Saturday, April 11, 2020

Current Issues in Social Work Essay Example

Current Issues in Social Work Essay A social worker is someone that is employed to provide social services to people, especially the disadvantaged. There are many different types of social workers. There are social workers in administration policy and research. They do research for stuff like questioning diagnostics of anxiety in guardianship. There are also child, family, and school social workers. They often work with families that have had problems with abuse or lose of a home; they also work with families that have serious mental illnesses. They also respond to crisis in the class room. Children and school social orkers counsel those who are dealing with stress or those that are acting out. There are also health care social workers, they work mostly in hospitals. These kinds of social workers will help aid in emotional and financial standings. Health care doesnt Just affect the body. It hurts people emotionally and financially as well. There are plenty of different kinds of social workers (Types of Social Work, Web). In an interview with Karen Murphy, a social worker in Castle Rock Colorado I had asked, What do you think is going to happen in the field in the next five years? Murphy esponded Even though social workers work in different fields, and have different tasks that they focus on, they are all linked together. A childrens social worker may be helping with abusive families, while a health care social worker is helping solve problems with financial things, but they both face most of the same problems as social workers. Currently there are a few problems that so cial workers as a whole are facing. Some of the problems they are facing are: Overloads on cases, long hours, emotional struggles, and work lives interfering with personal and social lives. We will write a custom essay sample on Current Issues in Social Work specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Current Issues in Social Work specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Current Issues in Social Work specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Case overloads are due to the hard economic times. They are also occurring due to budget cuts. The quintessential American dream has dissolved into meaning something entirely different than it once did, challenging social workers as they help an increasing number of clients who are suffering from the negative effects of a strained economy. (Social Workers Face New Challenges, Web). For example there has been an increase in food stamps. Most everyone either has food stamps or knows someone that gets food stamps. Social workers deal with food stamps, therefore their work load increases with the amount of people that are eligible for food stamps. Many eople are having problems keeping and finding housing. Social workers also help with the homeless, so as more and more people cant afford housing, then more social workers are needed. Sometimes social workers cant be added, what happens is, they get case overloads. So far it has been found that over loads on cases is the biggest problem a social worker will face. This is a growing problem; more and more cases are being assigned. Sixteen percent of social workers have more than forty cases on the go. (Community Care, Web). If you are a social worker for adults then you will be having a bit of a hard schedule to maintain right now. Social workers assigned to adult cases have anywhere from seventy to a hundred cases at a time. What is the most amount of cases you have had going at once? . said Murphy. How do you manage to keep up with your cases ? A Community Care survey has discovered that 90% of social workers say high caseloads are distressing their abilities to practice social work effectively. Having so many cases can cause a social worker to race from case to case and not have time to get to each case before true crisis sets in. These finding should serve as a warning to the government and mployers the situation is unsustainable and getting worse. Excessive caseloads for social workers mean unsafe services its another accident waiting to happen, says Helga Pile who is a Unison officer for social workers (Community Care, Web). A case over load tends to cause stress. A social worker already has many responsibilities you add on more cases and the stress becomes greater. The responsibility to get the Job done then becomes greater. You have twice the people that you need to help. Another thing that cases a social worker stress when they have over loads on cases is ack of support from coworkers and supervisors. The stress from this Job can affect ones health problems. Even though one may not realize it, stress affects our health. You may have an illness that you think came from a headache or bad food; however stress may be the cause. Stress can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. There are many other effects stress has on your health. Some of the effects are: headache, muscle tension or pain, chest pain, fatigue, change in sex drive, upset stomach, and sleep problems (Stress: symptoms, Web). Those are just some of the effects stress has on the body. Stress also causes anxiety, lack of motivation, sadness, and depression. Stress can lead to overeating or under eating, which can cause its own batch of sicknesses. Stress may lead to drug and alcohol abuse. This can cause shut down to vital organs. Most often you will find stressed people smoking, a lot. This can cause lung and heart problems. The fact is stress is not good. It causes the body harm, moods change, and your behavior becomes different. Getting case overloads cause stress and that really takes a toll on the person that is taking the case. If one is stressed and have lack of motivation or erious health risks then how can they be expected to do their Job accurately? If this problem continues to happen, or continues to grow then social workers wont be able to do their Jobs effectively. This means that many cases will be misjudged or not completed safely. Work can only be done effectively with the proper time. Social workers already work long hours as it is, adding more cases means more time at the office or in the field. If there are too many cases going at once then there will not be enough time to work effectively. There was a story about a baby that died. It was the amous story about Baby P His name was Peter Connelly. Peter was a seventeen month old baby that had died from over fifty injuries in the course of eight months. He was a child abuse case that was taken over by a social worker, Maria Ward. She could have saved baby Peter. The social worker was overloaded with over 18 cases, Haringey Councils own recommendations that its social workers should only be responsible for a maximum of 12 (Baby Ps Social Worker, Web). Ward was Just one of many social workers that visited the toddler 60 times in eight months. Those were the eight months leading up to his death. Ward failed to intervene, but if she was one of many social workers that visited the baby, then she wasnt the only one to not help Peter. This case was similar to that of the Victoria Climbie murder. Victorias social worker Lisa Arthurworrey was fired and banned from social work after she was found liable for the death of the eight-year-old in 2000. The ruling was later overturned after it was ruled that Miss Arthurworrey was overloaded with 19 cases. Haringey admitted her caseload was too high and told the Climbie inquiry its own guidelines said social workers should only take on a maximum of 12 cases (Baby Ps social orker, Web). The warning signs were obvious but Ward ignored them. Just one day after Peter turned one year old, Ward saw him butting his head into a wall. She noted that it was most likely a sign of a development problem, and not a cry for help. Twenty days later as Ward was checking on Baby P she noticed a red mark on his chin. His mother had said that he had Just fallen over a table. Ward accepted the mothers explanation and noted that it was not significant. Peter was visited once again in June by Ward. Ward saw that Peters face was injured. His mother was ordered to take him for a Child Protection Order check-up. The doctors had found twelve different areas of bruising and his mother was arrested. On July 30th while Ward was checking in on Peter she found that his face was covered in chocolate and nappy cream. Ward had heard that the mother and her boyfriend had done this to cover up bruises. Ward asked his mother to clean him up, but did not stay long enough to make sure that he had injuries. She noted that he appeared well (Baby Ps social worker was overloaded with 18 child protection cases, Web). On August 1st 2007, baby Peter was sent to St. Anns Hospital in north London. He had a broken back and several broken ribs. They went undetected for quite some time. The very next day an ambulance was called for baby Peter. He was found in his crib. He was blue and dressed in nothing but a diaper. After attempts at revival of baby P he was taken to North Middlesex hospital. He was then pronounced dead at 12:20 pm. An autopsy discovered that Peter had swallowed a tooth after being punched. He had other injuries such as a broken back, broken ribs, and mutilated fingertips along with missing fingernails (Death of Baby P, web). Peter Connelly was Just 17 months old when he died in Tottenham, north London, on August 3 2007. Ward was criticized that she wasnt sufficient enough in the suspicion of the mother. She was obviously a devious liar, but Ward didnt look closely enough. It was found that the reasoning for this was Ward was struggling to cope with her work overload. Two of Baby Ps social workers have lost their plea against an employment hearing, which was ruled that they were fairly sacked. Gillie Christou and Maria Ward claimed they were unfairly fired by Haringey Council in north London in response to a public outcry about the little boys horrific death(Baby Ps Social Worker Gillie Christou , Web). They were bviously dismissed due to the failings of the care of a toddler. The two social workers never appeared at the Employment Appeal Tribunal in central London, therefore the Judge Mr. Justice Wilkie declared that their appeal was dismissed. Christou and Ward were both sacked as soon as it was discovered that there was a period of time in mid-2007 that they didnt know the whereabouts of young Peter. Ward also failed to see Peter once every fourteen days. Both social workers were suspended by a General Social Care Council disciplinary committee in 2010. Ward got a two month suspension while Christou got a four month suspension. These women also admitted to failing to ensure the safety of young Peter. They also admitted that they didnt visit him enough, they said they didnt keep accurate records and they lost track of him for some time. Not only did the two social workers receive disciplinary action, but Peters mother Tracey Connelly, her boyfriend Steven Barker, and his brother Jason Owen were Jailed in May 2009 for causing or allowing the boys death (The Huffington Post 13K, Web). Tracey Connelly was sentenced toa minimum of five years for the death of her son. She was first eligible for parole in August of 2012. The board didnt release her. Connelly did confess that she caused and allowed the death of Peter. She admitted this soon after being charged and served several hundred days in prison. The board relooked her case for a second time and came to the conclusion that Connelly will now remain on parole for the rest of her life and if she breaches any of the conditions, she will probably be recalled to custody. There have been reports saying that Connelly will be given a new name and hairstyle so she can live namelessly amongst the public world. She will not have a full new identity (The Independent, Web). Tracey Connellys ex-lover, Steven Barker, was also Jailed for he death of Peter. He was the one that beat him to his death. Barker was sentenced to life in prison. He was sentenced to a minimum often years for the rape of a two year old girl. He was given a minimum of twelve years for the death of Peter. The term will run concurrently (The Independent, Web). Working as a social worker there is a 100% certainty that there will be many case overloads that will have to be dealt with. It will be a lot of work, but thats the Job that is being taken on. Overload can cause stress and overly long hours. These long hours can make the Job much harder. Visiting a case gets complicated. The mind gets stress and does not pay much attention to detail. When this happens a case can be ignored. Something can happen like in the Case of Baby P. When something happens like this then the social worker can get Jail time, fired, or sued. A social worker can get sued for many reasons. They can get sued for incorrect treatment, sexual impropriety, breach of confidence and privacy, failure of diagnosis, incorrect diagnosis, suicide of patient, improper referral, loss of evaluation, violation of civil rights, etc Just one mistake can lead to a law suit. Getting sued is not a good thing. It can take a lot of time and money. This can also make someone lose their Jobs. Any social worker can get sued if they dont keep a close eye on things. Along with case over loads and getting sued a social worker can get emotional effects. There is so much pressure in the field of social work. The pressure affecting the emotional wellbeing. According to a survey by BASW The College of Social Work last year, two-thirds of social workers said the Job caused them emotional or mental instability and Just under half said they had taken time off due to stress( News and Features Ltd,Web). The work caused stress as was discussed earlier this causes emotional problems. Being in situations where someone dies in a case you are working on can also cause some emotional instability. Imagine being the person in charge of someone that has died and living with it. There are many things in the field of social work that can cause an emotional breakdown. Joe Lepper was dealing with a tough abuse case, his problems started soon after. He stumbled upon hard times with this case because he started to get death threats from the childs father. Joe had a painful childhood, and these threats he received made him think of those memories of childhood. Joe soon became infatuated with the childs dilemma. Because of his obsession with this one case all of his other cases became unimportant. His casework began to slip. He started to feel resentment among his fellow childrens social work colleagues. His obsession also made it so that the promotion he had been working towards slipped away from him. This is the promotion he had wanted for so long and he Just let it slip through his fingers. As a result Joe started drinking to help him handle his grief. His drinking soon caused his marriage to fall apart. He got to the point where he was unable to so his Job suitably. He had become discouraged. He became emotionally unstable, and he was signed off on a long-term sick leave. Joe had suffered from a stress related burnout. It tweaked with his emotions ( News and Features Ltd,Web). Another issue a social worker may have is social lives interrupting work lives. An example of this is a clients child and the social workers child could attend the same school. Both the client and the social worker must attend the same meetings held at the school. As a professional the social worker isnt comfortable with being at the meetings when the client is there. The social worker may not be able to vocalize ideas due to fear of losing the client ecause of different viewpoints. There are boundary issues with the relationship, and as a professional the social worker must protect those boundaries. Social workers should not engage in dual or multiple relationships with clients or former clients in which there are risks of exploitation or potential harm to the client. In instances when dual or multiple relationships are unavoidable, social workers should take steps to protect clients and are responsible for setting clear, appropriate, and culturally sensitive boundaries (Dual Relationships and Boundary Management in Social Work Practice, Web). This means it would not be appropriate for the social worker to partake in the meetings with the client in presence. , The social worker would need to bring forth the boundary to guarantee that they understand why the social worker needs to separate his personal life and professional work. Social workers of all types have many issues. They take on a hard Job. Long hours, case overloads, emotions, and boundary management are all part of the Job. A social worker will need to be patient to get the Job done. They must be willing to work hard to excel in this field. A social worker must have a back bone.

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