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Experiences in working with children
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Working with children, young people and their families can be seen as difficult and complex for many different reasons. However, before these topics can be discussed and explored fully, it is important to completely understand the difference between the words ‘difficult’ and ‘complex’. ‘Difficult’ implies that things are not easily or readily done, where it requires much effort much effort, labour and skill to be performed effectively. In the same way, ‘complex’ implies a hard to deal with situation, but also involves many interconnected parts or complicated arrangements that consist of emotional attachment.
Social work is rarely working with one individual, as stated in O’Loughlin and O’Loughlin (2008); it will involve working with the whole family which is constantly changing making it complex and diverse. It may consist of parents or carers who share the same race, class, culture, or sexuality, but alternatively it may not. Members within the family help to determine our behaviour, roles, rules and stereotyping. To add to this, people are constantly entering and leaving the family system either by marriage, divorce or death. These complexities are shown in ecomaps or genograms. It is important to understand that the child’s welfare is paramount, but in order to achieve positive outcomes for the child, effective work will need to be done within the family. Relationships within a family are known as a system with the family being viewed as a whole, rather than as many individuals. Within family relationships, everyone seeks to uphold the equilibrium so if one member seeks to change, the others seek to resist. However, difficulties include maintaining good relationships and knowing boundaries between professional and personal...
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...children, young people and their families can be both complex and difficult. Social work practice is one of the most challenging as it involves work with a diverse range of both professionals and service users. However, there is more that one single reason for this. As all professionals, agencies and parents continue to work together in various different cases, a variety of skills are required including: communication, preparation, intervention skills, assessment of significant harm, research of current legislation and decision making skills, all of which contribute to the complexities and difficulties of social work. It could be argued that these difficulties are highlighted most in many public cases of child abuse; moreover these cases can be seen to be changing social work practice, affecting the difficulties and complexities of working within this profession.
Obviously, working with survivors of child sexual abuse, neglect, and trauma: The approach taken by the social worker in the Brandon’s case shall begin with “assessment and beginning treatment of the family because child abuse is one of a wide range practice situation in which systems concepts can be applied to help to understand the dynamics involved” in the road for healing and recovery from the physical and psychological effect of the trauma by providing adequate resources available for counseling and therapy due to the devastating impacts of child sexual abuse can be heartbreaking for the victim and the family. However, social worker approach to understanding and responds efficiently by being empathetic to the complex situation as a result; the perpetrator is the father such as in the case of Brandon (Plummer, Makris, & Brocksen, 2014).
The first framework that would be beneficial when working with this population is the Dual Perspective Framework. The Dual Perspective Framework is a model that charges the social worker with assessing and understanding the client’s world. While doing so, one must take into account the client’s relationship to not only their immediate family and community, but also to the larger societal system while considering and comparing values, attitudes, and behaviors (Prigoff, 2003, p. 80). Another way to explain the Dual Perspective was presented by Dr. Nimmagadda as part of the diversity section of this course (2015). The contrasting views are also known as the “Nurturing Environment” versus the “Sustaining Environment.” The “Nurturing Environment” can be identified as the individual’s family or immediate extended family, while the “Sustaining Environment” can be identified as how an individual feels other’s view them in the social environment (Nimmagadda, 2015). An individual can evolve and change according to their experiences and interactions in both environments.
WHITE, R., BROADBENT, G. and BROWN, K., 2009. Law and the social work practitioner: a manual for practice. Exeter England]: Learning Matters.
The family unit is recognized as an importance in the field of social work. If a family is in need of temporary assistance, social workers are in full support of this, because
David suffered physical, mental, and emotional abuse from the age of four to 12-years-old. As his teachers and principal, neighbors, and even his maternal grandmother and father stand by and let the abuse happen, it makes me wonder what they could have done differently. For example, David’s father saw the abuse firsthand and he would try to intervene to help him out initially. David’s father was caught by the madness of his wife in calling him, ‘the boy’ and ‘It’. As much as his father tried to comfort David, he did not have the will to stand up against his wife. Another example, the maternal grandmother commented on bruises visible on David’s body and she did not take action to report her daughter for abusing her grandchild, David. Instead, David’s grandmother stated that she should stay out of it and let David’s mother raise her children as she saw fit. I believed the unreported instances observed by the public to be just as substantial a crime as the child abusers themselves. Also, the Department of Children and Social Services were contacted because of the alleged child abuse events that occurred previously; however, he was not taken from the home because the social worker of the agency sided with David’s mother. The social worker did not complete a thoroughly
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
Participating in the Mandated Reporter Training is a helpful tool for understanding the role of a social worker as a professional if and when one learns information concerning abuse of a minor. The goal of a social worker is to improve the quality of life for all individuals and if one learns about any type of abuse-physical, sexual, emotional, and/or neglect- it is their responsibility to bring this information to the proper authorities. The training stated that, “Research has shown that when multidisciplinary protocols are followed arrest and prosecution rates increase and trauma to the child decreases” (Arizona Child Abuse Info Center).
'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 aim of this study is to use a simulated case to explore safeguarding and protection, social work methods, evidence- based practice, social work authority and accountability, legislative and regulatory frameworks, ethical and moral issues, impact on service users, carers and other professionals and the role of independent advocacy services.
The lack of communication between the agencies and professionals involved contributed to complexity of the case. They failed “to communicate the true position of his risk of harm” (LSCB Haringey, 2009) which enabled important information to be missed. They failed to act according to The Every Child Matter’s Policy 2003 and The Children Act 2004 by not keeping Peter safe. The same policy that was introduced partly as a response to the Victoria Climbie case who, was also under the protection of Haringey Social Services. In both cases there was a lack of communication between the different agencies and professional involved. They misses key, clear signs of abuse by not working in collaboration which resulted to both Peters and Victoria’s death. They were both “failed by all agencies” (Sellgren,
The increase awareness of children in domestic violence situation has resulted in policy changes for practitioners, including the introduction of mandatory reporting under NSW Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998. The Act identifies domestic violence as a child protection risk, and therefore imposes penalties on those who are heedless with their reporting (Zannettino, & McLaren, 2012). Consequently, Humphreys (2008) argues that the blunt response of policy and legislative agenda, has resulted in children being automatically thrown into the tertiary end of the child protection system. The relevancy of this problematic situation can be seen in the prevalence of the child abuse reporting, which has more than doubles from 1999 to 2005 throughout Australian (Humphreys 2008, p.231).
Wilson, K. et. al., 2011. Social Work ' Introduction to Contemporary Practice'. 2nd ed. Essex, England.: Pearson Education Ltd .
There are many important considerations that teachers should take into account with families and even more so with families whose children are exhibiting challenging Behavior. The three considerations that I think are very important are culture, attachment, and home life. Culture is by far the largest. There are many differences between the European American culture and other cultures such as the Latino culture. Where one culture values Independence the other can value interdependence. Understanding the child's culture could explain certain behaviors. For example in some cultures they ask questions that are more opinion based such as how does the color blue make you feel, versus pointing at something blue and asking what color is it. The child may get very confused why you're asking such a simple question and might not answer it leading to the teacher believing that the child does not know the color. The second is attachment. Attachment by no means defines the child, but it can point in the general direction of the child's behaviors. The child might be
It was evident that there were many differences between Marj and myself. Although I was considerably younger than Marj, do not have any children and had a very different family structure, I reflected on the importance of understanding the context of Marj’s life and experiences to make a fair assessment. As a child I lived in numerous countries with my family so my experience of family was of a small nuclear family. While I could empathise with Marj, and understood that although overwhelmed, I felt that she was trying to provide a safe and supportive home.
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”.