In this assignment, you will be able to see how Social Work has developed from 1940 to where it is now. This assignment will begin by looking at the Second World War and how this influenced Social Work. Following this there will be many time periods shown, all of which have had an impact on Social Work and how services were provided to those in need during each time period. This assignment will then look at how Social Work is now and conclude by an overall summary.
In 1939- 1945 was the 2nd World War this was the beginning of social work, whereby it was run by charities and ladies with good character. This was an unofficial service which showed societal growth, as previously vulnerable people had nowhere to go in a time of crisis. However,
…show more content…
Before this, ‘black’ social workers were discriminated against and believed that the social work training, education and practice was ineffective to their needs. One of the reasons behind this is that the failure rates for ‘black’ social work students was a lot higher than ‘white’ students, ‘black’ students were defined as ‘educationally sub normal’. There was also seen to be racism in employment as ‘black’ social workers struggled to get jobs and this lead to a rise in unemployment in ethnic minorities. Due to this came the paper 30 which meant that racism would be out ruled in social work. This means that ‘black’ social workers are now treated the same as ‘white’ social workers, in employment, training and education. This means that ‘black’ social workers now have the same opportunities as anyone else. This effected social work positively because it means that it is now a lot less discriminative. However, some did not agree with this idea, such as Victoria Bottomley, a conservative party politician who believed that ‘good’ social work was being ‘contaminated’ and that the paper 30 was dangerous to social …show more content…
Social workers were aware of the possibilities of abuse a year prior to her death. Her post-mortem showed 128 injuries to her body including scars and burns some due to cigarettes. During this case, there were allegations of racism because she was from an ethnic minority, it was shown that over the time she was known to social services there were 12 times where social workers could have intervened and possibly saved her life, even after 230 witnesses social workers still neglected the idea of helping Victoria. The enquiries and results of this and other child abuse tragedies proved that social work being a generic profession was not working and that adult and children’s social workers should be separated. Due to the death of Victoria came the Lamming report this had numerous recommendations on how best to protect children in
workers must work against oppression and injustice to ensure equal treatment and access to resources and opportunities for all. Jemal’s argument for radical social work fits in with the definition laid out here. Additionally, the NASW lays out numerous standards to meet each of the ethical values. Under the category of “ethical responsibilities to clients” is standard 1.05, Cultural Competence and Social Diversity, which states that social workers should be educated and understanding of a spectrum of client backgrounds, cultures, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, and physical and mental abilities, among other categories (“Code of Ethics”). Additionally, there are standards for Competency and
This class, Social Work Theory & Practice was made to be able to introduce me to social work theories, ideas, and skills needed to work in the social work profession. This class main tool used was a book called A Brief Introduction of Social Work Theory by David Howe which discusses social work theories in a compressive and explainable way. This class is important to my higher learning because it break down the theories that I will need to use during my practice and a...
Social work pursues to meet the demands and addresses the changing profession of fighting for human rights, improving social policies, and practice. I agree with the Abramovitz article that we have to know and understand the history of the social work profession. If people go without learning and comprehending the past, people cannot make accommodations for the future. Knowledge of the past will keep history alive, it will guide workers and their efforts to reform. The past also helps society in understanding programs that did not work. Society needs to understand the values that historical knowledge can bring positive changes in the future. Advocates for early social workers and their issues and concerns are still relevant in today's
Social workers should be able to define and describe main social work paradigms, philosophical and ideological approaches and appreciate their implications to practice, policy and research. Social workers should be also able to identify interrelations between social work paradigms, social policy and social
The discipline of social work, although had been around for a sometime, was still emerging its professionalism. Social workers, as friendly visitors within the scientific charity organizations, had no professional boundaries as they investigated why clients’ were poor or needed aid. On the other hand, indiscriminative relief through the Salvation Army displaced no ethics, principle or process as to when or how to support and aid were to be distributed. The practice of social work was demonstrated through altruistic volunteers with common passions and their activeness in communities, yet they lacked adequate competence through relevant, efficient and effective training for workers and coherent purpose for organizations. Through class literature, we learned how the social work purpose was fostered by conflicting social welfare perspectives in previous centuries.
Thompson, N (2005) Understanding Social Work: Preparing for Practice, Palgrave, MacMillan (Second Edition) Hampshire (Supplementary Course Reader)
Throughout this essay, the health, safety and welfare policy and practise that came about after the Victoria Climbie case will be reviewed and evaluated. After arriving in England in November 1991 from the Ivory Coast, eight-year old Victoria Climbie suffered abuse from her great-aunt, Marie-Therese Kouao, and her great-aunts partner. The anguish and eventual murder of Victoria in 2000 from hypothermia, caused by malnourishment and damp conditions, provoked ‘the most extensive investigation into the child protection system in British history’ as described by Batty (Macleod-Brudenell, 2004). The high media profiled incident exposed a clear lack of precision and communication between all professionals and agencies involved. This is shown by the fact that the mistreatment Victoria was suffering had gone unnoticed by the social services, police and NHS staff, who failed to make each other aware of the clear danger signs. Within the Lord Laming Inquiry into Victoria Climbie’s death (2003), it can be seen that some features recur time after time in child abuse cases; inadequate resources to meet demands, inexperience and lack of skill of individual social workers. In addition, it can also be seen that crucial procedures were evidently not being followed. The procedure that was established after this case included the recommendations made by Lord Laming such as the Green Paper of Every Child Matters (DfES, 2003) and the Children Act (DfES, 2004). These ensure that all children have the fundamental right to be protected from harm and abuse. In addition to this, it also certifies all adults who come into contact with children and families have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.
Social workers play a pivotal role helping one achieve social justice. “As such, the social justice mandate of the social work profession may be regarded as an ethical obligation to ensure that all persons have an equal right to access societal resources and opportunities so that they may fully participate in and be contributing members of society” (DuBois 136). Everyone deserves to live in a fair and equal society however, in the movie Selma portraying the years 1964-1965, this wasn’t how the American society lived. Despite segregation slowly coming to an end, racism was still a huge issue as blacks were denied the right to vote. This is where social workers step in: social injustice and inequality.
Social work is a multifaceted, ever adapting profession, which has had many purposes and identities through the years. It is imperative for the vocation to constantly evolve alongside the social climate and the new ways in which we identify and treat those who are in need of support. Social workers can be required to take on the role of counsellor, advocate, case-worker, partner, assessor of risk and need, and at times (as the government seeks to push social work further and further towards the health and education sectors) a servant of the state. The profession is dramatically subject to affection by societal change, thus demanding social workers have a duty to be up to date with the latest developments in understanding how and why people get to the point of requiring social work intervention, and how best to prevent and cater for it.
Wilson, K. et. al., 2011. Social Work ' Introduction to Contemporary Practice'. 2nd ed. Essex, England.: Pearson Education Ltd .
Her scientific casework methods are still used in assessing clients in today’s practice. The Social Work profession also built off her values of individuality, dignity, and importance of human relationships in the core values of the profession, these can be seen in the National Association of Social Workers’ Code of Ethics. While Social Workers still follow most of Richmond’s values today, other values have been re-evaluated as time has progressed. Instead of Richmond’s suggestions of gathering personal information without the client’s knowledge (Pumphrey, 1961), the Social Work profession now values confidentiality and privacy when dealing with clients.
...ed war-related assignments, spurred by the establishment of a special classification for military social work and the development of services for war-impacted communities. In the decade after the War, considerable efforts were made to enhance the field's professional status. These included increased standardization of agency practices, the development of interdisciplinary doctoral training programs, and the creation of core MSW curricula. The formation of CSWE in 1952 and the establishment of the National Association of Social Workers in 1955 further strengthened the profession's status of the profession.
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