowledge and access to health. Thereafter, I would provide her information about services in the vicinity. In the process, I would also recognise case-relevant factors such as husband’s decision making power and help her address it by providing awareness to husband. In this manner, my role as a social worker was to identify and deal with social issues as a collective of individual and environmental problems. However, SEWA was a revolutionary movement and therefore as social workers we were encouraged to address such grassroots issues as system issues from feminist and anti-oppressive viewpoints. As a result, I was also responsible to collate and present these experiences at policy advocacy forums. Besides, defence, collectivization and personal change practices (Olivier, 2010) were also practised at
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
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