Different Types Of Discrimination And Coping Social Work Essay

This essay discusses on the different types of discrimination and the different coping strategies or behaviours used. The Oxford Dictionary defined discrimination as the unwarranted or hurtful treatment of different groups of people, especially on the grounds of gender, race or age. Coping is defined as a change in cognitive and behaviour to evade harmful event. Discrimination affects an individual physically, mentally and emotionally. Studies have shown that discrimination can lead to depression. However, there have been various coping behaviours that have been identified to help victims of discrimination. Further studies need to be conducted to address other types of discriminations such as old age, disabled, workplace and others.

Keywords: Racial Discrimination, Gender Discrimination, Coping Behaviours

Discrimination and Coping

Discrimination has been present for hundreds and hundreds of years. Discrimination is defined as the unwarranted or hurtful treatment of different groups of people, especially on the basis of gender, race or age by the Oxford Dictionary. Acts of discrimination can be witnessed through many historical events such as the Holocaust, where the Jews were discriminated and murdered because the German’s believed that they were superior. Not only that but, the blacks were also a target of discriminatory acts during the Civil War where they were forced to become slaves. However, there are various ways to cope with discrimination. Coping is defined as a change in cognitive and behaviour to evade harmful events (Rantanen, Mauno, Kinnunen & Rantanen, 2011). There are many causes of discrimination.

In the western world, history is marked by BC and AD, however there was a third category which is 9/11. 9/11 marked a very tragic day in the history of United States as that was the day when the al-Qaeda launched an attack on the United States by hijacking planes and crashing them into the World Trade Center and The Pentagon. Post 9/11 witnessed a rapid increase and all time high report of discrimination, hate crimes and religion profiling (Ahluwalia & Pellettiere, 2010). Many Sikhs became the target of prejudicial and discriminatory act as they resembled the appearance of the terrorist whom wore turbans. Turbans are worn by the Sikh as a sign of faith. Therefore the Sikhs became the target of racial discrimination due to the media constantly and continuously portraying images of suspected terrorist wearing turbans. (Ahluwalia & Pellettiere, 2010).

Not only that, but it was mandatory that baptized Sikhs carry a kirpan. Kirpans are dagger liked shaped and is a symbol of peace and truth. There were such cases where the Sikhs residing in United States were sacked, downgraded, placed under probation and even came across false criminal charges due to them carrying the kirpan (Ahluwalia & Pellettiere, 2010). Due such unexpected events occurring, the Sikhs were forced to go against all their believes in order to lead a risk-free life. No stones were left unturned post 9/11 as the innocent Sikh children experienced the backlash of this event. Majority of the Sikh students in New York testified to being abused at schools due to their religion and country of origin (Ahluwalia & Pellettiere, 2010).

The September 11 attacks did not only impact the lives of the Sikhs in the United States in a negative way, but also the Muslims. A good number of atrocities took place on the streets, in convenience stores, petrol stations, educational institutions and at mosques (Abu-Raiya, Pargament & Mahoney, 2011). Many Muslims reported that they stayed indoors as they feared that they would be a victim of hate crime. Not only that, but many Muslims were concerned about their future in the country (Abu-Raiya et al., 2011).

Due to the sudden change in their environment, the Sikhs and Muslims had to find various coping methods to overcome these negative outcomes. Various research discovered that the Sikh would seek out assistance from their family, community and faith before pursuing mental health facilities (Ahluwalia & Pellettiere, 2010). The pious Sikhs seek assistance from their holy scripture the Guru Granth Sahib. This holy scripture taught them to oppress the feeling of being a victim and take control of the situation when undergoing superficial suffering such as discrimination and biasness. On the other hand, there were many Sikh men who decided that they could no longer handle the constant abuse and discrimination and made drastic changes against their culture such as cutting their hair and choosing to not wear turbans.

Similar to the Sikhs, the Muslims depended extensively on coping method related to religion such as reciting scriptures, praying and forgiveness. Research evidence found that religious behaviour increased post 9/11 attacks. There were two patterns in regard to religious coping; one pattern was positive religious coping methods and another was negative religious coping methods (Abu-Raiya et al., 2011). Researchers concluded that positive religious coping resulted in posttraumatic development whereas negative religious coping resulted in loneliness and mental instability (Abu-Raiya et al., 2011)

Asian Americans were also a target of discriminatory act pre 9/11. From way back then when Asians first stepped foot in America till now they have been faced with racism and discrimination. One might consider that discrimination against Asian-Americans might reduce as their population gets larger, however, that is not accurate. Asian-Americans are faced with discrimination on a day-to-day basis right from discriminatory terms to physical abuse (Yoo & Lee, 2005). Research validates that ethnic identity operates as a vital psychological asset that allows ethnic and racial minorities to fight against racial discrimination (Yoo & Lee, 2005). Therefore, we can see that having a strong ethnic identity and believe in one’s culture can help an individual overcome discrimination.

Another study investigated the relationship between racial discrimination stress and depressive symptoms and various coping strategies. Research suggested that the understanding of the intricacy in the involvement between perceived discrimination and health can be broadened by combining other factors into the model (Wei, Heppner, Ku, Liao, 2010). Racism and discrimination can negatively have an impact on the psychological health of their victims. Asian Americans very often encounter prejudicial insults, intentionally and unintentionally ( Alvarez & Juang, 2010). Continuous exposure to such insults and actions can take a toll on a person. It was reported that continuous taunting were positively correlated with depression ( Alvarez & Juang, 2010).

The level of coping with discrimination can be influenced by several extrinsic factors such as how frequent the discrimination occurs, the period discrimination occurs and the various types of coping behaviours either before or after the event. Research evidence also presented a previous study that was conducted by Noh and colleagues (1999, 2003) whom investigated both the individualistic coping behaviour of the Western culture (active coping) and the collectivistic coping behaviour of the Eastern culture (forbearance coping) (Wei et al., 2010). Noh and Kaspar (2003) identified that active coping helped decrease the perceived racial discrimination on depression for Korean Canadian immigrants. It can be concluded that Asian Americans should learn to practice active coping strategies by viewing the stressor in a positive way that will help develop their mental health.

Approach-type coping is another coping strategy that can be utilized to overcome the after effects of discrimination. This is then categorized into three common forms which are social support seeking, cognitive restructuring and problem solving.Social support seeking is defined participating in behaviour directed at gaining emotional support from others (Yoo & Lee, 2005). For example, an individual should open up about how they are feeling instead of oppressing everything inside. Another type of coping strategy is cognitive restructuring. Cognitive restructuring is defined as tactics that alter the significance of the harmful event and make an effort to perceive it in a positive way (Yoo & Lee, 2005). For example, an individual should view a discriminatory act as motivating and not de-motivating. Not only that, but problem solving is another coping strategy that is defined as participating in behaviour oriented at solving an issue (Yoo & Lee, 2005).

Similar to other studies, families play a very crucial role in helping victims of discrimination cope with their lives. Asian Americans have a tendency to cope with racial discrimination by communicating and socializing with their family members (Wei et al., 2010). Many cultures have faith in their religion and often turn to spiritual coping. However, it was discovered that Asian Americans did not patronize their religion and spirituality and reported it to be not constructive in coping with discrimination (Wei et al., 2010). This could be due to Asian Americans feeling more comfortable and protected with verbal support as compared to spiritual and mental support.

Other studies reported different types of coping behaviour. One study extensively classified coping as either problem focused or emotion focused. Problem-focused coping would require a confrontation with the offender whereas, emotion-focused coping would require pursuing social support (Alvarez & Juang, 2010).

Workplace sexual harassment is also a form of discrimination. Woman are more prone to this type of discrimination as they are often seen as the weaker half. Sexual harassment has been proved to negatively affect workers psychological and physical health. Not only that, but it has been identified that sexual harassment ended with female workers undergoing deterioration in their physical and emotional well-being ( Schneider, Swan & Fitzgerald, 1997).

Female workers often turn to various coping strategies to cope with workplace discrimination. Research implies that women do not use direct coping strategies such as confronting the harasser. Not only that, but it is proven that female students who undergo workplace discrimination often change plans, change workplace in order to avoid being further discriminated (Schneider et al., 1997)

Another discrimination that should be addressed other than racial discrimination is sexual discrimination. The current era has a predisposed thought that same-sex couples are very distinct from heterosexual couples. To the contrary, the faithful relationships of same-sex couples are recognized by same or parallel characteristics of heterosexual couples. However, many same-sex couples are distinguished by stigma and are confronted with discriminatory acts countless times (Rotosky, Riggle, Gray & Hatton, 2007).

Many individuals are not able to accept the fact that the number of same-sex couples is growing and it will soon become a common thing around the world. Just because two people of the same gender love each other does not make them any less of a human. In spite of this, same-sex couples undergo tremendous amount of discrimination from their family and religion. Religious and legal institutions have discriminated same-sex couples by saying that they are going to burn in hell because of their intimate relationship. These institutions that are the basics of every culture does not want to recognize that two people of the same gender can have an intimate bond (Rotosky et al., 2007).

When the discrimination against same-sex couples started becoming more and more prolific, it took a toll on them. These couples found it difficult to carry on with their everyday lives as their community and people around them made them feel like they were a cursed human-being. These couples had to gradually find ways to cope with this growing problem. The first step to coping for various couples was self-acceptance, by accepting themselves as sexual minority and seeing their relationship in a positive way. Another step was by originating a support systems made up of family members, friends and other same-sex couples (Rotosky et al., 2007).

The studies aforementioned discuss racial discrimination and sexual discrimination and the various coping strategies to cope with it. In order to improve the understanding of discrimination and it’s detrimental effect on an individual’s health, further studies needs to be conducted. Not only that, but other types of discrimination such as discrimination against the old age, discrimination against the disabled, workplace discrimination and others should be addressed.

Dietary Requirements: Nutritional Restrictions

Clear and effective communication between partners is central to working with children and young people, it allows partners to put the needs and requirements of the children first enabling them to achieve the best possible outcomes for the children and their family. Good communication between partners allows trust to be built between everyone and enables everybody concerned to share their views and have them considered and valued. Having clear and effective communication between partners helps with the collection and sharing of relevant information between all parties involved regarding the child, which may also contain sensitive information. Clear and effective communication also ensures that everyone is working towards the same aims helping to prevent any misunderstandings between partners, with one of the aims being working together to meet the emotional, health and educational needs of the children. It will also help with the process of collecting and maintaining information/records about the children providing an understanding of the children’s needs and requirements which then allows partners to provide the correct activities for individual children and maintain a safe learning environment for the children and young people. Regarding the importance of effective communication between parents/carers, clear and effective communication encourages the parent, carer or legal guardian to seek advice when needed and to use services provided which is the key to establishing and maintaining working relationships. Clear lines of communication also allow the parent/carer to discuss issues more freely and resolve problems with ease between partners if they feel there is foundation of trust built and good communication.

The policies and procedures in the work setting for information sharing are as follows,

Information regarding the children must remain confidential

Information must be stored/recorded as stated (Data Protection Act 1998)

Confidentiality & Respecting Confidentiality

Establishments storing records on a PC must be registered on the Data Protection Register

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives individuals the rights to view all information stored regarding themselves.

Staff must be familiar and conform to the guidelines

Confidential matters should not be discussed with colleagues unless necessary

Information regarding the children, establishment and staff should not be shared with third parties unless it regards to safeguarding

Confidential information must be handled with care & stored securely

Never leave sensitive paperwork/files unattended or where individuals who do not need to know will have access to them

All records must be stored safely and password protected ensuring restricted access only

Confidentiality within a setting is vital; breach of confidentiality is only acceptable when it is on a need-to-know basis. For example particular personal information may have to be shared with members of staff that specialize and deal with a child’s health, welfare or well being. Working within this type of environment means particular information has to be gathered and recorded regarding the children and stored securely, this information includes:

Names
Addresses & Contact Numbers
Medical History Records
Dietary Requirements/Nutritional Restrictions
Family Changes
Progress Reports
Child’s GP & Dentist Details
Emergency Contact Details
Special Educational Needs SEN

Sharing any of the above information is in fact a breach of confidentiality and should only be shared on a need-to-know basis, breaching confidentiality can cause great upset for a lot of individuals, loose trust and cause damage to working relationships. Breaching confidentiality within a childcare setting should only be done so in extreme circumstances, for example bullying, suspected child abuse and a medical emergency concerning the child.

Within a childcare setting there is a responsibility to ensure that all information/records are correct, kept up to date and confidential, following the settings policies and guidelines and passed onto relevant staff members only. Information and details provided by the parents/carers is given in trust and concerns the child and their family. This information should only be shared between individuals who are directly involved with the child, for example a named carer or member of staff who works directly with the child.

As a practitioner you may find yourself in a position where you want or need to share information but have been asked not to disclose any information. It may even be due to a matter of safeguarding a child within your care who you feel is at risk, putting you in a difficult position where you must break the confidence discussing it with your line manager.

When you are in the position of having to share information and maintain confidentiality, conflicts or dilemmas may surface.

For example you may find yourself being given confidential information by a parent who has trusted and confided in you as a practitioner discussing with you personal family issues, providing you with information regarding her husband leaving her and filing for divorce resulting in her feeling that she cannot manage and is also struggling to manage but requests that no one else is to be told this information. But as a practitioner being given this type of information gives an automatic concern for the child or young person’s welfare. This then may result in causing conflict or dilemma because you were placed in a position of trust and confidentiality by the parent who confided in you and specifically asked you not to tell anyone else but you are also in a position where you must consider the welfare of the child or young person and speak to your line manager, the manager has to know this information in order to care for the child effectively bearing in mind the Children Act 1989 – The welfare of the child is paramount. But it is important that the parent(s) is informed that you are going to tell your line manager this information.

Conflicts or dilemmas may also arise if a concern has been made about a child by for example a practitioner, key worker or manager directly to the child’s parents. The parents may in fact feel there is no reason for concern or that there is nothing wrong and therefore request that there is no further action to be taken or required and that no confidential information is to be shared with any other outside agencies. Putting the person with concern in a difficult position as this concern regards the welfare of the child or young person involved.

You may also find conflicts or dilemmas arising in relation to sharing information with partners and maintaining confidentiality in situations such as having concerns regarding a child’s welfare because for example you have observed frequent bruising and the child is now refusing to get changed for P.E and appears nervous and jumpy. You want to share this information but it would be inappropriate to ask permission from the child’s parents as this could possibly put the child at further risk of harm. Finding yourself in a very difficult position where you want to share information with a senior member of staff e.g. Line Manager or possibly with outside agencies.

It is important to record information clearly, accurately, legibly and concisely, meeting legal requirements to ensure any decisions or actions that have been put into place for a child or young person are not forgotten or lost and to ensure that written records are not misspelt, are containing incomplete sentences and long confusing paragraphs making it more time consuming for an individual to find the information they are want. This also allows everyone involved regarding a child or young person to receive the most accurate and up to date information and records when required and will enable individuals to refer back to the information for future reference and for the monitoring of children and young people’s behaviour patterns, giving an insight on whether the child’s behaviour has improved or gotten worse over time. It will also prevent any misunderstandings with any future reference at a later date and prevent any complications reading back on the written records. It is also important because all written records need to be up to date, dated and signed to meet the legal requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998. All settings handling personal and sensitive information/records have a number of legal obligations to protect this information under the Data Protection Act 1998. Information must also be recorded clearly, accurately, legibly and concisely, meeting legal requirements for self protection reasons to ensure that there is documented evidence in the case of something happening, which will abide by the procedures and policies put in place within your setting.

Communications and records are recorded and securely stored meeting data protection requirements by carefully carrying out the following:

All written records must be stored carefully

All records must be adequate, sufficient and relevant

Paper records should be kept stored in a locked filing cabinet

Electronic records must be (password protected)

Invoices, bills and money details are to be stored in locked files (password protected) on the computer.

Personal details about each child are to be kept within locked files and password protected documents on the computer.

All records must be maintained, kept up to date and accurate

Records and recording must comply with the Data Protection Act 1998

Personal information must be kept securely & only used for the purposes it was originally stated for.

Records must be kept safe and secure away from any unauthorized access.

Within the setting the following actions are taken to record and store information securely meeting data protection requirements

Invoices, bills, money details – Are stored in locked files (password protected) on the computer which are only accessible to the manager.

Outside agencies – If there has been a meeting of any kind with an outside agency regarding a child or young person within the setting a detailed and clear report must be typed up and a copy of the report distributed to only the relevant concerning parties involved with the child or young person.

Personal details about each child – Each child within the setting has their own individual file containing personal and sensitive information from things such as letters to parents/carers to special dietary requirements. These files are securely locked away within a filing cabinet where they must be kept and used only for the purposes originally stated. They are not to be shared with anyone other than the parents unless they have given permission to do so.

Child protection records – When making a child protection record an appropriate form is to be completed recording the concerns. The written record should consist of relevant details and accurate information. These sensitive records are then locked away and strictly controlled where only limited staff can have access, they are not to be kept on file for any longer than a 6 year period.

Child development records – Child development records are made by observing a child or young person on a daily basis and filling out an observation form and keeping a “daily diary” sometimes including photographs. These records are only shared with the child’s family and contain sensitive & confidential information which is then kept stored individually and securely.

All young children within a setting have their development monitored and recorded on day-to-day basis but if a member of staff believes there is reason for concern or a parent/carer shares concerns regarding their child’s development a meeting will be arranged where the concerns can be shared, the child’s development record reviewed and where information can be gathered on the child’s home life. If the conclusion is that the child in fact requires additional help and support with their development then the manager within the setting will complete the appropriate forms, which will then be sent to the corresponding agency(s) that will make contact with the parents/carers. For example a child who has been assessed as having a speech impediment would be referred to a speech and language team/therapist that will then assess the child and establish a programme that would then be put in place for them which would then be implemented by the teachers and TA’s within a school setting. They may also arrange one to one sessions for the child with the consent of the parents/carers and will assess the child to help recognize the cause of the speech problem or delay.

Referrals are made to ensure that a child or young person is receiving the best possible outcome and start in life. Referrals are usually made by practitioners who observe and make recordings of the child’s development and may pick up on any additional support needed, problems or difficulties the child may be experiencing. It is important to indentify a child or young person’s needs as early as possible to ensure that the child’s needs are assessed quickly and that they are referred to the appropriate setting or agency.

Referrals are made for many different reasons such as concerns regarding a child’s safety and welfare or well being etc. When a referral is required for a child who is in need it should ideally be accompanied by the consent of the child’s parents/carers. If a child or young person is suffering significant harm or abuse then social services will be involved in their case, in some cases depending on the severity of the harm the police may be involved. Other children may suffer from different problems such as emotional and/or learning difficulties. For example a child who has been assessed as having separation anxiety and sensory issues may be referred to CAMHS where they will under go different investigations and have an occupational therapy assessment and may be seen by a child psychologist. Or a child may be displaying signs of behaviour problems and thought to be displaying signs and symptoms of ADHD such as inattention during class time. And therefore may be referred for an ADHD assessment after under going a CAF assessment. They may then be referred to a hospital and consultant where further testing may take place to find out the outcome.

When a child is thought to be in need of additional help or support then a common framework is put into place known as CAF, CAF firstly provides a checklist to ensure that the child’s needs are being met and are up to the standard requirements. If the child’s needs meet the CAF standards required according to the checklist then a meeting would be held where the child’s needs would be accessed and possible support would be discussed within the group, giving the practitioner the opportunity to share their assessments, plans and recommendations for support. It is important to provide a precise, accurate and factual view on the child’s specific needs and requirements including both their strengths and weaknesses. A decision should then be made after the meeting on whether further support is required and a CAF may only then be completed once you have made an agreement with your manager and the child’s parents/carers on whether the child requires additional help and support which is not provided within the setting. During the CAF procedure the agreement will contain permission to share the findings of the CAF assessment with other agencies as sometimes outside agencies may need to be brought into the equation for the benefit of the child and their needs. You must have the parent’s permission for the competition of the CAF process when it is concerning a child and they should be kept well informed but a young person is required to give permission themselves. On competition of the assessment a plan must be built addressing the child’s needs, this should consist of short and achievable goals for the child and should include how these targets can be achieved. Plans must be reviewed and updated on a regular occurrence and referrals must involve the parents/carers and a senior member of staff.

Developing self awareness reflection paper

Through attending the course of “Knowing ourselves, knowing our world”, I have increased self- awareness. Every week, I keep learning more and more about myself. Self awareness, according to Wong (2003), means recognition of our personality, strengths and weaknesses and likes and dislikes. Developing self-awareness can help us to recognize when we are stressed or under pressure. Self awareness also promotes effective communication and interpersonal relations, and also for developing empathy for others.

After I have gone to the camp, I learn to face something I used to evade. I was raised up by my aunt when I was young. I always feel difficult to live in the love between my own parents and my aunt. These persecute me for long. All these years, I have never told the others about the above thoughts. I just want to escape from these things. However, I feel so pleased that I have finally let my thoughts released out when I told my classmates in the camp. I used to evade the problem of “how to balance the relationships between my parents and my aunts and uncle”. Learning to increase self- awareness, Rothman (1999) suggests that it brings increased openness to other ways of thinking and a greater insight into other kinds of life experience. I will not escape from tackling the relationships and I can know more about my deep self. This enables me to understand my clients when they have something used to evade. I can then guide my clients to release their feelings and increase openness.

It does help me to be more aware of myself by knowing how my past experiences influence my personal values. Having an uncle who experience three marriages because of having other relationships outside of his marriage (with women from the mainland China), I personally dislike women who are come from mainland China, come to Hong Kong to marry a man and to grab our resources. I dislike like them as I think that they always intervene in their marriage. However, this hatred towards new immigrants makes me unable to make appropriate decision when a client who is a new immigrant seeks help from me. Furthermore, Biestek (1961) suggests that the relationship between the social worker and the client has been called the soul of casework. With such a bias, I may have personal value judgment and uncontrolled emotional attitudes toward the clients. As a result, it may be difficult for me to develop close relationship with the client. However, now I know and realize that my past family experiences are affecting my values and thoughts, Rothman (1999) suggested that it assists the worker to work with clients, and to control and minimize the influences of personal attitudes and beliefs that may be harmful and prejudicial toward clients.

According to Rothman (1999), as an adult, one has his own viewpoint towards something. The most concerned part in self-awareness is about the unaware perceptions, especially those negative feelings towards the others, such as biases, prejudices or stereotypes. According to Rothman (1999), they are hidden inside and covered by “acceptable” excuses and rationale. Take several minorities for an example, general people usually have some negative personal feelings and comments towards the disabled, homosexuals, prostitutes, the street sleepers and so on. Unaware perceptions may be expressed in conversations, acts or behavior since they are hidden in the subconscious. Having these unaware perceptions, as a social worker, I may unconsciously say some words which hurt clients’ feelings and make them become defensive and do not trust in me. Thus making it hard to develop good relationship with the client and hard to have intervention processes.

Besides, sharing my own feelings and opinions among peers can also help to make up my own viewpoint towards the population. I can know more about the peers’ attitudes and how the others react towards some issue by listening and sharing among a group of peers. By exchanging opinions in an overview, I can learn to think more comprehensively and to view an issue with different perspective. By gaining opinions and experiences from the others, I may then gradually change my former views towards an issue.

When it comes to the social work profession, it is common to have values or attitude conflicts with certain aspects. Self-awareness promotes several essential traits, such as openness, acceptance, willingness, trust, knowledge, interest and courage towards the clients (Rothman, 1999). When social worker can have comprehensive thoughts and view towards an issue, it can enable social worker to have a better understanding on the perceptions of the clients. Even the opinions of clients is different from the social worker’s personal view, the social worker can give clients an appropriate advice without any bias and would be more comfortable and easy to deal with the circumstances with their attitudes, values and beliefs (Rothman, 1999).. Social workers’ role is to stands right on the clients’ situations to provide services for them according to their wishes and needs. Self-awareness enables social workers to assist clients in a suitable and appropriate way.

According to Segal E.A, part of self awareness is understanding one’s down personal problems and biases, and addressing them so that they do not interfere in work with others. As a social worker (in the future), self awareness enables me to know myself and be aware of their own values, assumptions, beliefs, strengths, and weakness, so that I am able to help the clients effectively. Rothman (1999) suggests that increased awareness brings increased openness to other ways of thinking and a greater insight into other kinds of life experience. So, keeping my mind open, as a social worker (in the future), I can then listen to client’s sharing patiently, even when clients have other point of view different from mine, I can have an appropriate response and advice.

Self awareness promotes effective communication and interpersonal relations, and so as developing empathy for others. These are all elements which enable social workers to provide skillful service and positive attitude to clients. Increasing self awareness do helps me with my professional development.

Efforts to address the development of rural areas

DEVELOPING RURAL AREAS

Contents

Introduction.

Literature review

Current efforts to address this problem locally

Plan

References

Introduction.

Rural social work is poised to face many challenges that make it difficult for a social worker to provide services to a needy person in the community. Oppression by the society and also other social classes in the society has caused the poor to be looked down upon in the society and thus becoming hard to get the best social services.

In most of the cases that have been happening the women has seen a vast range of problems socially in the rural areas. Women and children have hence become the part of the population facing a lot of social problems. (Teasley, Archuleta & Miller, 2014).

The issue of a bad economy state has also been an obstacle to the providence of proper social services to the community. When inflation hits a country, it makes it hard and difficult for the rural community to survive with the raising prices of commodities.

Lack of support from the authorities has also caused a lot of poor service development for the needy in the rural areas. Therefore it has been seen in many cases that the policies put into place do not really favor the rural communities. Taking for instance the policies to do with medical services, high medical services hit the poor in the society and hence lives get lost every now and then.

For a good providence of social services to the rural community, resources have to be there. Lack of these resources render the social workers unable to access the areas with specific needs.an example of services that can be required is transport facilities for the social worker. If transport channels become a challenge for the social worker, it becomes hard for him/her to reach a good number of the rural population. (Witkin, 2014).

Literature review

Social working practice dates back to the ancient times where the church used to provide charity services to the community even before organizations dealing with social workers were formed. Social work was linked with the idea of charity work and by 580AD the church had already started charity work in the world and it was circulating food stuffs to the needy in the society.in the middle ages, the church become influential to the most parts of Europe and with time the practice of charity work become charity work in the 17th century. (Vanagas & A?iA?ikienA-, 2015). Social work become a profession as well as people could now train to become social workers and serve the community.in the 19th century it became a profession in the united states as a movement began in the states and England. In this case a system was established in which the poor were sorted into different categories as idle poor, bodied poor and impotent poor.in this particular century, revolution especially in the industrial sector took place. (McPherson & Cheatham, (2015). Therefore, technology and other scientific innovations came in to place and therefore a rural urban migration took place in those days in the western world. With this happening, social problems took course in the urban areas and therefore a missionary came into place to publicize and spread the Pentecost denominations ad therefore missioners attempted to come up with solutions for these problems in the urban areas because the cities were affected by prostitution, poverty and diseases. Therefore the church started activities like prayers and evangelism as it was releasing relief food to the poor in these areas. One of the people of steered up social work in the United States was Jane Adams who founded the US settlement house movement. Many schools to train people about social work came in to place at around 1915. This took place at the national conference of charities and corrections. After this, social work became a profession. (Parrish & Oxhandler, 2015).

Current efforts to address this problem locally

Organizations have come up now days with different strategies to deal with the problem of social work degradation. Rural development is the first step that the authorities are working on to ensure that the rural community is reached through good roads and electrification. Infrastructure development is a key thing that the government and the authorities need to develop in the rural areas. Some of the rural areas have already seen some of these development. (Mazza, 2015).

Another measure that is taken to address such problem is formation of organization to handle charity work and deal with the social work that is available in the rural areas. The organizations are governmental and some non-governmental organization. The non-governmental organizations dealing with social work are many in number and this has enabled the government to step up also and start other programs on the same. (Richards-Schuster, Ruffolo & Nicoll, 2015). Social work organizations have been organizing visits to the rural areas where the elderly and those with special needs have seen help in many areas. Some of these areas include their health, financial assistance. This program has been carried mainly by the non-governmental organizations. Due to this, the government has also borrowed this idea and emerged with a strategy to start up a development fund for the elderly and the needy in the society as part of the social work development. With such efforts in place, the work of the social worker is boosted and he/she can gain the morale to do such work. The recognition that there are people in the society with special needs is what has been steering up charity work by companies and institutions through different sponsorships. (Suk bong, Ullah & Won Jun, 2015).

Plan

Networking with other agencies is a consideration to take in order to be able to get sponsors for resources. This is because resources are an important factor to consider in order to be able to reach people from different parts of the society.

Resources like enough money is a key factor to consider in order to be able to meet the people’s needs in the society.as social workers strive to meet the needs of the rural society, it’s better for necessary resources to be provided in order to have a good strategy for the development of the rural areas.

The population census of a particular place can be taken and the number of people known. The population status should be taken and this knowledge should be made aware to the social workers because it will be at the end helpful to them. If the population of the rural society is known, the allocation of resources by the agencies will be easy and hence the needs of the people will be met. (Pitt-Catsouphes & Cosner Berzin, 2015).

Infrastructure development will always depend on the features of the place in which the target project is set to take place. The less the place is accessible the more it becomes difficult to channel transport pass ways and also electrification. The resources must be in line with the peoples preferences so that much money is not spend on trying to fund a project that is not feasible. The feasibility of the projects that help social work to gain an improvement is dependent on the adaptability of the place to welcome new ideas in the society which are helpful. Sometimes political issues can really hinder development of projects in the society and hence make potential investors and other helpful agencies to shun away from helping the society.

When the needs of the people in the society have been accessed, a plan to meet these people periodically is put into place. For instance allocation of funds can be implemented in a way that every year at a particular period amount of money is allocated to these particular people maybe the elderly with particular needs. (Clarke & Wydall, 2015).

Apart from the providence of money, the agencies and the organizations can plan to give out other tangible commodities which can be helpful to the needy. Stuff like food and clothing can be an alternative to meet these people’s needs.

At times we find some parts of the world affected and to be precise the rural society being struck by natural calamities. Places that are affected by calamities like earthquakes and flood get dented by misfortunes follow the people afterword. In this situation, social working can become very hard to conduct when there’s no proper channel to conduct them. Resources such as choppers to aid in the rescue of the survivors of such a calamity can be a challenge to acquire especially when the social workers are not registered with a particular organization to work as a team.

Apart from all these, social workers can take their job with a passion and with this strive and get trainings which will be helpful to them as they provide services to the rural community. (Sullivan, Ryser & Halseth, 2014).

Training can be facilitated by the governing authority where the curriculum can be incorporated in the education system to make the present scholars equipped with these knowledge.

Such training will be helpful for any social worker in the case of outbreaks of disasters like diseases and other calamities.in general terms the necessary thing to do in order to encourage the social work in the rural areas is to provide the social workers with the maximum corporation and support they need in order for them to gain that morale to serve the people. (Force-Emery Mackie, 2013).

References

Force-Emery Mackie, P. (2013). Hiring Social Work Faculty: An Analysis of Employment Announcements With Special Focus on Rural and Urban Differences and 2008 EPAS Implications. Journal Of Social Work Education, 49(4), 733-747. doi:10.1080/10437797.2013.812906

Sullivan, L., Ryser, L., & Halseth, G. (2014). Recognizing Change, Recognizing Rural: The New Rural Economy and Towards a New Model of Rural Service. Journal Of Rural & Community Development, 9(4), 219-245.

Clarke, A., & Wydall, S. (2015). From ‘Rights to Action’: practitioners’ perceptions of the needs of children experiencing domestic violence. Child & Family Social Work, 20(2), 181-190. doi:10.1111/cfs.12066

Pitt-Catsouphes, M., & Cosner Berzin, S. (2015). Teaching Note—Incorporating Social Innovation Content Into Macro Social Work Education. Journal Of Social Work Education, 51(2), 407-416. doi:10.1080/10437797.2015.1012947

Suk bong, C., Ullah, S. E., & Won Jun, K. (2015). Ethical leadership and followers’ attitudes toward corporate social responsibility: the role of perceived ethical work climate. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 43(3), 353-365. doi:10.2224/sbp.2015.43.3.353

Richards-Schuster, K., Ruffolo, M. C., & Nicoll, K. L. (2015). Integrating Social Work Into Undergraduate Education Through a Community Action and Social Change Multidisciplinary Minor. Journal Of Social Work Education, 51(2), 329-342. doi:10.1080/10437797.2015.101293

Mazza, E. (2015). Experiences of Social Work Educators Working With Students With Psychiatric Disabilities or Emotional Problems. Journal Of Social Work Education, 51(2), 359-378. doi:10.1080/10437797.2015.1012935

Parrish, D. E., & Oxhandler, H. K. (2015). Social Work Field Instructors’ Views and Implementation of Evidence-Based Practice. Journal Of Social Work Education, 51(2), 270-286. doi:10.1080/10437797.2015.1012943

Vanagas, R., & A?iA?ikienA-, J. (2015). THE PECULIARITIES OF SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS DEVELOPMENT. International Journal Of Academic Research, 7(1), 24-30. doi:10.7813/2075-4124.2015/7-1/B.4

McPherson, J., & Cheatham, L. P. (2015). One Million Bones: Measuring the Effect of Human Rights Participation in the Social Work Classroom. Journal Of Social Work Education, 51(1), 47-57. doi:10.1080/10437797.2015.977130

Teasley, M. L., Archuleta, A., & Miller, C. (2014). Perceived Levels of Cultural Competence for School Social Workers: A Follow-Up Study. Journal Of Social Work Education, 50(4), 694-711. doi:10.1080/10437797.2014.947903

Witkin, S. L. (2014). Change and Deeper Change: Transforming Social Work Education. Journal Of Social Work Education, 50(4), 587-598. doi:10.1080/10437797.2014.947897

Developing Independence in Client with Disabilities

Critical Perspective on Diversity
Introduction

Mandy, a 44-year-old female with moderate learning difficulty, epilepsy, and with a congenital deformity of her limbs has restricted mobility, and limited manual dexterity. Mandy’s condition has caused her to be cared for by her parents since she was born, with the exception of two incidents. Mandy’s father was well informed, he managed to obtain for Mandy full benefit entitlement as well as a substantial payment from the independent living fund before he passed away. Mandy’s mother is the primary caregiver, and the funds that her father set into place before he died pays for her share of living expenses, food, medication, and related allowable expenses. Additionally, the money that Mandy receives permits her to have a carer visit the home for two hours, five days a week, to assist in helping Mandy’s mother. The carer assists in helping to move and wash Mandy as well as dress her and other tasks as a result of the advancing age of Mandy’s mother, whose health is deteriorating.

The loss of her mother’s husband has left her in a state of long term grieving, for which she has been taking anti-depressants as well as anti-inflammatory drugs. Mandy’s mother has always been there for her, but she is approaching 60 years of age. Over the years, Mandy’s mother has become rather rigid in her beliefs concerning what Mandy can as well as cannot do. Mandy attends a respite care unit at a long stay hospital and has informed her key worker she wants to leave home as things there have become tense and Mandy does not get along with her mother presently as she did in the past, owing to her new condition.

Mandy’s respite care is a short term break for patients from their caregivers as well as vice versa, whereby in Mandy’s situation, she is away from home as opposed to someone coming to the house (Rett Syndrome Association, 2006). Respite care is an official program that is a part of the ‘National Strategy for Carers’ that specifically is designed to provide carers with a break from devoting their time to the individual they look after, which is seen as an important component in maintaining a healthy relationship between the caregiver and the patient (Department of Health, 2007a). Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a forward to the ‘National Strategy for Carers’ document stated “The national strategy for carers – the first ever by a Government in Britain – sets out what we have been doing, and what we are going to do. It offers practical help in ways which are needed, and which will work. Carers will have better information. They will be better supported. They will be cared for better themselves” (Department of Health, 2007a). And while Mandy’s mother performs her care giving activities out of love for her daughter, the implication is clear. The publication for the government informs us that the important service rendered by carers is performed primarily by paid caregivers, representing three-fifths of the total number of people that are looking after an individual with a disability (Department of Health, 2007a).

The publication states that women are more likely to be carers than males, and that throughout the United Kingdom there are over 855,000 individuals that care for someone over 50 hours a week, with over 5.7 million, representing one out of every six households (Department of Health, 2007a). In Mandy’s mother’s case, it represents just the ten-hour break she gets on a weekly basis. Respite care is one of the initiatives under the program-implemented buy the government to provide assistance to carers. As mentioned, Mandy has told her key worker that she would like to leave home. Because Mandy attends a respite care unit, there are no cost implications as it is a part of the national program under the National Strategy for Carers (Department of Health, 2007).

Mandy’s disability allowance, as is the case with all social care allotments, requires residency in the United Kingdom, as per the following requirements 1). That the applicant must normally be a resident in Great Britain, 2). The applicant must not be subject to immigration control, 3). The applicant must be in Great Britain when making the claim, and lastly 4). That the applicant must have been in Great Britain, the Isle of Man, and either Jersey and or Guernsey for at least 26 weeks of the last 52 weeks (Directgov, 2007a). As Mandy qualifies and has qualified under the preceding, her desire to change her circumstances from home assisted living to a long stay hospital requires a local council assessment (Directgov, 2007b). The preceding is a part of the regulations and requirements in order for the local council to assess as well as work at the support the patient needs for such a change. As Mandy is learning impaired, and her mother has stated that she is the one who decides what Mandy can or cannot do, Mandy will be filing for the change in carers without the aid of her parent. The learning disability impairment makes the preceding a difficult proposition for Mandy to take on herself, thus she will need help. Her key worker at the respite care unit has offered to help Mandy and thus in order to do so, needs to contact the disabilities teams social worker that is assigned to Mandy’s case, or simply the disabilities team itself, as well as the ‘Valuing People Support Team’ (Care Services Improvement Partnership, 2007a).

The Valuing People Support Team was established by the government to address an unintended yet real concerns and problems faced by people with learning disabilities attempting to either be their own voice, or to be heard in the social care system regarding their own personal desires and wishes (Department of Health, 2007b). Prime Minister Tony Blair aptly sums up the purpose of the Valuing People Support Team in stating that People with learning disabilities can find “… themselves pushed to the margins of our society …” as a result of unintentional circumstances in being able to find “… the right care, health services, education …” and other aspects (Department of Health, 2007b). He continued that “At best they feel obstacles are constantly put in their way by society” (Department of Health, 2007b). The foregoing is easy to understand when one realizes that an individual with a learning disability has problems in not only finding out things to help themselves, they have problems in completing the paperwork and other facets of the system that has been put there to help them, but in many instances in the past did not as a result of the gap between their learning disabilities and communicating their needs to the system without the help of family members or other parties who either might not desire them to take such an action or simply do not have the time to assist them in wading through the process (Department of Health, 2007b).

The Department of Health describes people with learning disabilities as being the most vulnerable as well as socially excluded individuals in the British society (Department of Health, 2007b). In terms of social services, as well as other branches of governmental aid, individuals with learning disabilities faced, in the past, poorly coordinated services, poor planning, and most importantly they had little choice and or “… control over many aspects of their lives” (Department of Health, 2007b). The publications continues that day services, the contact point for people with learning disabilities, were “… not tailored to the needs and abilities of the individual”, the last point being ‘abilities’ as the operative word in this instance. People with learning disabilities may be able, over a period of time, or instantly, to verbalise their wants, needs and desires, however, under a system with so many departments and layers, getting in touch with the right department represented a problem. Under the Valuing People Support Team they have a governmental agency that is their road map as well as navigator and operative arm to help them through the system as quickly as possible to the services they needs and or desire.

If one thinks about it, the Valuing People Support Team also serves another highly important service, one of being in the position of patients accessing the system. Through a governmental agency helping people to use the system their experiences will provide a wealth of feedback from cases via which to monitor the effectiveness of the entire spectrum of services offered and provided by the government in this area, and make recommendation that have power. This inside system handling of the problems of users of services through its cases is the ideal manner by which to not only put the system on its toes, it represents the perfect feed back mechanism via which to implement improvements and change.

In Mandy’s case, this means the first break from one of her parents in her entire life. A prospect, if one is to put themselves in her shoes, that must seem quite intimidating and fearful, in that she has to put her trust in what can be termed as strangers to treat her as family and see to her best interests as her father did. The Valuing People Support Team operates under four key principles, which are 1), Rights, 2). Independence, 3). Choice, and 4). Inclusion as its operational foundation Department of Health, 2007b). Applying these to Mandy’s situation enables one to see the fit and vision of the preceding. The idea is to provide them with choices, thus giving them control over their lives as opposed to being immersed in a society whereby their prospect of finding the appropriate services and or information is left to a ‘well-informed carer’ such as Mandy’s father who waded through all of the necessary steps and information gathering processes to obtain the full benefit for his daughter. In terms of where Mandy is today, in desiring to take control over her life, she needs that same type of assistance, something that was difficult to find.

In order to accomplish the objective of providing individuals with learning disabilities with the options to access the system in the manner in which it is intended to work, the Valuing People Support Team was established to function as a ‘well-informed carer’. In the instance of Mandy, the Valuing People Support Team white paper set forth that it understands and has been established to help learning disabled individuals to access housing and other services that fit their needs. In this instance it entails the shift of Mandy from home care assisted living to hospital stay assisted living. Acting in a real sense as her advocate, the Valuing People Support is there to walk Mandy through the maze of social services to aid her in the achievement of her objective. As per its web site, under the Care Services Improvement Partnership, the Valuing People Support Team is there to work with 1), Learning Disability Partnership Boards, 2), Local people and organizations, and 3), Government Departments (Care Services Improvement Partnership, 2007a). The ‘Team’ 1) offers support as well as advice to people who want to and or are seeking to change services, 2) help people to get together for the purposes of talking and sharing ideas, 3) to listen to what people are saying, and 4) to feed this information back to the government to enable them to have the direct information from the users of the system so that things can be changed and improved for the better (Care Services Improvement Partnership, 2007a).

In Mandy’s instance, the Valuing People Support Team as an advocacy department that has been specifically set up for patients with problems like herself (Care Services Improvement Partnership, 2007b).

Advocacy

The preceding represents the solution to Mandy’s problem, an advocate to listen to her concerns, counsel her as to her options, obtain agreement from Mandy as to the direction she would thus like to take knowing and understanding her options, and then to take the appropriate action based upon the foregoing. The advocacy services segment of the Valuing People Support Team offers the following services 1) self advocacy to enable individuals to speak up for themselves, 2) citizen advocacy whereby people can get to know an individual that has a learning disability and thus be able to get their wishes understood as well as heard, and 3) a short term issue based or crisis advocacy whereby a person is usually paid to speak up for someone regarding a particular issue and or when that person is in a crisis (Care Services Improvement Partnership, 2007b). The Advocacy Toolkit was set up to aid individuals in waking through what this service offers and how it can help. In Mandy’s instance, she received the help of her key worker at the respite care unit to get her to the Valuing People Support Team, which is the same course of action that would have been taken by the disabilities team.

The disabilities team would have also been able to aid and assist Mandy in the getting to her destination. These teams, disabilities, represent service groups in the individual councils that are positioned within the individual authorities, whose service parameters are limited, however, they are there to assist. A typical disabilities team web site indicates its purpose as being a point of contact regarding disabilities issues that affects young people from partner organizations and other agencies (connexions, 2007). It is in place to offer and provide specialist services to young people between the ages of 13 and 25 who have a statement of special education need. They function as well as offer a limited and lower level specialist service in the pattern of the Valuing People Support Team that is on a lower level, yet in the same vein. Specifically they offer 1) support as well as guidance to personal advisers concerning individual cases, 2) training to personal advisors concerning disability issues, 3) a direct service for young people that have complex needs, 4) an innovative working arrangement with partner organizations to help young people identify need as well as secure funding, 5) independent advice, along with guidance and information regarding local as well as national special needs provisions, 6) working with individuals as well as groups as advocates and brokers, 7) and provide access to other personal advisors whereby they can help to fulfill requirements as well as guidance as set by the government concerning young people that have a learning disability and or any other type of disability (connexions, 2007).

The disabilities team would have not been able to assist Mandy in obtaining her objective of changing her carer, as a result of her age, but could have referred her to the Valuing People Support Team in order for Mandy to complete the process. Advocacy, as stated by Valuing People is that the government’s purpose and aim in putting this service into place was to provide a range of independent advocacy services in each area that permits people with learning disabilities to be able to choose the service(s) that best meet and fulfill their needs. The independent nature of the advocacy services represents one of, if not its most important features and facets as it ensures impartiality on the part of the patient (Care Services Improvement Partnership, 2007b).

In addition to advocacy services, the Valuing People Support Team handles many, many other services, including arrangement to place someone at an appropriate residence. Specifically, the Valuing People Support Team states that a long stay hospital does not represent a good place for people with learning disabilities to live in (Care Services Improvement Partnership, 2007c). This option for Mandy is closed as all learning disability patients at long stay hospitals were moved as of March 2006 (Care Services Improvement Partnership, 2007c). Thus, the Valuing People Support Team will need to work with Mandy to hear her needs, wants and desires and advise her on her options. Mandy could not be in better hands than these, as they oversee the full range of services that are available within the health care and social services system. The fact that the Valuing People Support Team oversees the full range of services under the health and social care makes it invaluable to patients as well as those seeking help for the first time. It represents a resource that aids all of the departments in getting the person to the right area quickly and avoid moving people around form service to service, and or having them call, hunt and become frustrated in obtaining the assistance and help that they need. .

Conclusion

Mandy’s situation is in no way unique! There are others that have either similar and or drastically different problems who need empowerment in order to avail themselves of assistance and help when either in trouble or seeking the right governmental services for their condition. The existence of the Valuing People Support Team would be helpful for an immigrant without papers under hospital care in finding out exactly what their options are in terms of support, aid and immigration as a result of a recent event that ended them in that position.

Specifically, the case of a gentleman named Boris who arrived in England twenty years ago and never secured his papers. Having had a reversal in circumstances, Boris has been living illegally in England and would up in a hospital as a result of kidney failure. His circumstance in living in an unheated room at the rear of a commercial establishment was unsuitable for return to after his hospital incident that requires follow up care. And as a result of his status, housing options were not open. The Valuing People Support Team represents a resource to aid Boris and the hospital to help this individual.

The Valuing People Support Team represents an important governmental resource to aid the citizens of the United Kingdom in wading through he huge maze of services regulations and requirements that is the system of health and social services care. It is helping Mandy and countless others, and will be of aid to Boris as well

Bibliography

Care Services Improvement Partnership (2007b) Advocacy. Retrieved on 1 May 2007 from http://valuingpeople.gov.uk/dynamic/valuingpeople61.jsp

Care Services Improvement Partnership (2007c) Long Stay Hospitals. Retrieved on 1 May 2007 from http://valuingpeople.gov.uk/dynamic/valuingpeople127.jsp

Care Services Improvement Partnership (2007) What is the Valuing People Support Team? Retrieved on 1 May 2007 from http://valuingpeople.gov.uk/dynamic/valuingpeople16.jsp

connexions (2007) What is this service. Retrieved on 1 May 2007 from http://www.connexionsteesvalley.co.uk/practitioners/aboutus/diabilities/

Department of Health (2007a) National Strategy for Carers. Retrieved on 1 May 2007 from http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4006522

Department of Health (2007b) Valuing People. Retrieved on 1 May 2007 from http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/cm50/5086/5086.pdf

Directov (2007b) Care Homes and hospital. Retrieved on 1 May 2007 from http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HealthAndWellBeing/HealthServices/CareHomes/DG_10031519

Directgov (2007) Disability Living Allowance – what else you need to know. Retrieved on 1 May 2007 from http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/FinancialSupport/DG_10012424

Rett Syndrome Association (2006) Guidance Note 1: Respite Care or ‘Short Term Breaks’. Retrieved on 1 May 2007 from http://www.rettsyndrome.org.uk/_downloads/respite_booklet.pdf

Describe How Active Participation Benefits An Individual

Introduction

Recent decades have seen a greater emphasis on service user participation than had previously been the case (Beresford, 2001). In the past, decision making

in social care and associated policy development had been led by practitioners, politicians and academics, with service users and citizens having minimal

say in what services they received and how services were provided (Beresford, 2001). This study examines how active participation of service users has

developed over the last 20-30 years and how the progress made in encouraging participation has benefited individuals and the overall quality of service

provision.

For the purposes of this study, there is primarily a focus on the service user as the individual who engages in active participation although it should be

accepted that family members and carers have their own separate and sometimes conflicting needs for participation (Roulstone et al., 2006). Service users

are described by Beresford (2001, p.9) as “people who receive or are eligible to receive social care services” and it is important to note that

people can self-identify as a service user. However, active participation of people outside of the health and social care arena will also be discussed as

there is evidence that participation in community activities can be beneficial to citizens who are not in receipt of social care services.

Policy and Legislation

A shift towards more active participation has a basis in the policies and legislation introduced under New Labour. Government took a view that greater

participation would be a way of increasing the number of citizens who would be active citizens (Millward, 2005) and the Health and Social Care Act 2001 was

at the forefront of extending service user choice and the enablement of people to decide on their own services through schemes such as Direct Payments.

Other relevant legislation and guidance has included the White Paper Our Health, Our Care Our Say (Department of Health, 2006); Valuing People (Department of Health, 2001); the National Service Framework for Older People (Department of Health, 2001). With specific

reference to social care, Putting People First (2007) set out a commitment to closer working between central and local government, and the health

and social care sectors, alongside better partnership working with service users and carers. More recently, under the Coalition Government consultations

such as A vision for social care: Capable communities and active citizens (DH, 2010) and Caring for our future: Shared ambitions for care and support (DH, 2011) have continued to encourage participation with an expectation that it can

help people to live healthier and more independent lives. It is evident from cross-party support that active participation is something supported across

the political spectrum. Participation is seen as something that encourages better citizenship and it can also be argued that it offers a form of low level

democracy. Participation is also something that pulls back direct state intervention in people’s lives.

What is Active Participation?

Active participation can be defined in a number of ways and can be related to both individuals who are in receipt of health and social care services and

those who live independently in the community without service provision. Definitions such as ‘consultation’, ‘partnership’ and

‘involvement’ are often used to explain participation (Roberts, 2002). In social care terms participation might be seen as allowing and

individual to have control over day to day decisions such as what time meals would be taken or when personal care services would be delivered; at a more

strategic level, participation might involve giving a say in how services are commissioned and delivered to a wider group of service users (Mordey and

Crutchfield, 2004). Service user consultation groups or local forums for citizens to discuss how services are prioritised and delivered are examples of

this broader level of active participation.

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has developed some useful definitions for participation. It uses the word participation as being “to

talk about actively working together on a particular project or activity” (SCIE 2004, p.2). It also sets out a number of key values and principles

which should inform participation work. These include a belief in citizenship; the promotion of empowerment; developing a human rights culture in social

care; giving equal priority to all opinion; developing new approaches to participation; being inclusive; and making it clear what people can and cannot be

involved in (SCIE 2004). The final point is important. Active participation is rightly seen as a positive development for service users but there still has

to be a line where organisations can make decisions irrespective of service user participation. Adult safeguarding is an example of this, where sometimes

decisions may have to be made without the participation of an individual in order to protect his or her welfare. Nonetheless, the link between

participation and social work values is a positive one. It suggests that participation is grounded in a commitment to human rights and equality, something

that should bring benefits to the individuals who take up the opportunity to participate.

SCIE also draws a distinction between the different types of participation that can be found in social care, suggesting that participation can range from

providing information and actively listening to service user views, to providing assistance or even financial support to allow people to research or

provide services (SCIE, 2004). Participation can also be applied to a range of service user groups including older people, children and families, people

with disabilities and people with drug and alcohol misuse problems (SCIE, 2004).

The Personalisation Agenda

The personalisation agenda in health and social care has been critical in promoting the idea of active participation. Personalisation is primarily a new

way of providing social care support which puts the person requiring a service at the centre of the assessment process and allows individuals and their

carers a real say in identifying their needs and making choices about how services will be provided (Carr, 2010). It recognises that people are individuals

with diverse strengths and preferences, and aims to empower people through better provision of information and advocacy, early intervention to get the

right support in place and also recognising the rights of carers (SCIE, 2012). Given these aims of personalisation, one of the key benefits for the

individual would be having greater control over services provided and consequently there being a greater chance of the rights services being provided, with

positive outcomes. Another key point about personalisation and participation is that it still has to be facilitated by agencies and policy makers. As much

as people may want to participate in service delivery or more simply just in community work, they still require the tools to do so and also the autonomy to

make their own decisions.

Benefits of Participation

Greater participation in how services are delivered can bring a number of benefits to service users. Active participation can help develop more

customer/service user-friendly versions of existing services and give individuals more say in how their services are run and how they can access them.

Participation gives service users – who are also tax-payers – a greater say on how money is spent on services in their area and also helps

individuals become co-designers and co-producers of the services that they use (Leadbetter, 2004). At a wider level, it can be argued that active

participation allows for self-organisation by communities, rather than service provision being dictated by external agencies or distant central government.

Participation also supports the development of greater citizenship. Participation and influence over how public funds are spent can be seen as being an

important part of the democratic process and the concept of citizenship lends itself to ideals of equity and collective provision which are embedded in

public services. For the individual, participation in public service can increase a sense of civic attachment and impress on the individual what it means

to be a member of a democratic society (Leadbetter, 2004).

Participation and Young People

Discussions around personalisation and participation generally have an emphasis on the participation of adult service users but active participation can

also have a positive impact for young people who access social care support and services. Legislation and guidance including the Children Act 1989 and the

UN Convention of the Rights of the Child have a focus on the child’s right to participate in decision making and there are a number of benefits for

both young people and the organisations that provide services. For young people, active participation can help them gain new skills and experience, develop

self-confidence and influence the decisions that affect their lives. They can develop social networks and begin to understand how organisations work.

Participation can also quite simply be fun for young people, and it can help them feel valued and empowered (Wright et al., 2005).

Active participation can be particularly beneficial for children and young people who might be consider as disadvantaged or vulnerable. Groups such as

looked after children, young offenders, care leavers, young carers and gay and lesbian young people are easily marginalised and many agencies tend to

direct them rather than engage with them. They face a number of barriers to participation such as a lack of motivation to engage; mistrust of adults and a

feeling that their views will not be listened to because of their past experiences (McNeish, 1999).

Research studies highlight a number of positives from individual participation projects which could be used as a benchmark for future initiatives. In

Hampshire for example, a Care Action Team (CAT) was established bring together members and officer from the County Council to work with people who were in,

or had been in care. Regular meetings to gather the views of young people led to a number of improvements in how services to young people were delivered.

These included development of a new sleepover policy making it easier for looked after children to spend the night with friends; involvement of young

people in the inspection of children’s homes, and a Children’s Homes Education Policy which improved the educational support for looked after

children. A more general improvement from the establishment of the CAT was that young people developed a greater sense of worth and awareness that they

were not alone in their experiences (Wright et al., 2005).

For organisations, encouraging active participation by young people can also bring improvements to service delivery. It helps them become more responsive

to the needs of children and young people; it increases the accessibility of organisation and makes them more efficient in providing effective services

(Wright et al., 2005).

Active Participation in the Community

Active participation has benefits for society as well as the individuals involved. We live in a nation with an ageing population and many older people have

greater expectation of both opportunity and support from public services in later life. An Audit Commission report (2004, p.2) stated that “the shift

in proportion, composition and attitudes of the older age group has profound implications for public services. We need to start taking action now to shape

things for the better”.

Active participation does not only relate to people who are in need or receipt of social care services however. Participation in the community can also

benefit individuals who do not require social care provision. Many older people for example, benefit from active participation in their local communities

and government studies have suggested that active participation is linked to the overall well-being of individuals (Audit Commission, 2004).

A number of strategies can be developed to encouraged independence and participation for older people. These can include work to support people ensuring

that they have a safe comfortable home, and live in a neighbourhood close to friends and amenities. Good public transport networks allow people to get out

and about whilst social and leisure activities promote social inclusion. Information for older people on how to access amenities encourages active

participation as do healthy living initiatives which help people to stay active and healthy (Audit Commission, 2004).

Active participation for older people is also a way of tackling the ageism that exists in society. Participation allows people to feel valued and able to

challenge stereotypes that older people offer less to society that younger people. Participation allows them to have a say in decisions made about them

both as individuals and as a wider group in society.

A Department of Pensions report published in 2009 identified LinkAge Plus (LAP) pilots as initiatives which enable older people to become more active in

their communities (Willis and Dalziel, 2009). Schemes to give opportunities to socialise through social, leisure and training activities help to address

wider community and social wellbeing outcomes through the creation and development of social capital. Examples might include over 60s clubs providing

activities ranging from Tai Chi to adult art classes. Network Centres establish social networks for older people which improve confidence and well-being

and the DWP report concludes that people are “empowered when new or stronger bonds are created between themselves and the community in which they

live” (Willis and Dalziel, p.45).

Other examples of active participation demonstrate older people have an active role in local decision making and commissioning of services. The Gateshead

Older People’s Assembly for example was funded to assess the appropriateness, accessibility and effectiveness of services for older people in the

region. The benefits were twofold – the Assembly allowed a number of individuals the opportunity to become involved in stimulating research and study

activities, whilst the conclusions were feedback into local service procurement, ensuring that the views of the wider population of older people were being

heard (Willis and Dalziel, 2009).

Criticisms and Obstacles

Whilst most of the evidence points towards active participation being a positive opportunity for individuals there are some concerns about how it might

delivered and that there will be obstacles to real and effective active participation. Some commentators suggest that the whole personalisation agenda will

simply tie up social workers in drafting support plans and assisting with finances, rather than providing a more person-centred social work support, whilst

there are also concerns that the introduction of personal budgets will be seized upon by individual who have motives other than the well-being of services

users (Needham, 2010).

There are also concerns that personalisation is simply a way of implementing public sector budget cuts and introducing a level of consumerism into social

care for vulnerable people. The emphasis on individuals managing their own finances could possibly lead to financial abuse or simply people mismanaging

their personal budgets (Needham, 2010). Even outside of social care, a cynical view of encouraging people to find their own ways of participating in the

community could be that it is simply a way for the state to withdraw from provision of leisure services and have people fund and manage them themselves.

A final concern around active participation is that it could lead to discrimination against vulnerable groups if they were to become more active and

visible in the community. Services users with physical and learning disability who try to manage their own care in the community may be probe to physical,

emotional or financial abuse by neighbours and Burton et al. (2012) also suggest that disabled people trying to live ordinary lives in the community, and

participating in community activities, may cause some hostility.

Conclusions

The evidence available suggests that participation is a positive thing. The applies equally to participation in service delivery and review for those in

need of social care, and to those in the community who simply wish to remain active members of the community.

In social care, the personalisation agenda and the move towards self-directed support and personal budgets has promoted active participation. It puts

individual service users in greater control of what services they receive and allows services user groups to have a greater say in how services are

commissioned and delivered. This benefits individuals as it allows them to have a real say in how they receive support; it should also assist the

organisations that provide services to develop and improve the services that they provide. Similar principles apply in social care provision for children

and young people, as active participation allows their voices to be heard and should give decision makers a better understanding of what is needed to

support vulnerable young people

It is important to note that active participation in social care can be linked into some basic social care values. Good social work practice should involve

putting the individual first (SCIE, 2012) and initiatives such as personalisation and can help demonstrate a commitment to respect for the individual and

self-determination. Social workers that encourage active participation will generally be demonstrating a person-centred or child-centred approach that will

enable an effective and non-discriminatory relationship with the individual that they are trying to help. Again, this is further evidence that active

participation is largely beneficial to the individual.

Active participation for people outside of the social care system also appears to have a positive effect on people’s lives. It promotes social

inclusion and the evidence suggests that being active in the community promotes well-being and helps people to live more fulfilling lives.

In a modern, democratic society, there is no reason why active participation should not be commonplace. It demonstrates that as a society we value the

views and opinions of all citizens and that when people need support, they can have a say in how it is provided, rather than the state simply imposing a

service that may not meet the individual’s need. By encouraging more general participation in society, active participation also demonstrates that we

value the input of all members of society into the community, regardless of age or disability.

Cynics might argue that active participation is a way for local and central government to save money and pass the onus for some tasks back to service users

and the local community. Whilst their might be an element of truth in this, the reality is that active participation is largely a positive development.

Many citizens want to participate in decision making both for themselves and their local communities and the evidence suggests that this participation

produces good outcomes.

Bibliography

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Publications

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Dementia care

‘The public outdoor world is rarely conceived of as an appropriate setting for a person with dementia’: Critically discuss this statement with reference to your reading and practice or caring experience. Use at least one case study or vignette of up to 350 words taken from your practice or caring experience. This should support your argument and illustrate either the opportunities and/or the challenges of accessing the outdoors.

Assignment to be: 2500 words

People with dementia have the right to a dignified, healthy, safe, and friendly environment where they are treated as equals regardless their increasing age or diminishing capabilities. (Mitchell et el., 2004). They can still maintain their abilities to cope independently throughout the early or mild stages of dementia. They still have the desire to stay independent and have control over their own lives. It is essential for people with dementia to experience regular mental and physical exercise to keep their minds and bodies active and to maintain social contact. If the streets in their neighbourhoods are not designed to meet their needs they will be trapped in their homes, because their previously safe and secure neighbourhood changed into a harmful and dangerous environment. There is an increasing need improve urban design through the Local Planning Authorities, as such urban planners should take in consideration the implication of not only normal ageing but they should enable individuals with various types of cognitive impairments to maintain their independence (Burton & Mitchell, 2006).

Effects and challenges of dementia

Physical, mental, and psychological changes are due to the ageing process, and can encompasses several slight impairments in hearing, vision, ability, mobility, and memory. These affect elder individual’s ability to live in their surroundings with ease. This is even more difficult for individuals with dementia because they have to cope with both the normal ageing effects and the challenges of dementia that cause a threat to their personhood and result in the loss of identity (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Chaudhury, 2008). Dementia pose a number of behavioural, personality, and cognitive changes for example restlessness, agitation, depression, and anxiety. There is a typical decline in physical and mental abilities. They develop a typical style of mobility in the form of an unsteady shuffling pace with a stooped posture, always looking down and as such they are not aware of their surroundings. Dementia also result in sensory impairment which can include hearing and vision. Colour agnosia is often intensified by dementia, dark colours and combinations thereof is difficult to distinguish. There might also be impaired depth perception, sharp colour contrasts or patterns on the ground will be interpreted as steps or holes, shiny or reflective surfaces looks slippery and wet, buzzy designs or repetitive lines will cause dizziness and that can result in trips or falls. The mental decline in dementia is permanent and incurable, it might progress gradually and result in unpredictable physical deterioration. During the mild to moderate stages their short-term memory is very fragile and their long-term memory remains acute (Burton & Mitchell, 2006).

Negative feelings

The statement, ‘The public outdoor world is rarely conceived of as an appropriate setting for a person with dementia’ said it all. “There are currently over 750,000 people with dementia in the UK and this is predicted to rise to about 870,000 by 2010 and over 1, 8 million by 2050”. (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, p. 27). But people with dementia is disabled and disempowered by the unfriendly and unsafe environment, it does not meet their cognitive impairment needs, which is ignored. Accessibility for these individuals have become a huge problem, there is positive transformations for normal disabilities but not effective enough to take into consideration the different barriers for individuals with dementia and their unique impairments. Burton and Mitchell (2006) found that individuals with dementia experience negative feelings that include fearfulness and anxiety. This is due to the fear associated with their decline in mobility and vision. Burton and Mitchell also indicated the complications and risks presented by existing city environments for instance irregular paving, poor seating, no shelter, steep inclines, a lack of signposting, and bicycles on footpaths. The psychological and social difficulties are also serious obstacles for example, poor bus services, inaccessibility of local shops, insufficiency of toilet services, and the possibility of getting lost. Constant noise of heavy traffic flow disturbs the person with dementia’s hearing and has an influence on their concentration. Unexpected, loud sounds often frighten them. Another ‘no-go’ facility is the moving stairways in any public building, it hinders a person with dementia who suffers vision-impairment to judge the stairways distance and speed. (Blackman et al. 2010)

Vignette

The above findings support the caring experience in my practice in that the public outdoor world is not an appropriate setting for a person with dementia, they do experience obstacles and challenges on a daily basis when accessing the outdoors as proven in my vignette:

One of the residents, Mr X, in my care setting has been experiencing Schizophrenia for many years and he has also diagnosed with Vascular Dementia. He was from the local area and very familiar with the neighbourhood and community and is well known by some of the locals. He had free access in and out of the Care Home for many years but recently we received a phone call from a local shop that informed us that Mr X had lashed out towards one of their staff members who approached him to support and guide him. At one stage Mr X entered a private property without consent. He also developed some injuries on his lower legs and hands and also got on the wrong public transport.

It was not very pleasant to involve the police to locate Mr X and to guide him back to his own home. After observing Mr X’s change in behaviour we determined that there was a deterioration in his physical and mental functioning, for example he could not remember where a toilet facility was available and used the ally of the local shop. He also entered a private property because that was his previous home. Due to the uneven walkways he also tripped and fell, injuring his legs and hands. Furthermore, Mr X could not read or understand the electronic screen at the bus stop causing him to use the wrong public transport.

We had to involve Mr X’s General Practitioner to review his medical treatment and according to the legislation we had to redo his risk assessments. Out of experience and observation we are aware that a person with dementia experience bad days and good days, and it can be problematic to specify at what stage their dementia has developed. But Mr X still has the capacity to make his own decisions and as such he decided to continue with his daily visits to the local neighbourhood as normal. We understand and support his decision, because this daily routine ‘walk about’ was very vital to maintain his self-respect, independence, and his quality of life. However, Mr X agreed to inform staff when he is leaving the facility and when he can be expected back, following the internal home policy to keep him safe and secure.

Positive transformations

As mentioned above there was positive transformations for normal disabilities, the UK Disability Discrimination Act updated in 2005 affected a change in attitudes towards design for disability in order to meet the needs of anyone with disability. Accessibility has become the most important problem because of the increasing population of older individuals and more positive attitudes towards disability in general.

Recently the mission for dementia friendly communities received an enhancement from the Prime Minister’s Challenge on dementia: a national challenge. In his challenge the Prime Minister highlighted three key areas (see Prime Minister’s Challenge, 2012, p.5)

Driving improvements in health and care.
Creating dementia friendly communities that understand how to help.
Better research.

Mitchell (2012) identified only six projects that have addressed the dementia-friendly design of neighbourhoods. That includes a three year research project, which was sponsored by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Individuals with dementia and older people in the community were directly involved, through escorted walks around their own neighbourhoods and in depth interviews. During the research the neighbourhoods were measured, mapped, and evaluated by using a developed checklist of environmental features. This research identified six key design principles that are necessary and required to make the streets and neighbourhoods more dementia friendly. The streets need to be safe, comfortable, accessible, familiar, legible, and distinctive (Burton & Mitchell, 2006).

Familiarity

The roads and outdoor environments and features should be recognisable and easily understandable by older individuals, especially for the person with dementia who experience confusion, spatial disorientation, and memory difficulties. Individuals with dementia do not recognise modernistic unfamiliar designs, they are used to traditional designs with the main entrance facing the street with normal swinging doors and not revolving or sliding doors. They also fail to recognise modern designed street furniture, for example modern bus shelters, telephone boxes, or an automated ‘Superloo’ (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Mitchell et el., 2004).

To achieve familiarity in the outdoor environment the following can be done. Long-established streets can be maintained, local styles, materials, and forms should be used for new developments, and any changes should be incremental and on a minor-scale (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Mitchell et el., 2004).

Legibility

Legible roads refers to an easy to recognise network of directions and junctions with simple, obvious signs and noticeable, unmistakeable features. Some individuals with dementia sub-consciously use various techniques to find their way. These include visualising their route through mental maps, route planning by using the same route every time, and they can follow symbols that are realistic and clear. Most individuals with dementia find it difficult to follow or understand the outdoor signs. A cluster of signs is very confusing and difficult to read and understand. People with dementia prefers straightforward, simple signs fixed to the wall. For example the post office sign is familiar and the colour is acceptable for people with colour agnosia. Another technique they tend to use in order to find their way is familiar landmarks and environmental features, such as the letterbox at the corner or a street cafe. It can happen that individuals with dementia get lost at times, that is due to confusion, disorientation, or distractions like sudden loud noise that causes a break in concentration (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Mitchell et el., 2004).

To achieve legibility in the outdoor environment, streets should be laid out on an irregular grid pattern, staggered and this will allow the connection of routes that is easy to understand. Forked and T-junctions decrease the amount of routes and offer focus points at the end of the roads (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Mitchell et el., 2004).

Distinctiveness

Distinctive streets replicate the community’s character through the use of a variety of features, colours, forms and materials that provide the buildings and streets with their own character and identity. It is essential for people with dementia to follow a route with a variety of local styles, shapes, sizes, and colour that will help them maintain concentration. They prefer a visit to the parks that presents them with mix activities such as enough seating, greenery, and public art (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Mitchell et el., 2004).

To achieve distinctiveness and to help dementia people find their way in the outdoor environment it is important to provide interesting and understandable places, use landmarks, and environmental features. Firstly, make use of aesthetic features such as water pumps, attractive gardens, hanging baskets, fountains, and trees. Secondly, use practical features for example street furniture that includes familiar letter boxes, red K6 telephone box, bus shelters, and safe public seating (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Mitchell et el., 2004).

Accessibility

Accessibility states to which degree the local streets empower people with any physical, mental, or sensory impairment to reach, enter, and walk to places they wish to visit. Older people, including people with dementia are no longer able to drive on their own or to use any public transport. Their trips are limited, due to their personal capabilities, to local places within walking distance for their homes. With the decline of their mobility they cannot walk fast or far distances and they struggle to cope in crowded places because they need enough space on the walkways. Level changes also create barriers for frail people, similarly ramps or steps are a challenge for people with mobility problems (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Mitchell et el., 2004).

To attain accessibility for frail people, they should preferably live no more than 125m from the nearest post box or telephone with 2m wide pathways and no more than 500m from crucial services and facilities. There should also be public seating every 100m to 125m (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Mitchell et el., 2004).

Comfort

Comfort for older people and people experiencing permanent incapacity can include streets that allow them to visit places of their choice without any mental or physical agitation, it provides them with a welcoming and calm feeling (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Mitchell et el., 2004).

To achieve a comfortable environment the streets must be designed in a way that it is welcoming, quiet, open, and accessible by providing enough public seating, shelter, and toilets. The seating must preferably be a wooden seat with arm and back rests. Bus stops should provide shelter, with transparent sides and flat seats of non-slippery material that do not conduct cold or heat (Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Mitchell et el., 2004).

Safety

Safety is a critical characteristic of a friendly environment for dementia people, they have to be able to move around without fear of tripping, falling, being run-over, or attacked. Safe streets will be well-lit, wide, plain, level, non-slippery, non-reflected, and smooth footways with isolated bicycle lanes and in front of building entering ways (Blackman et al., 2010, Burton & Mitchell, 2006, Mitchell et el., 2004)

The above principles outline the design guidelines to a more outdoor friendly environment for people with dementia. Burton and Mitchell (2006) also provides 65 recommendations and by using these it will support the design and re-design of an easy to use and welcoming neighbourhood.

To summarise, it is clear that people with dementia, at least during their mild to moderate stages, can still maintain their ability to cope independently and any regular mental and physical exercise is essential to maintain their self-respect, independence, and their quality of life as seen in the vignette.

That is why it is so important to us to ensure that the outdoor environment is accessible, open, and safe for people with all stages of dementia. If this cannot be achieved the environment out there becomes a scary and frightening world for people with dementia.

Although, the neighbourhood environment is not dementia friendly at present there is positive improvements and pressure from Government, through the Prime Minister’s Challenge on dementia. Importantly, the research project identified six principles of a dementia friendly environment that can be used for future planning and implementations. This will ensure that all new developments that take these principals into consideration will be in line with suggested and prescribed rules that cater for a safe and accessible environment for people with dementia.

Definition of assessment

“Assessment is the foundation of the social work process with service users” (Walker and Beckett, 2003:6). Why is assessment a crucial aspect of the social work process and what makes an effective social work assessment? What might be some of the barriers to an affective assessment and how can the worker overcome these? In your answer, you will be expected to refer to relevant research regarding social work assessment.

Social workers are expected to carry out an initial assessment of situations they encounter before taking action. These are important because they provide the foundation for any plans to support, protect, manage or provide aid for a client. In a nutshell, an assessment is simply gathering information about people, their situation, factors deemed relative to that situation, and integrating this into a formal report, which will be used to look back on when carrying out a review. This will not only provide a helpful way for the social worker to quickly reacquaint themselves when looking back on a family, but it will also allow other work staff to get a gist of the situation if they are coming into it for the first time.

For an effective assessment it takes someone with an organised, rational and open minded knowledge base, using these to compliment a number of unique skills they will hold, enabling them to come to grasps with the varied number of situations they will face and an ability to be sensitive to those involved.

It is expected of social work graduates to understand all the legal documentations issued by work bodies (such as the Department of Health), for these will include necessary guidelines on assessment and how and when to act. However, simply knowing these will not cut it, and those who are inexperienced will simply be able to regurgitate back what they have learnt without knowing the true art of carrying out their work.

An assessment is more than simply making notes on ones observations, for it includes the worker’s opinions, beliefs and ideas, which will be essential when carrying out interventions. They are not to be confused with evaluations, although they do contain evaluative sectors, for example determining a client’s needs. Unlike evaluations however, assessments are open to more probing and study, which make them more effective tools for making a decision.

For the social worker to be able to make their assessment successful, they will need to ensure they can fully appreciate a) all factors that affect the client and b) which of the client’s needs are not being met. To do this they will need to establish the type of person their client is, for example how they communicate with others, how they react to stress, how they deal with problems etc.

It is important for the social worker to know which bits of information are relevant, and rather than find out everything they can (scatter gun method) they pick out those bits which will serve to help them later. If they ask too many questions it will lead to general misinterpretations, often a common mistake in those just starting social work practice.

One must understand that views will be different, and that other work forces, agencies or even individuals will draw out their own conclusions for a case. This makes it difficult to assume any kind of truth in an assessment, since “what one sees depends on where one looks”. (Jones 1983)

Another problem assessor’s face is that there is often the case of clients scapegoating or stigmatising based on a negative assessment. Social workers are aware that they are held accountable for any action they make, and so if they make an error in the assessment that could prove costly to a families support, then they may be faced with court proceedings.

In actuality, assessments are by no means a quick process. It is often the case that work staff are met with the stress of having to cope with busy offices, numerous phone calls and masses of paper work. Stress can affect workers in any number of ways, but the biggest concern is that it can lead to negligence such as making quick, inaccurate assessments because there is no time to meet the demands of the office.

There is, however, a way of preventing these difficulties and that is to employ a method referred to as triangulation. This is done by drawing comparisons from other groups to find similarities between information gathered. In addition to this, it may prove helpful to discuss the assessment with clients themselves, for this will not only improve the accuracy of the assessment but will also create a sense of trust and warmth between client and worker.

In spite of triangulation mistakes are still inevitable. Possibly the most common mistake would be to apply a one sided attitude towards people and/or situations. An example would be of a social worker looking at an argumentative couple; seeing things only from either the controlling wife point of view, or the unfaithful husband point of view. For this reason it is essential for the social worker to bring in other colleagues so as to form a multidisciplinary assessment. Rather than relying on one man’s opinion, by working as a team, members may gain further insight into the task at hand and observations may be brought to the table that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. However, the use of multiple assessments is problematic in that the social worker will have to deal with multiple theories. This may lead to conflicts and confusions over the correct path to follow.

Because of the time constraints on social work practice, alternative methods have been introduced to take away some of the pressures. Self assessments for example are often carried out when dealing with younger children. It is seen as a fun learning experience and will tell staff workers much about that child. Self assessments will compose of numerous exercises, such as multiple choice questionnaires, rating scales, producing stories, drawings of themselves, and/or their families. Adults often prefer this method as it allows them to use their own words rather than being misinterpreted.

Another alternative is computer aided assessments. These have long been used in other fields such as medicine in order to make quick diagnoses. They are helpful in that they save time, and unlike humans do not forget or make errors. It is as simple as loading in all the variables, and allowing the computer to calculate the most likely outcome and therefore the best form of action. However, computers are unable to process social, emotional, or psychological factors and so can often fail to spot key issues. The use of computers is therefore limited.

Recently, there have been movements in practice theory, the most important of which is a larger emphasis on the influences of powerlessness, prejudicial views, discriminatory acts and oppression. In addition, workers are starting to develop a more constructionist way of thinking. This includes seeing beliefs and ideas not as relying on the influence of the environment around those who hold said beliefs and ideas, rather them being “constructed” by individual people whilst they converse and respond to one another’s presence.

It is this constructionist way of thinking where many theories on assessment begin.

In the past 3 years it was found, through reviews from service users, that many were unsatisfied with the assessment process. One rising concern was that a large number of social workers were failing to conduct reassessments. It seems that they only look at certain information in order to confirm their theories and therefore neglect many important items. This is a critical point because assessments are the basis for all further work. An error here would be damaging for the whole investigation.

Even when a reassessment is made, there still remains the problem of prioritising key areas of importance. If this is done shoddily then there is risk of the assessment giving off misrepresentations when conducting an evaluation. To prevent this, there are three areas that it is suggested the social worker start by looking at. These are:

“Starting where the client is”, focussing on meeting the client’s needs; “legal considerations”, which should be made known to the client; and “health or safety concerns”, for if there are any risks to the client then they must be informed. (Hepworth and Dean 2006)

Another important issue relates to the production of a culturally competent assessment. The social worker must therefore demonstrate knowledge of “cultural norms, acculturation, and language differences, the ability to differentiate between individual and culturally linked attributes, the initiative to seek out needed information so that evaluations are not biased and services are culturally appropriate; and an understanding of the ways that cultural differences may reveal themselves in the assessment process.” (Hepworth and Dean 2006)

There are numerous differences between cultures when it comes to forms of, for example; disciplining younger family members, selecting the most dominant group member, aiding those unable to manage for themselves, how to address one another, and many others. And because of these differences, the social worker must be wary when considering things such as; what is seen as normal behaviour in children with autism? What is seen as a healthy amount of sex in afro Caribbean tribe members? At what age is a child believed to reach maturity in China, Africa, Asia etc? The list is endless. Patterns of behaviour which may appear dysfunctional in one culture may be considered normal to another. It is important that social workers have knowledge of their client’s background and if not then research it. For an error made may aggravate or offend them.

It can be hard to define exactly what an assessment is, who it is intended for, and the reason it needs to be carried out. Pincus and Minaham (1973) therefore developed a model framework with the specific aim being to help social workers recognise; the reasons for their involvement, the expected goals and outcomes, which persons fit the role of agent and which fit the role of client, what needs to be maintained and what needs to be managed.

“Pincus and Minaham labelled three kinds of resource system which people will have contact with during their lives and four mapping systems which summarise what is occurring”.

The advantages of a systems approach are many. Firstly, it helps the social worker to understand a situation in such a way it gives clear definitions of those involved and how they are linked to one another. Secondly, aims and goals are clearly established early on, which helps them create a formal plan with their client and also helps both parties follow any progress made. Thirdly, it removes some of the burden of work off of the social worker’s back, knowing that not everything depends on their selves. It also helps them to see which areas may take the most work, and which may be met with more conflict. This will help them plan their time and resources irrespectively, know when and where they should be, and how much of their attention is required at any time. By doing this, the social worker is less likely to exclude important responsibilities, or focus too much on only one aspect. Upon evaluation of the system, if for any reason another worker sees something they wish to add, remove or change, then this can be easily done with little time consumption. It is not unlikely that things may change at a later date, for example new clients may need to be added to the system, or new targets to be met. People’s needs are not immutable and are always changing. The social worker must recognise this and be able to identify any changes, and adjust so as to fit them into the system.

There are also certain disadvantages of a systems approach. Firstly, although it helps to maintain the flow of activities, it will not provide enough understanding of a person’s life without the addition of other approaches. Alone, the model is too general, and does not include a great deal of information about the relevant difficulties being assessed. Secondly, despite all its hype about ordering data, the systems approach does not maintain that data should be collected to begin with. Furthermore, it fails to recognise the importance of existing beliefs about human behaviour, so is basically starting from scratch each time. Thirdly, the natural urge to focus primarily on the client’s illness, with little attention being paid on their wellness can often lower their sprits and remove their hopes of ever finding a solution to their problem.

As a social worker making an assessment, it helps to understand that, “since external problems become internal, and the internal affects the external, looking at just the social aspects will prove inadequate, just as looking at just the psychological aspects is inadequate”.(Milner and O’Byrne 1998) We need to look at both, and use various approaches to complement one another.

Assessments need to draw in help from psychiatrists and psychologists, those skilled at exploring the unconscious. For it may be the case that the client has certain unresolved issues that may be of relevance. A problem workers face is that the id is like a cavern, in that it is made up of large numbers of interrelated passages. Some will affect others, while others will come to a dead end. And everything inside that cavern is hidden away from the outside world and is immune to any happenings beyond its entrance.

Applying a psychodynamic approach as it were is advantageous because it is able to explain away what appears to be irrational behaviour. As I explained, many of a person’s difficulties may not be explicit and observable. Many individuals use defence mechanisms as a way of hiding their emotions. And so by combining aspects of psychology (cognitive, psychoanalytic, humanistic etc.) it will allow the worker to delve deep into their client’s personality and learn more about their associations with the world around them.

This approach has imposed a caring, considering, communicative attitude amongst assessment workers and gets them to gain more of an emphatic relationship with their clients. Rather than applying a tick box assessment and using the same set of questions for each person, the worker now has a set of guideline questions allowing them to go off on a tangent basing each new question on the previous answer.

The psychodynamic approach does indeed contribute greatly to the advances in social work assessment; however it has a number of issues of concern. First and foremost, the main interest is on the individual and so social factors are often neglected or disregarded. Secondly, abnormal human behaviour or behaviour that does not fit with the norms of society is grounds for a referral. Homosexuality for example is put down to Oedipal conflicts, homosexuals are not treated as a typical male and this causes much oppression and discrimination. Furthermore, the guidelines for communication are based on a middle class Caucasian male. Although certain groups will see equal gain from this method of practice there are many from other cultures that will react differently. And so to make an effective assessment the social worker must be able to relate their skills across cultures.

Thirdly, when dealing with children, psychoanalysis may prove ineffective or even destructive. For example in cases of child abuse the sexual wants of an adult are transferred into the child’s want for their parents. The child becomes the culprit and the blame is put towards the mother for being neglectful.

When it comes to the ideas of Freud, the population of workers is split, half of them opposing entirely and half of them supporting entirely. As with all other approaches, the psychodynamic approach works best when in conjunction with others.

An assessment which includes a descriptive evaluation of client behaviours will prove more effective than one without because the worker is then able to look at how those behaviours have come to be part of their client’s being and why they continue to exist. Behavioural assessments see behaviours as being learned, and therefore can be unlearnt through training. All behaviours have an underlying cause; the point of the assessment is to therefore find the route of the problem and find ways to negate its effects. There are often however misinterpretations. For example, what is a negative reinforcer? (strengthening a particular behaviour by removal of something undesirable). Punishment is not a negative reinforcer although it is associated with something undesirable. But rather than extinguish the problematic behaviour, it is often the case that it causes resistance. And so the behaviour has become strengthened.

The problem is that there are no clear definitions of positive and negative reinforcers, seeing as what is considered desirable or aversive will vary between people. What may be pain to one man may be seen as a challenge to another who will welcome it. To work around this social workers must ensure they work with their client to determine what they perceive as basically good or bad. It is important the worker be consistent when making visits (reassessments), for example if they always turn up at a foster home when they get a call the child is misbehaving, yet they rarely turn up when the child is behaving reasonably they may inadvertently be making their misbehaviour more appealing.

Many behaviours, be they positive or negative, helpful or hindering, are learned during the course of life and are influenced by our life experiences. Behaviourists believe that when conducting an assessment it is important for the worker to understand where problem behaviours have come from and what reasons there are for their manifestation. Once the underlying routes have been established the worker then helps the client to unlearn those behaviours and get back on track to healthy living. An effective assessment is therefore one that considers the ABCs; the antecedents, behaviours and the consequences. Anything that causes the unwanted behaviour should be removed, whereas anything that promotes desired behaviours should be encouraged. The client should then learn to associate these positive behaviours with pleasant experiences; this way they will want to repeat them. Assessments should look at a client’s history thoroughly. It is easy to miss parts out, yet everything needs to be examined for even something seemingly irrelevant may hold the key to a person’s problem. Of course it is unrealistic to look at absolutely every aspect of a person’s life, especially the elderly who have an extremely long history to cover. And so it has been argued that behavioural approaches lack validity and are unattainable.

This aside the behavioural approach is still useful because it provides clear definitions of; the aims, goals and the plans for intervention. Furthermore, the approach, more so than other approaches motivates the client to have a say in the overall structure of the assessment. Sheldon (1982) believes there is the advantage that it does not manipulate the data in any way so that the client can be placed in a particular category or theory. People are seen as individuals, individual factors are considered, and client perspectives are used to shape the approach.

Task centred theory makes a good starting point for new workers because it is possibly the simplest approach. Assessments can at times be overcomplicated and so it may do workers good to sometimes go back to basics and look at the most obvious action to take. Actions should depend upon one’s values rather than any policy one is obligated to follow. Previous experience should be used to improve practice, even the negative ones. Difficulties are inevitable but they will only get worse if the worker continues to make the same mistakes again and again. When there is time pressure to get a job done, rather than crumble the worker should use the pressure as motivation to get things done efficiently. That way they will have to make fewer reassessments.

The first task is to determine their client’s needs (what it is they want). The next step is convincing the client to accept ones help, firstly recognising they have needs and secondly wanting to do something about it. Epstein (1988) calls this the “Start up phase”, as it gets the ball rolling so to speak. Next, the wants require their own assessment, to determine what should to be done to meet them, how long it will take and who should be involved. The assessment process is a time to give order to the person’s needs, generally up to three of them. It would be helpful to consider not only what changes need to be made, but also what might get in the way of these and what further changes could be done to make the initial changes possible. It would also be helpful to find out how individual problems relate to one another, if at all. If they are then able to tackle the main problem, others may follow suit accordingly with little/no effort on the social workers account. A useful strategy for social workers is to get their clients to firstly write down their problems and secondly assign them a score ranging from no problem at all to highly serious. It is vital that needs are set out from the start and fully understood by both worker and client. Failure at this stage will lead to difficulties come the evaluation. When conducting an assessment on two or more people (such as two partners in a relationship) the worker would be advised to look toward the Want Sheet for support (Masson and O’Byrne 1984). This gives detailed descriptions of different wants and can be used to help service users explain what they feel. So far, no approach has come up with a solution to this problem, making the task centred approach unique. The Want Sheet can be administered to couples/groups and this way can be used to compare different ideas. Through this stage alone, it is possible for a group to resolve any issues without any need for an intervention scheme. This is most unlike other approaches, which see the social worker as an agent coming in to help the needy, an approach not unlike the medical model of mental health.

It is important when assessing individuals, not to mistake the clients as abnormal people just because their behaviour may suggest so, or because they appear difficult or un-cooperative. Doel and Marsh (1992) call this “shooting the reflective parrot” for what they are doing is making false judgements based on observation, without getting down deep to the underlying issue.

Before any interventions, it is important for any decisions to be met together, all other options have been considered, and the client is satisfied with how things are being dealt with. Once a decision is reached, there is still time for one final review. This is a useful step because at this late stage, it is still possible to change one’s mind; nothing is yet set in stone. If no changes need be made, the review is still beneficial as it helps to reduce any doubts or anxieties before progression.

The task centred approach to assessment seems full proof. Reid (1978) commented that it holds particular value in situations whereby the service user is able to contribute to a moderate degree. It holds the advantage over other approaches because it considers not only the client, but their interactions with the outside world. They get a fair hearing, and communication between them and the social worker is mutual, leading towards a more accurate evaluation.

There have been arguments that giving too much leeway can leave the worker vulnerable to misinformation. More so with children, there are cases where the client is not responsible or trustworthy enough to be given a shared role in the assessment.

In conclusion, there are numerous positives and negatives of any approach to assessment. Every worker will have a preference on how they will deal with a situation; however it need be emphasised that no two situations are alike. And so workers must be able to “think on their feet” if they are to become competent social workers. Those who are open minded will reap the most success, for the key lies within managing all the different approaches, integrating them into a whole. Care should still be taken, for within the approaches lie numerous contradictions. There will always be a degree of uncertainty, but what makes the difference between good and average work, is the confidence to give an opinion, whilst at the same time welcoming the views of others.

In conclusion, why is the assessment process vital? Because it forms the foundation for understanding one’s client, and gets the ball rolling when planning actions for change. It forms a record which can be referred to when evaluating said changes, and can also be used as evidence in court.

What makes an effective assessment? One which investigates all relevant factors rather than stick to anything specific, which matches with individual’s aims and goals, which is centred on the tasks at hand, which draws from multidisciplinary agencies, which forms a partnership between agent and client, and which is anti oppressive or discriminatory.

What barriers do workers face? They can be time consuming, workers are under pressure to get through their work load and may be unable to spend time getting to know their client, groups who are often the target of oppression may seem uncooperative and resistant to change, and all assessments are in some part vulnerable to bias.

How can these be overcome? It is imperative that when conducting an assessment one shares thoughts and ideas with not only other workers, other agencies and welfare authorities, but also with the client themselves, thus spreading out the work load, and reducing the likelihood of any errors going unnoticed. Furthermore it helps to be self aware. This way one picks up on any fool hardy assumptions they may be making. One should not be afraid to challenge higher authorities and understand that personal values and the law will often conflict. And finally, every assessment should be instigated with care and precision, frequently asking “why” one has come to that conclusion and “what” other alternatives are there.

References

Ahmad, A. Practice with Care, London, Race Equality Unit/National Institute for Social Work, 1990

Challis, D., Chessum. R., and Chesterman, J., Luckett, R. and Traske, K. Case Managementin Social and Health Care , Cantebury, Personal Social Services Research Unit, 1990.

Department of Health. Protecting Children: A Guide for Social Workers Undertaking a Comprehensive Assessment, London, HSMO, 1988.

Doel, M. and Marsh, P. Task Centred Social Work. London: Ashgate, 1992.

Epstein, L. Helping People; The Task Centred Approach. Olumbus, OH: Merrill, 1988

Forder, A. Concepts in Social Administration: a Framework for Analysis, London Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974.

Hepworth and Dean, H. Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Skills, p. 179-205, London: Thomson/Brooks Cole, 2006

Jones, C. State Social Work and the Working Class, London , Macmillan, 1983

Masson, H and O’Byrne, P. The Family Systems Approach: A Help or a Hindrance, in Violence Against Children Study Group. Taking Child Abuse Seriously. London: Unwin Hyman, 1990.

Milner, J., & O’Byrne, P. Assessment in Social Work: Chap 7; Psychodynamic Approaches, Macmillan Press LTD, 1998

Pincus, A. and Minahan, A. Social Work Practice: Model and Method. Itasca, Il: Peacock, 1973.

Reid, W. J. The Task Centred System. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978.

Sheldon, B. Behaviour Modification, Theory, Practice and Philosophy. London: Tavistock, 1982.

Thoburn, J. Child Placement: Principles and Practice, Aldershot, Wildwood House, 1988

Advocacy in Social Work

Advocacy, Rights and Partnership

This reflective report contains my experience and understanding of advocacy and explains the types of advocacy and its methods and models, I will explain the theories and relate it to my practice and finally discuss the strengths and weakness of my area of practice and discuss the conflicts of interest implication up on the service user.

DEFINITION OF ADVOCACY

Advocacy is defined as a key concept in social work practice. It is defined as exerting influence on behalf of organisations and groups within legal power and political structure.

” Advocacy involves either an individual or group, or their representatives, pressing their case with influential others, about situations which either affect them directly or, and more usually, try to prevent proposed changes, which will leave them worse off” .(Pardeck, 1996).

Gates (1994) cites four variations of advocacy: legal advocacy, the representation of the user in a formal context, for instance a health-review tribunal; self-advocacy, where the individual or a group of individuals speak up for themselves, a form of empowerment; collective or class advocacy, the large organisations who speak for the interests and rights of a category of people; and citizen advocacy, the representation of the user’s interests by a competent advocate (eg a Social worker).

Advocacy is a concept embraced by social work and advocating for clients is vital for the social work profession. The primary goals of advocacy are achieving social justice and people empowerment. In achieving these goals, a proactive, responsive and participatory approach is necessary (Pardeck, 1996). My role as an advocate during my placement was to speak on behalf of my clients and to empower them to advocate on their own behalf, whenever their rights have been denied; for example in accessing state benefits or demanding repair work from local Housing departments. The advocacy role, from a social context, includes the redistribution of power and recourse to an individual or group, guarding their rights and preserving their values, conserving their best interests and overcoming the sense of powerlessness (Pardeck, 1996. pg 151).

RESOURCES AVAILABLE WITHIN PLACEMENT

My second year practice placement was with a charity organisation, in the London Borough of Newham called RAMP (Refugee And Migrant Project). RAMP is one of The Renewal Programme projects and is registered with the Home Office – Office of Immigration Services Commission.

RAMP works to enable refugees and migrants (including asylum seeker) to realise their potentials and facilitate their integration into society. The focus of the organisation is to provide advice and advocacy and support on welfare benefits, housing and education and NASS – National Asylum Support Services.

RELATING THEORY TO ADVOCACY

When I began working with migrants, refugees or asylum seekers, I took a very holistic and Person Centred Approach that allowed me to work in partnership and give them the opportunity to go through their own problems and find their own solutions to them. Carl Rogers was the founder of Person-Centred therapy. As a psychologist in the 1950’s and 60’s he studied the process of counselling and came to the conclusion that a number of basic principles were required in order for there to be a positive relationship and outcome between the client and the therapist. These are also known as ‘core conditions’:

. Unconditional positive regard that involves the therapist being non-judgmental and accepting the client and their experiences.
. Congruence, which means that the therapist displays their true thoughts and feelings during the session.
. Empathy, where the therapist shows understanding towards the client’s experiences without oppressing them.

When engaging with my clients, I demonstrated unconditional positive regard by not judging them as individuals or for the needs they had; I wanted to find out what it is that they wanted/needed. I was congruent in that I acknowledged the fact that I was a student and I was also learning myself, and therefore I may not be able to answer all questions immediately. Finally, I showed empathy by acknowledging similarities that I may have with them such as coming from a minority ethnic community.

As well as the core conditions, I used the Exchange Model of communication to engage in my meetings with my clients. Smale and Tuson (1998) point out that the exchange model believes that the client has an equally valid perception of their problems and that they themselves can contribute to finding the solutions. This also facilitates partnership between the worker and the client. The exchange model was effective because English was the second language for all my clients therefore enabled me to ask them simple, open-ended questions that were free from professional jargon, compared to Procedural model that has pre-set questions to conform to the requirements of the agency.

I used two main theories to look at situations during my practice placement: Systems theory and Muslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Systems theory originates from Bertalanffy’s (1971) biological theory that all things are part of a system: sub-systems that make up super-systems (in Payne, 1997). The theory is also known as ecological perspective; family theory and networks theory depending on what context it is used. Systems theory allows you to look at the whole picture and not just one aspect of a particular case. The concept of ‘circular causality’ is also significant in this theory and it suggests that: if something happens in one part, it affects the other. I therefore did not analyse clients’ situations in isolation, I looked at their surroundings and their systems to understand their situations better. Pincus and Minahan (1973) describe 3 systems in which people depend on (in Payne, 1997 p.141):

Societal systems

(housing, social security and schools)

For some of my clients, their housing department was part of their societal systems that they may have been experiencing problems with. On top of this, some of their main informal systems – their families – may be missing from them (i.e. still in their own countries). This had a detrimental effect on their self-confidence and achievement as it left gaps in the systems that are supporting them. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs highlights that the family is a very important factor in meeting basic needs for example, security. By being estranged from their families, clients are already at a weak point and according to systems theory; this also affects their formal and societal systems. As a social worker, in order to promote and enable my clients and to empower them, it was important that I was able to maintain as many systems around them as possible. This was important for their confidence and future development.

When carrying out my work with asylum seekers, refugees and migrants I was very much open and holistic in the way that I looked at the multiple forms of discrimination and oppression that this client group may face. For example I did not only focus on the obvious forms of oppression. Such as race, religion and gender, I also looked at underlying issues such as relationships with partners and domestic abuse. I ensured that I did not ignore the oppression and discrimination that they may face within their own communities.

Other theories, models and methods which I used included Crisis Intervention, Task-Centred work, Loss & Bereavement amongst others. I found that being able to study, understand and relate these to my practice guided me immensely in my practice. They provided me with the knowledgebase, which I could use to eclectically and effectively in order to work with the many different situations that I worked with.

THE IMPORTANCE OF WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SU

Adams (1998 p314) sees advocacy as a form of empowerment which, “involves representing a person’s interests in circumstances where they are not able to do so themselves”. It strives to promote social inclusion by empowering marginalised people and therefore, has a direct relationship to anti-oppressive practice in social work. The ethical principles underlying advocacy reinforce working in partnership with users and carers, a key concept in social work practice and community care. Furthermore, the skills required for successful advocacy reflect core skills of social work practice (Bateman, 2000p17).

Professionals get involved in people’s lives most of the times to help, but then oppress them by making decisions for them. Oppression is:

“Inhuman/degrading treatment of individuals/groups; hardship And injustice brought about by the dominance of one group over another; the negative and demeaning exercise of power. Oppression often involves disregarding the rights of an individual/ group and is thus the denial of citizenship” (Thompson 1997 p31).

In a situation where the Social worker made a decisions without consulting him, his needs and interests were not considered. As Adams (1998p301) affirms “remedies to problems encountered lie primarily with experts and thus undermines self determination and authenticity”. Most professionals take it upon themselves to make decisions for people as they assume that they cannot make choices for themselves, yet the Mental Capacity Act 2007 argues that almost all including the most severely disabled are capable of making choices and expressing their views and preferences. Therefore it is the Social worker’s role to “challenge the abuse of power for suppression and for excluding people from decisions which affect them” as stated by Stanford (accessed 5/01/2009) in the code of ethics.

People requiring access to services should not feel that they are beggars, their welfare needs should be met as a right and dignity and respect should be maintained all the times.

STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF ADVOCACY

To assist service users, advocacy may be appropriate to protect the rights of the service user. An advocate will inform an individual of their options, and talk with other services on their behalf, if required to. The role of an advocate is to allow the service user to make their own self-determinations by ensuring they have all the relevant information, whilst at the same time not imposing their own views on the situation (Coulshed and Orme 1998).

Difficulties with advocacy arise if the advocate tries to impose their own opinion on the service user, who may be vulnerable, and open to suggestion. The lack of statutory advocacy means that most services are provided by those who have already experienced similar situations, and who may have a biased view or are not trained to deal with difficult situations (Adams et.al. 2002)

Anti oppressive practice (AOP): Looking at the structure of oppression developed by Thompson (1993) called the PCS model. I can illustrate how oppression is occurring, because this model is used to ‘develop our understanding of discrimination and the oppression that arises from it’. (Thompson,1998:12). It operates at three very separate levels, which are inter-related. These levels being personal, cultural and structural ‘(the term PCS model)’. (Thompson,1998:12).

‘Oppression itself is a powerful force. On a personal level it can lead to demoralisation and lack of self-esteem, while at a structural level it can lead to denial of rights’.

(Dalrymple and Burke,1995:57)

This statement proves to be true because at the personal level, because the majority of the community that come to our organisation are feeling oppressed by themselves because of not being able to access facilities and not receiving the advice in maintaining their health, hygiene and environment.

At the cultural level oppression is coming from other communities because they feel that they are superior to them, due to the fact that they are more familiar with the services and maybe able to speak English, therefore demoralising the community .

At the structural level, institutions such as schools, hospitals, social security offices, advice centres the list is endless do not provide a facility whereby individuals from the community can access them, whereby denying them their rights.

As an advocate it was my duty to challenge what the service users where feeling and going through, whereby I would empower them to access necessary services and direct them to attend relevant courses in order to tackle there problems and emotional feelings.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST WHICH MAY ARISE IN ADVOCACY

The most common conflict of interest that I was faced with whilst advocating was the language barriers between service users and advocacy staff , In reflection throughout the advocacy I noticed the significant difference that language plays throughout society. It made me realise that not having the language skills can be very oppressive to a person and can leave them marginalized from the rest of society.

Communication is a skill in itself and it is central to the role of social work (Thompson, 2000). Communication can come in many different forms; this can include verbal, non-verbal, listening and writing skills.

Conclusion

In conclusion to the finding throughout research and practice, it shows a huge importance in working in partnership with service users and other professional, good partnership helps social workers and other professional to delivery an effective service.

Social workers are helping to promote change; even though they are working within statutory agencies their role can have a huge influence from advocacy.

Definition And History Of Foster Care Social Work Essay

New World Enclopedia (2012) defines foster care as full-time substitute care of children outside their own home by people other than their biological or adoptive parents or legal guardians.]

History of foster care

Placement of children in foster homes is a concept which goes as far back as the Old Testament, which refers to caring for dependent children as a duty under law. Early Christian church records indicate orphaned children lived with widows who were paid by the church. English Poor Laws in the 1500s allowed the placement of poor children into indentured service until they became adults. This practice was imported to the United States and was the beginning of placing children into foster homes. [1]

The most significant record of fostering was in 1853, a child was removed from a workhouse in Cheshire and placed in a foster family under the legal care of the local government.At the beginning of the 1900s only orphaned or abandoned children under the age of 11 years were fostered, and they had to have a demanding psychological profile – well adjusted, obedient and physically normal.

Until World War II, foster care was recognized as a charitable service. Two important events that pushed the state to look at the foster care system in a different angle was the first mass evacuation of millions of children and then the death of a child in a foster care in 1945.

In 1969 research was carried out on the foster care system and it was found that foster families required training on how to deal with the foster children and make them fill secure in the placement. (Jeune Guishard-Pine, 2007)

Foster care as a global concept

Foster care is probably the most widely practised form of substitute care for children world-wide, depending on the needs of the child, the culture and the system in place. There are many different kinds of fostering and definitions of ‘foster care’ vary internationally. It can be short -term, a matter of days ,or a child whole childhood. A review of foster care in Twenty-two countries found considerable diversity in the way of fostering in both defined and practised.(Hannah Johnson, 2005).Kinship foster care ,which is the most common form of fostering in African countries is not defined as ‘foster care’ in all countries. In Ireland for example only children placed with no relatives are said to be ‘fostered’. In some countries foster care is seen only as a temporary arrangement ,whereas in others the norms is for long term and quasi adoptive placement.(Colton &William ,1995)

Hannah Johnson (2005) stated that the process to be registered as foster parents in different countries such as U.K , Australia, Uganda and South Africa is practically the same. In some countries foster care programme is managed either by the government or agency, and each country has their basic criteria that need to be fulfilled ,such as being physically and mentally fit and healthy, having a room for the child ,having time to spend with the child .The process to be registered as foster families can take approximately six months. Individuals who are willing to become foster families must make their applications to the agency. A home study is conducted by a social worker to assess the capability of the applicants for taking care of a child. The assessment form is then forwarded to the final panel who will decide whether the applicants are fit to become foster carers.

Placement in Foster care

According to zuravin & Deponfilis (1997) children are removed from their homes to protect them from immediate abuses.

In many situations, these children have suffered physical, sexual abuse, or neglect at home, and therefore they are placed in a safe environment. A small percentage of children are in foster care because their parents feel unable to control them, and their behaviour may have led to delinquency or fear of harm to others. Some children have been neglected by their parents or legal guardians, or have parents or legal guardians who are unable to take care of them because of substance abuse, incarceration, or mental health problems. These children are then placed into foster care until the parents or guardians are capable of looking after them.[1]

In all foster care cases, the child’s biological or adoptive parents, or other legal guardians, temporarily give up legal custody of the child. (The guardian gives up custody, but not necessarily legal guardianship.) A child may be placed in foster care with the parents’ consent. In a clear case of abuse or neglect, a court can order a child into foster care without the parents’ or guardians’ consent.

Before any placement the foster care family is screened by the Government or agency through a psychologist or social worker that assess the foster care families under certain criteria such as emotional stability, motivation, parental skills and financial capabilities.[2]

The government provides foster families with an allocation taking in foster children. They are required to use the funds to buy the child’s food, clothing, school supplies, and other incidentals. Most of the foster parent’s responsibilities toward the foster child are clearly defined in a legal contract.

Foster placements may last for a single day or several weeks; some continue for years. If the parents give up their rights permanently, or their rights to their child are severed by the court, the foster family may adopt the foster child or the child may be placed for adoption by strangers.[3]

The Aim of Foster Care System

According to Hayden (1999), the aim of foster care system is to protect and endorse the security of the child, while providing foster parents and biological parents with the sufficient resources and available services needed to maintain the child’s healthy development. Foster care environments are proposed to be places of safety and comfort, and are monitored by several welfare agencies, representatives, and caseworkers. Personal caseworkers assigned to a foster child by the state or county are accountable for supervising the placement of the child into an appropriate foster care system or home. The caseworker also carries out regular visits to the foster care family home to monitor progress. Other agents involved in a child’s placement into foster care may include private service providers, welfare agencies, insurance agents, psychologists, and substance abuse counselors.

Types of Foster Care

Parents may voluntarily place children into foster care for various reasons. Such foster placements are monitored until the biological family can provide appropriate care for the child, or the biological parental rights are terminated and the child is adopted. A third option, known as guardianship, is sometimes utilized in certain cases where a child cannot be reunified with their birth family and adoption is not a suitable solution. This generally includes some older foster children who may be strongly bonded to their family of origin and unwilling to pursue adoption.

Voluntary foster care may be utilized in circumstances where a parent is unable or unwilling to care for a child; a child may have behavioural or psychological problems requiring specialized treatment, or the parent might have a problem which results in a temporary or permanent inability to care for the child. Involuntary foster care is implemented when a child is removed from their caregiver for his or her own personal safety. A foster parent receives monetary reimbursement from the placement agency for each foster child while the child is in his or her home to help cover the cost of meeting the child’s needs

(Dorsey et al 2008) stated that in many countries ,most of the children enter the foster care system due to neglect. Children may join the foster care system via Voluntary or involuntary means.

Voluntary placement may happen when the biological parents are facing difficulties to take care of the child.

Involuntary placement occurs when the child is being at risk under the care of the biological parents.

Adoption and Foster Care Reporting System recorded , different types of fostering such as:

(i) Foster family home, relative – A licensed or unlicensed home of the child’s relatives regarded by the state as a foster care living arrangement for the child.

(ii) Foster family home, non-relative – A licensed foster family home regarded by the state as a foster care living arrangement.

(iii)Group home or Institution – A group home is a licensed or approved home providing 24-hour care for children in a small group setting that generally has from 7 to twelve children. An Institution is a facility operated by a public or private agency and providing 24-hour care and/or treatment for children who require separation from their own homes and group living experience. These facilities may include child care institutions, residential treatment facilities, or maternity homes.

Problems in Foster Care System

[1]Foster children face a number of problems both within and outside the foster care system. Foster children are more vulnerable to neglect, abuse, family dysfunction, poverty, and severe psychological conditions. The trauma caused to a child when removed from their home is also severe and may cause depression, anger, and confusion. Studies have shown that psychological conditions of abused and neglected children are required to improve when placed in foster care, however the separation from their biological parents causing traumatic effect on the child.

Children with histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, are often at risk of developing severe psychiatric problems and may be described as experiencing trauma-attachment problems. The trauma experienced may be the result of abuse or neglect, inflicted by a primary caregiver, which disrupts the normal development of secure attachment.

Associated Problems with Foster Care Child

In long term the foster care children suffer from psychological, cognitive and epigenetic effects. The Northwest Foster Care Alumni Study on foster care children showed that foster care children, were found to have double the incidence of depression, and were found to have a higher rate of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than combat veterans.

Tarren-Sweeny (2010) reported that Children in foster care have a higher probability of having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and deficits in executive functioning, anxiety as well as other developmental problems.

Neurodevelopmental Disorder

A neurodevelopmental disorder is an impairment of the growth and development of the brain or central nervous system. It refers to a brain disorder of brain function that affects emotion,learning ability and memory and that unfolds as the individual grows.

Most foster care children are placed in foster care families at a very young age which is a critical period for the children as the development of mental and psychological processes occur during early childhood. According to kristen Rollins, the human brain does not develop fully until the age of 25, and one of the most critical periods of brain development occurs in the first 3-4 years. Therefore, the human brain is influenced by negative environmental factors such as emotional neglect, poor nutrition and exposure to violence in the home and any type of abuses.

The study by McCrory E et al ( 2010) states that the negative environmental factors influences all areas of neurodevelopment: neurogenesis (creation of new neurons), apoptosis (death and reabsorption of neurons), migration (of neurons to different regions of the brain), synaptogenesis (creation of synapses), synaptic sculpturing (determining the make-up of the synapse), arborization (the growth of dendritic connections, myelinzation (protective covering of neurons), and an enlargement of the brain’s ventricles, which can cause cortical atrophy including decreased activity of the prefrontal cortex.

Harden BJ (2004) reports that Foster children have elevated levels of cortisol, a stress hormone in comparison to children raised by their biological parents. Elevated cortisol levels can decrease the immune system.

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

According to Dubber (1999) 60% of children in foster care who were sexually abused had post traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD). 18% of children who were not abused faced PTSD just by witnessing violence at home. These children then suffer from intrusive memories, flashbacks, avoidance, and psychological and physiological reactivity.

Eating Disorders

‘ Eating disorders refer to a group of conditions defined by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual’s physical and mental health’. Hudson, JI; Hiripi, E; Pope Jr, HG; Kessler, RC (2007).

According to Hadfield Sc (2008), Obesity in all age groups of children has become an increasing concern in recent years. Children in foster care are more prone to become overweight and obese, and in a study done in the United Kingdom, 35% of foster children experienced an increase in Body Mass Index (BMI) once in care.

The children also suffer from Food Maintenance Syndrome which is a pattern of excessive eating and food acquisition and maintenance behaviour without concurrent obsesity. The syndrome is said to be caused by stress and maltreatment of foster care children.

Tarren-Sweeney (2006) study states that children in foster care also suffer from Food Maintenance Syndrome which is characterized by a set of aberrant eating behaviors of children in foster care. It is “a pattern of excessive eating and food acquisition and maintenance behaviors without concurrent obesity”; it resembles “the behavioral correlates of Hyperphagic Short Stature”. It is hypothesised that this syndrome is triggered by the stress and maltreatment foster children are subjected to.

Northwest Foster Care Alumini study (2011) reports that Bulimina Nervosa is seven times more prevalent among former foster children than in general population.

Epigenetic effects of environment

According to Weaver (2004) negative environmental influences, such as maternal deprivation, child abuse and stress have a profound effect on gene expression, including transgenerational epigenetic effects in which physiological and behavioral (intellectual) transfer of information across generations-not-yet-conceived is effected.

Neighh GN et al (2009) states that the effects of abuse may be extended beyond the immediate victim into subsequent generations as a consequence of epigenetic effects transmitted directly to offspring.

Suicide -Death Rate

Charles (1991) states Children in foster care families are at a greater risk of suicide. Children from foster care families as compared to general population have a risk ratio of suicidal attempts of four to five time greater.

A study conducted in Finland have indicated that children in foster care have a higher mortality rate compared to the general population due to incidence of acute and chronic medical conditions and developmental delays.(Kalland M,2001)

Academic Prospects

According to Neild Ruth et al (2006) foster care children tend to underachieve academically with many never completing high school. The children have low concentration in class and perform poorly in exams. Very few children attempt University and obtain a degree.

Barriers in foster care System
Timing in Placement

Children are more prone to experience insecurity in the foster home during the initial phase of placement, especially in the first six to seven months.(Mary Bruce Webb et al, (2010)

Peter J Pecora, James K. Whittaker et al,(2010 )suggest that older children experience placement

Stability during the initial phase compared to infants. In order to decrease the chances for placement disruption which children normally experience during the initial phase of placement, it is recommended that children develop trust and not feel lost in the system.

Characteristics of the Home

(Berridge & Cleaver, 1987) stated that children have difficulty to adapt in foster home when they are placed with other children who are roughly the same age or if they are placed in foster homes where the foster parents have children of their own. Foster Children placed with other children may feel insecure and start competing for affection and materialistic objects eventually this leads to conflicts in the foster care family.

Children’s mental and behavioral health

According to J.Gavin Bremner & Theodore D.Wachs (2010), Child behaviour problems is among the frequent reason that foster parents request the removal of a child in their care.

Children over the age of four (4) are more prone to experience placement instability due to behavioural problems. (Strijker, Zandberg, & van der Meulen, 2002)

Foster Parent Characteristics

Training and support for foster parents are of a paramount importance to avoid children experience disruption in their foster homeFoster parents who have bigger support system such as extended family are more possible to provide a secure placement for the child. .(Walsh &Walsh 1990;Redding et al 2000).

Furthermore, foster parents who seize suitable hope and understand causes and reason for a child’s behaviour is predictive of placement stability.(Butler & Charles 1999)

Counselling in the Foster Care System
Definition of counselling

Counselling often described as ‘ talking therapy’, is a process aimed at providing clients with the time and space to explore their problems, understand their problems, and resolve , or come to terms with their problems, in a confidential setting. The Royal College(2006 a) defines counselling simply as ‘a type of psychotherapy which helps people address and resolve their problems and work through their feelings’.(Jan Sutton &William stewart ,2008)

Counselling involves the development of a relationship between the client and a trained professional that focuses on the client’s concerns and difficulties . it is a process in which individuals have the opportunity to improve upon their understanding of themselves ,including their patterns of thoughts ,behaviours ,feelings and the ways in which these may have been problematic in their lives. Counselling is a collaborative effort as it involves the client and the counsellor working together to identify goals. Throughout the counselling process the client is encouraged ,supported and empowered to look at himself/herself from a different perspective . The aim is not only to help the client cope with a current issue of crisis ,but to do so in a way that produces learning for the future ,so that the client can feel more in charge of his/her life.(M.Ravi 2008)

3.4.1 Foster Child Counselling

Williams (1994) ,Children in foster care have often suffered abuse, neglect or maltreatment. Trauma will affect children in different ways, depending on age, family support, developmental level and basic temperament.

The objective of child counselling (taken from Children and Trauma) include:

aˆ? The safe release of feeling

aˆ? Relief from symptoms and post traumatic behaviors

aˆ? Recovery of a sense of mastery and control in life

aˆ? Correction of misunderstanding and self blame

aˆ? Restoration of a sense of trust in oneself and the future

aˆ? Minimizing the scars of trauma

aˆ? Development of specific skills or coping tools

The Therapy is meant to be a process to work through trauma and help a child understand what has happened to him/her. It also aims to help a child function better in the world around him /her.

3.4.2 Foster Family Counselling

(Fernandez Elizabeth, 2010) Therapy does not change family dynamics. Placing a child in therapy will help the child but will not fix the problems in the family. Family counselling offers a better chance at successful family reunification.

Nevertheless, steps need to be taken to provide assistance to the child and foster family who are in need of counselling. Thus, counsellors and therapists need to construct a relationship based on mutual trust for the counselling process to begin.

According to Silva (1991), to establish therapeutic mutual trust, there need to be the following requirements:

Accurate Empathy: The therapist conveys his or her understanding of the child’s background and experience;

Genuineness: The therapist is as spontaneous, tactful, flexible, and non-defensive as possible;

Availability: The therapist is accessible and available (within reason) when needed, and avoids making promises and commitments he or she cannot realistically keep;

Respect: This is both gracious and firm, and acknowledges the child’s sense of autonomy, control, and responsibility within the therapeutic relationship. Respect is manifested by the therapist’s general attitude, as well as by certain specific actions

Concreteness: Therapy should, at least initially be goal-oriented and have a problem-solving focus. Foster parents are into action and results, and to the extent that it is clinically realistic, the therapeutic approach should emphasise active, problem-solving approaches before tackling more sensitive and complex psychological issues.

Counselling Strategies and Techniques

Blau (1994) recommends that the first meeting between the therapist and the child establish a safe and comfortable working atmosphere by the therapist’s articulating :

a positive endorsement of the foster parents decision to seek help;

a clear description of the therapist’s responsibilities and limitations with respect to confidentiality and privilege; and

Blau (1994) also delineates a number of effective intervention strategies for foster children including the following:

Attentive Listening: This includes good eye contact, appropriate body language, and genuine interest, without inappropriate comment or interruption.

Empathy: This therapeutic attitude conveys availability, concern, and awareness of the turbulent emotions being experienced by the traumatised children.

Reassurance: In acute bahvioural situations, this should take the form of realistically reassuring the child that matters will be taken care of.

Supportive Counselling: This includes effective listening, restatement of content, clarification of feelings, and reassurance.

In appropriate cases, this therapeutic strategy can stimulate the officer to explore underlying emotional stresses that intensify a naturally stressful traumatic event. In a few cases, this may lead to ongoing psychotherapy (Miller, 2006).