Reflective Practice study
Reflective Practice Review This is an account of my practice as a student social worker on placement with the children and family department of Perth council. I work directly with the family placement unit which has responsibility for recruiting foster carers as well as providing the necessary support that they need. I started this placement with relatively very little knowledge of fostering and permanence planning, attachment theories and the role of foster carers. During my first two weeks of practice I shadowed couple of my colleagues on their routine carer supervision. On one occasion, my attention drawn to a two year old toddler who has been fostered by a couple for the past five months and seemed well looked after and attached to his foster parents who gave him all their attention and, they too have become attached and attuned to the toddler. However the couple become upset when they heard that plan were being made for the child to move onto adoption in a single family together with his two older brothers. At this point, I realised the complexity of the role and tasks of social workers in fostering and adoption. I have therefore decided to read further on the theories of attachment and resilience and their applications to the social work practice. Fahlberg (1994) defined attachment as 'an affectionate bond between two individuals that endures through space and time and
Applying Theory to Practice in Social Work
(a) The social work task The referral is of Jameela, who is the service user, however it is impossible to ignore the needs of the whole family and of Farah, the carer. It would be necessary to work with all the adult family members and if there were any concerns regarding the children to refer them to the children's team. The family are opposed to Jameela being placed in a care home, which the GP suggested. The primary role of the social worker in this case in the elderly person's team would be that of a direct change agent to communicate and work with the service user and family as a mediator to help improve family relationships and to work along with them to promote change and find solutions to the current situation. Secondly, in the executive role as lead worker heading the multidisciplinary team, of other professionals, who the family will be referred to in order to assist with their needs. This role would be to co-ordinate the family's needs with the other agencies to plan actions and services together with the family. The social worker needs to establish an open, honest and trusting relationship with members of this family. The social worker needs awareness of cultural factors and possible communication barriers. Knowledge of assessments and our duties regarding community care assessments under section47, National Health Service and Community Care Act (1995);The
Just Another Unique Social Location. Becoming familiar my individuality will assist me greatly as a social worker. I definitely would cease to be the same individual if it wasn't for my unique social location.
Just Another Unique Social Location Natalie Kennard Social Work 2060 Instructor: Jennifer Murphy Just Another Unique Social Location It's amazing how every human being is unique and thus will never be an exact replicate of any other individual under the sun. Despite the obvious similarities we also tend to share, no two people will ever experience the same events, share the same memories, or perceive the same universe in an identical way. One's identity, as well as the outcome of anyone's life adventure can be largely determined by their social location - where they find themselves within society pertaining to such aspects of themselves as their race, class, gender, and religion. My own social location assists in dictating how I react towards others, as well as how others will react towards me. Anne Bishop's " Becoming an Ally" (2002) explains that the various aspects of ones social location can either empower a person in comparison to others within their world, or leave them powerless . Things are seldom ever black or white, and thus there are several features to do with my social location that place me on ends of the spectrum. Becoming familiar my individuality will assist me greatly as a social worker. I definitely would cease to be the same individual if it wasn't for my unique social location. A Canadian middle class citizen brought up in a Canadian middle class
Compare and contrast rational and incremental models of policy making.
Making Public Policy Assignment Compare and contrast rational and incremental models of policy making. Decision making is recognised as a fundamental activity of public administration. The debate of rational versus incremental models of policy making is could be viewed as a debate over alternative political systems and values. Rational decision making has a centralising bias, while incrementalism tends to favour representative and pluralist decision making. Additionally, the rational model tends not to favour any community contribution while incrementalism leans towards widespread popular participation in decision making. Despite their numerous differences, both techniques can work well or even fail, depending on the situation in which they are used. The rational model is aimed at maximising efficiency and 'net value achievement'. This means that all of the values of society are known and that any sacrifice in one or more values required by a policy is compensated for by attainment of other values. This definition could be viewed as interchangeable with the concept of efficiency - it comes down to more than money - all social, political and economic values have to be considered. Many techniques are employed to limit alternatives and to promote effective decision making; these include hierarchy, specialisation, premise controls and 'grid regulation'. Rationalism makes the
Social Work Theory and Social Work
000 word written assignment Write a 1000 word assignment outlining the individual research and reading undertaken and how you contributed to the presentation. In the unit the student worked in a group of four to derive a presentation illustrating her ability to utilise theory in the selected scenario. The scenario the group looked at was scenario 2; Fiona. Fiona lived in a multi-occupied accommodation where there was a lot of crime in the area. She left home when she was 17 and faced multiple problems since finding out her younger sister was abused by her uncle as a child. The group looked at theories surrounding guilt and disclosure, along with the possibility of psychosis. The group also looked into psycho-analytic theory and social learning theory and made a link between guilt therapy and drug therapy, for example, the medical and non-medical help she should be receiving. The students spoke about what they would do as her social worker to point her into the right direction and make her feel less vulnerable. By looking at these theories, the group hoped to make sense of Fiona's situation and the reasons why she bestowed such feelings of guilt and hatred for herself. The group split the work load into four parts and it was the writer's responsibility to look at theories surrounding guilt. The reasoning for Fiona to feel such guilt was immediately apparent to the student
Images of inequality - What evidence is there that older people are socially excluded?
A recent news article by Nicholas Timmins (2008) entitled 'Labour's drive to reduce poverty has stalled, according to study' highlighted the failure of Government policy to reduce poverty and exclusion for the elderly. Statistics show that for the first time ever there will be more pensioners in the UK than under 16's (ONS, 2008), but what are the implications of this for Britain's care system, does this mean more socially excluded pensioners, and is age a cause of social exclusion on its own? This essay will argue that age itself is not a cause of social exclusion, but contributing factors such as poor health, social back ground and poor services will increase the risk of being socially excluded. Although some older people may be excluded, one cannot say all older people are. The essay will also investigate the social position of older people in British society, how they have come to occupy this position and also the varying views of old age. The increase in older people in the future will have important implications for social care. According to Wilson et al (2008, p.616), what has been termed a 'demographic time bomb' will constitute a major problem for the provision of services, with the problem being "how to produce services that respond better to the needs of older people while being affordable at the same time." The balance between those of working age and the
Youth Work Essay - we shall look at the history and development of youth work
Youth Work Essay Patricia Farrell December 2012 “The concept of youth work has evolved both nationally and internationally. It has grown from the historical notion of young people coming together in association for the purpose of social activity, to the current notion of young people being prepared to have the necessary skills to act towards an objective of social transformation.” With regard to the above statement, we shall look at the history and development of youth work in order to determine the accuracy of the statement. As a guide to my personal conclusion on the matter, I shall also discuss some key theoretical studies of youth work. These include the personal development model and the Social Education Model, selected for their relevance in Irish policy progression, as we shall look at later. First it is important to clarify what is meant by the term ‘youth work’, and to whom it is applicable. The concept of youth work is one which has developed and evolved significantly over the past century. An ever industrialising society brought about the first forms of youth work, in a casual sense, focusing on young people’s social lives. However, since then, it has earned a more significant and formal role in our society. As a result, youth work has been structured through legislation, and more clearly defined. Ireland saw the introduction of the Youth Work Act
In this essay I will explore the ways in which individuals in care settings are enabled to find their voice and express their thoughts. I will look at the carers approach to collecting and recording this information.
In a modern world where people have the opportunity to speak exactly what’s on their mind, how do we support people who can’t easily express themselves? As a society, we yearn for information and can easily access it but how do you access information that is hidden away inside a person? In this essay I will explore the ways in which individuals in care settings are enabled to find their voice and express their thoughts. I will look at the carers approach to collecting and recording this information. Attachment theory is a term coined by John Bowlby. Bowlby supposed that early childhood attachment with a primary care giver is crucial for the child’s future survival. An attachment figure is a person that provides and teaches the child, “…the significance of an attachment-figure is that the baby uses her or him as a ‘secure base” (K101, Unit 5, p28) Children form strong relationships if they have a stable, consistent period in which to attach. They watch behaviours and learn boundaries, communication skills and memories. Robyn Fivush describes this early forming as “the internal working model”. This has been described as scripts or “little ‘stories’ that children form in their minds, to explain how they think events tend to flow in their world” (K101, Unit 5, p31). As the child grows, these scripts get changed by experience. If a child does not follow
Inter-professional Practice and Safeguarding Children
20042188 CYCC52 Inter-professional Practice and Safeguarding Children CYCC52 Inter-professional Practice and Safeguarding Children Different professional groups may each have their own priorities when it comes to safeguarding children. Giving examples of these, discuss whether it is possible for professionals to work together with the interests of the child to the fore. Essay: 60% of module mark, 2500 words, learning outcomes 1 & 3. First and foremost during this essay I will examine what inter-professional practice is and where it has come from. Furthermore I will analyse the different ways in which the agencies that I work alongside work together to help safeguard children and young people. I will discuss the priorities that they may have using examples which I have been involved in within my setting. I will then discuss whether it is possible to work solely child centred when it comes to safeguarding and analyse the difficulties we may come across while attempting this, mainly focussing on budget restraints and how they affect the young people we provide a service for. I will briefly divulge into the tragedies of both Victoria Climbie and ‘Baby P’ discussing why inter-professional practice was not successful. And finally I will discuss ways in which I believe inter professional practice could be improved across the board by introducing reviewing
