The Difference Between Case And Cause Advocacy

1184 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The importance of social work ethics

As a social worker, it is important to fully understand the elaborate and crucial connections between client hardships and the public issues that may surround them. It is also imperative to thoroughly encompass and embrace both case and cause advocacy. Case to cause is a type of advocacy that is expected and required of all social workers. According to Donna McIntosh in the article “The Difference Between Case and Cause Advocacy is U”, the difference between case and cause advocacy literally is YOU, the social worker. In fact, not only is it morally and ethically required, the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics incorporates many ethical standards that outlines the moral duty of a social worker to address social issues that …show more content…

Advocating for clients is one of my natural instincts. In fact, I receive instant gratification when I advocate for a client and know that I am making a difference in their life toward a positive future. Advocating for a client is simply defending and safeguarding their rights, especially to vulnerable populations that don’t have a voice. Case advocacy can be defined as advocating for a specific situation for an individual or family. While cause advocacy is advocating for the larger community and population through social change in policies as well as change within the work place and other agencies. According to Donna McIntosh, every social worker should have a dual focus of social work that includes advocating for the individual and change within the system. This concept makes perfect sense to me, why not knock out two birds with one stone? If a social worker advocates for a client’s specific situation that is also a problem within the community, why not address the individual issue and the community issue at the same time? Previously, I did not fully understand that concept. I envisioned case advocacy as working with the individual/family without incorporating cause advocacy into the picture. Case to cause advocacy can make a difference at the client level and at the global

Show More
Related

  • Social Work Code Of Ethics Analysis

    959 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The National Assocation of Social Workers Code of Ethics

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    The National Association of Social Workers, NASW, considers the following as its six most core values; service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. The value of service is considered to be a core value because offering help to those in need is a crucial goal for all of those looking to practice in the field of Social Work. These services can include, but are not limited to, addressing social problems, helping those in need, and volunteering their knowledge to those who cannot otherwise afford such help. Social Justice is also an important core value for a Social Worker to develop. As a Social Worker one will encounter many people from several different walks of life, no two cases will ever be exactly the same. Some of these walks of life can leave a client vulnerable, defenseless, exploited, oppressed, and troubled. Therefore it is important to learn what Social Justice is, and how to help people from falling victim to injustice. Dignity and Worth of the Person is one of the most important values that one should uphold. People who need the help of a Social Worker many, but not all, times feel powerless, embarrassed, and worthless because they feel as though they cannot control aspects of their life an...

    Read More

  • Ethical Dilemmas In Social Work Essay

    486 Words  | 1 Pages

    As a part of the National Association of Social Workers, social workers may face different kinds of ethical dilemmas in their scope of practice. The code of ethics is put in place so that these professionals may be able to act wisely and make the most suitable and appropriate decisions thereby positively benefitting the client likewise themselves. An ethical dilemma is a conflict between two or more ethical principles. These ethical principles aim to provide beneficense, least harm, respect for autonomy, and provide justice. I will discuss three ethical dilemmas affecting human rights in social work.

    Read More

  • Social Work Capstone Paper

    607 Words  | 2 Pages

    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,

    Read More

  • Social Work Reflection Papers

    1133 Words  | 3 Pages

    Social work is the profession of helping a variety of different people in all aspects of life. For example, as we discussed in class by “creating social conditions favorable for that goal.” Clients are worthy of the decisions they make, it might not always be the best one, but we need them to be able to have self-determination for seeing they have control in their life. Therefore, we need to be sure that everyone has the fairness of having relationships between people. Including you as the helper and outside resources that they might have they can rely on. Advocacy is important because we need to be the voice that clients don’t have and help support the needs that need to be appointed. Every client that we help has the chance to achieve their

    Read More

  • Social Work Case Study

    2143 Words  | 5 Pages

    Social workers are increasingly recognized as an inevitable part of interdisciplinary teams in addressing the needs of clients who seek for legal remedies and services. The relationship between social work and law has been developing since 1917, when Mary Richmond, an architect of modern social work, acknowledged the role of legal authorities while developing her conceptual model for casework (Forgelson, 1970). Later, Mary Richmond drafted an early social work code of ethics in the early 1920s (Reamer, 1987). However, from the development perspective, all 50 states in the US have passed statutes requiring professionals from certain disciplines, including social work and law, to report any abuse or crime happened in the past or is going to happen in the nearest future if there are good reasons to believe that is true. Dubose and Morris (2005) stated that very few states passed similar mandatory reporting statutes for attorneys. It is not surprising that only a few states accepted these statutes because of the presence of the attorney-client privilege statute, which is true for all states. Due to differences in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and NASW Code of Ethics, professionals from the respective disciplines may have conflicts while both provide social and legal support to the same client from a domestic violence organization. There are two main reasons that allow the tension to happen, social workers are mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect but lawyers, on the contrary, have an ethical responsibility to maintain client confidentiality (Taylor, 2006).

    Read More

  • Humanistic Perspective: Awareness And Importance Of Social Work

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    Humanistic perspective sees each person as having value and strength; this aligns with the social work values of dignity and worth of the person and importance of human relationships (cite). The NASW Code of Ethics states that social workers should “seek to enhance clients’ capacity and opportunity to change and address their own needs”, and that social workers are to “engage people as partners in the helping process” (cite). By using humanistic perspective, social workers are able to assist clients in finding their strengths and in making change, and this clearly aligns with the values outlined in the NASW Code of Ethics (cite; Hutchison, 2012). Additionally, the NASW Code of Ethics calls social workers to challenge social injustice, provide service, and have competency and integrity (cite). Humanistic perspective supports these values, as it encourages social workers to reach a greater understanding of individual clients through giving them an opportunity to share their personal experiences. Through humanistic approach, social workers can become more competent on clients’ issues and provide services and resources that will benefit clients’ specific needs, as well as note reoccurring social injustices and bring those to light through education and advocacy. Because humanistic perspective aligns with social work values and

    Read More

  • Reflection On Social Work Values

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    Among an array of Values from The Code of Ethics (TCE) of social work Value 1 dictates that as social workers we must respect the dignity of our clients and refrain from passing judgement onto them (Canadian Association of Social Work, 2005, pg.7). As a social worker, it is important to follow this value as it prevents the distancing of the client from the worker as the client will have a better chance of opening up to someone who does not instantly tell them what to do or reprimand them for their actions or non-action in their lives. Oppression relates to the TCE in that it says the social work profession’s main purpose is to raise their clients who are vulnerable, oppressed and/or living in poverty (CASW, 2005, pg.7). Taking this into account

    Read More

  • Critical Approach on Organization

    2397 Words  | 5 Pages

    ...f the patient and fails to provide funding for other services that patients may require. This includes social workers. Social workers do not receive any funding which ultimately impacts them negatively as they are limited in services they are able to provide. Furthermore, managerialism also impacted my inability to provide services to this young mother as the final decision was placed in the manager’s hands as opposed to the social worker. These roadblocks created by a neo-liberal state ultimately created an ethical dilemma for me, which consequently impacted my patient negatively as well. In order to bring upon change, a form of resistance is required. Unfortunately, this may not achieve social justice, but it will achieve transformative change in practice. In order for social justice to be reached, organizations need to move away from neo-liberal ideologies.

    Read More

  • Social Work Code Of Ethics

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    All social workers are beholden to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics. Professional ethics are the main core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The code is composed of thematic sections that outline a social worker’s responsibility to clients, colleagues, employers, and the profession. Some responsibilities that a social worker has to a client are that the clients are their primary responsibility, fostering maximum self-determination in clients, respecting the privacy of clients, keeping information that has been shared during the course of their duties confidential and charging fees for services that are fair and considerate

    Read More

  • Reflection On Social Work Ethics

    873 Words  | 2 Pages

    The social work profession and its Code of Ethics dictate that social workers must act in the best interest of the client, even when those actions challenge the practitioner’s personal, cultural and religious values. In practice; however, ethical decision-making is more complex than in theory. As helping professionals, social workers are constantly faced with ethical decision-making or ethical dilemmas. As noted by Banks (2005), an ethical dilemma occurs “when a worker is faced with a choice between two equally unwelcome alternatives that may involve a conflict of moral principles, and it is not clear what choice will be the right one” (as cited in McAuliffe & Chenoweth, 2008, p. 43). In addition, ethical decision-making is a process that

    Read More

  • Advocacy In Policy Advocacy

    280 Words  | 1 Pages

    It seems we all have similar thoughts about engaging the people we serve in the policy advocacy process. We appear to be in agreement that it is our role as a professional to promote and support competence and confidence in the individuals we serve. We are all in agreement that it is our role to empower individuals we serve to make decisions directly effecting their life and situation and that we should encourage the individual to exert control over their life’s situation. Yet, we all have expressed concern with the individual’s ability to effectively advocate in the policy process. Self-advocacy is difficult, can be overwhelming. Above all, it requires a commitment from the individual to learn the process of organizing and navigating the policy

    Read More

  • My Perceptions Of Social Work

    645 Words  | 2 Pages

    Advocates: Being an advocate is one of the duties of a social worker that stands

    Read More

  • Reflection Of Social Work

    1332 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Case Work and Social Work

    2969 Words  | 6 Pages

    Case work is not only the basic practice in professional Social Work but rather, a common practice followed by all. The traditional definition defines case work as “a method of helping individuals through a one-on-on relationship’’. Every individual trained or untrained indulges in case work. The difference is made by theoretical understanding and professional ethics, practices involved in professional case work. Mary Richmond in 1915 explains casework as “the art of doing different things for and with different people by cooperating with them to achieve at one and the same time their own and society' betterment.” Social Case Work can also be defined as “an art in which knowledge of the science of human relations and skill in relationship are used to mobilize capacities in the individual and resources in the community appropriate for better adjustment between the client and all or any part of his total environment”.

    Read More

More about The Difference Between Case And Cause Advocacy

Open Document