scholarly journals ‘Everyday Bordering’ in England, Sweden and Bulgaria: Social Work Decision-Making Processes When Working with Migrant Family Members

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Walsh ◽  
Evelyn Khoo ◽  
Karina Nygren
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Contemporary Life ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Migrant Family

AbstractThe global movement of people is a growing feature of contemporary life, and it is essential that professionals providing support services know how to best engage with migrant families. However, despite globalisation and the related processes of de-bordering, borders continue to remain significant and, in contemporary life, the ways in which immigration is controlled and surveilled—bureaucratically and symbolically—are multiple. The paper draws on data gathered in the immediate period following the so called 2015 European ‘migration crisis’ and examines whether and in what ways social workers in three European countries—Bulgaria, Sweden and England—enact bordering in their work with migrant family members. We apply the concept of ‘everyday bordering’ to the data set: whilst borders are traditionally physical and at the boundary between nation states, bordering practices increasingly permeate everyday life in bureaucratic and symbolic forms. Overall, the data show that everyday bordering affects social work practice in three ways: by social workers being required to engage in bordering as an everyday practice; by producing conditions that require social workers to negotiate borders; and in revealing aspects of symbolic everyday bordering. Our analyses shows that ‘everyday bordering’ practices are present in social work decision-making processes in each country, but the forms they take vary across contexts. Analysis also indicates that, in each country, social workers recognise the ways in which immigration control can impact on the families with whom they work but that they can also inadvertently contribute to the ‘othering’ of migrant populations.

Purchasing Power and Self-Determination: Social Worker Perspectives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Bailey ◽  
Debbie Plath ◽  
Alankaar Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Purchasing Power ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Management Approaches

Abstract The international policy trend towards personalised budgets, which is designed to offer people with disabilities purchasing power to choose services that suit them, is exemplified in the Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). This article examines how the ‘purchasing power’ afforded to service users through individualised budgets impacts on social work practice and the choice and self-determination of NDIS service users. Social workers’ views were sought on the alignment between the NDIS principles of choice and control and social work principles of participation and self-determination and how their social work practice has changed in order to facilitate client access to supports through NDIS budgets and meaningful participation in decision-making. A survey was completed by forty-five social workers, and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with five of these participants. The findings identify how social workers have responded to the shortfalls of the NDIS by the following: interpreting information for clients; assisting service users to navigate complex service provision systems; supporting clients through goal setting, decision-making and implementation of action plans; and adopting case management approaches. The incorporation of social work services into the NDIS service model is proposed in order to facilitate meaningful choice and self-determination associated with purchasing power.

scholarly journals Embodied Social Work Practice Within Risk Society

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 673-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe Smeeton ◽  
Patrick O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Risk Society ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Extreme Risk

This paper critically discusses the limitations of theorising social work from psychological and sociological perspectives and argues that phenomenology offers more opportunity to understand the embodied experiences of service users and social workers themselves. The paper argues that psychology and sociology have a limited analysis of being-in-the-world, which ought to be social work’s primary consideration. The paper offers an overview of the sociology of risk before embarking on an extensive description and discussion of Heidegger’s and Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology applied to the lived experience of child protection social workers working within risk society. The argument is put that phenomenology is a useful tool for understanding the lived experience of social work practitioners. Findings: The authors conclude that embodied social work practice containing fear and anxiety can be thought of as akin to taking part in extreme risk sports and that this is an unhealthy experience that is likely to skew decision-making and adversely affect the lives of social workers and service users. Applications: The authors argue that phenomenology can enhance understanding of practice and decision-making and offers insights into the lived experience of social workers. Phenomenology is useful for helping social workers negotiate risk-saturated environments, through a focus on meaning.

The Migrant Family: Some comments on Social Work Practice with non-English speaking migrants.

1976 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joan Snyder
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Central Focus ◽  
The Social ◽  
Migrant Family ◽  
English Speaking

The description of the P. family — their anxieties, hardships and frustrations will be a familiar story to social workers working with non-English speaking migrant clients, regardless of whether the social worker is employed by ethnic or sectarian agencies or the wider general agencies such as government departments, municipal councils or independent organizations. This attempts to investigate some of the ways in which social workers can attempt to help and support the migrant client from a different ethnic group in his struggle to create a new life in Australia. The P. family's story will be used to illustrate some of the major areas of difficulty faced by a migrant family and a number of social work roles and strategies are suggested which might be employed in seeking to bring about social change. The implications of ethnicity for social work practice in a multi-cultural society form a central focus of concern. Finally, general comments and suggestions will be made about the role and responsibilities of the social worker in the multi-cultural society.

scholarly journals Five years in the news: A media analysis of Child, Youth and Family in two daily newspapers (2008–2012)

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-18
Author(s):  
Barbara Staniforth ◽  
Elizabeth Beddoe
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Media Analysis ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Qualitative Thematic Analysis ◽  
Victims Of Violence

INTRODUCTION: This article describes a subset of data relating to the term “Child Youth and Family” from a media analysis of two major Aotearoa New Zealand newspapers from 2008 to 2012 and reports on the major themes emerging from a qualitative analysis of these articles.METHODS: A search was conducted within the online versions of the New Zealand Herald and the Otago Daily Times for the years 2008 to 2012 on the search terms: “social work,” “social worker” and “child youth and family.” A qualitative thematic analysis of 1,512 articles within the data set “child youth and family” was conducted.FINDINGS: Child Youth and Family (CYF) content overwhelmingly made up the largest sub-set of the data and within that subset, the reporting was principally related to crime and abuse. Social workers were seen mainly as receivers of referrals and of removing children and placing them in “care.” There was little mention of intervention or treatment.  There were many reports of the ways things went badly in the process, and at those times social workers were reportedly at the forefront. CONCLUSION: The CYF content presents a limited view of social work, with potential implications for the scope of social work practice being limited to removal of children, and a reduction in the acknowledgement of the wider scope of treatment and intervention. There is also an emphasis on criticism of social workers when children are the victims of violence that occurs within a wider socio-political context. 

scholarly journals Looking back, looking forward: two personal views

Social Work ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 115-140
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Looking Back

Two personal views separated by sixty years of social work experience come to similar conclusions. Local authorities have become so hidebound by bureaucracy, checklists and forms that procedures have limited the ability of social workers to focus on service users and their needs. A human rights perspective would lead practitioners to challenge decision-making processes. Social action is a professional responsibility if existing models are to be challenged.The difficulties of a feminist perspective in social work practice in a patriarchal society are discussed. The dominance of managerialism is such that newly qualified staff feel vulnerable in their Assessed and Supported Year in Employment if they challenge local policies and procedures.

Introduction: Families, Social Work and the Welfare State: Where Contemporary ‘Family’ Meets Policy and Practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 599-602
Author(s):  
Julie Walsh ◽  
Will Mason
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Demographic Trends ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Welfare State Regimes ◽  
The Welfare State

This themed section brings together the disciplines of sociology, social work and social policy in order to examine the ways in which contemporary familial diversity is recognised in comparative welfare state regimes. Contributors interrogate the ways in which such diversity is supported in national legislation, policy developments and acknowledged in everyday social work practice. In doing so, the section examines if and how these demographic trends and sociological conceptualisations are reflected in comparative welfare state systems and/or policy related to family. Selected articles will also consider if and how social workers, as ‘street level bureaucrats’ (Lipsky, 1980), incorporate these changes in familial structures, and related policy, into their decision making processes and everyday practice.

scholarly journals Practice in a Pandemic: School Social Workers’ Adaptations and Experiences During the 2020 COVID-19 School Disruptions

2021 ◽  
pp. 104438942110098
Author(s):  
Michael S. Kelly ◽  
Rami Benbenishty ◽  
Gordon Capp ◽  
Kate Watson ◽  
Ron Astor
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
School Social Work ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Virtual School ◽  
School Social Workers ◽  
Traditional Practice

In March 2020, as American PreK-12 schools shut down and moved into online learning in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, there was little information about how school social workers (SSWs) were responding to the crisis. This study used a national online survey to understand how SSWs ( N = 1,275) adapted their school practice during the initial 2020 COVID-19 crisis. Findings from this study indicate that SSWs made swift and (relatively) smooth adaptations of their traditional practice role to the new context, though not without reporting considerable professional stress and personal challenges doing so. SSWs reported significant concerns about their ability to deliver effective virtual school social work services given their students’ low motivation and lack of engagement with online learning, as well as significant worries about how their students were faring during the first months of the pandemic. Implications for school social work practice, policy, and research are discussed.

scholarly journals Death, dying and bereavement care during COVID-19: Creativity in hospital social work practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 131-137
Author(s):  
Mim Fox ◽  
Joanna McIlveen ◽  
Elisabeth Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Hospital Setting ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Bereavement Support ◽  
Hospital System ◽  
Hospital Social Work ◽  
Complicating Factors ◽  
Bereavement Care

Bereavement support and conducting viewings for grieving family members are commonplace activities for social workers in the acute hospital setting, however the risks that COVID-19 has brought to the social work role in bereavement care has necessitated the exploration of creative alternatives. Social workers are acutely aware of the complicating factors when bereavement support is inadequately provided, let alone absent, and with the aid of technology and both individual advocacy, social workers have been able to continue to focus on the needs of the most vulnerable in the hospital system. By drawing on reflective journaling and verbal reflective discussions amongst the authors, this article discusses bereavement support and the facilitation of viewings as clinical areas in which hospital social work has been observed adapting practice creatively throughout the pandemic.

scholarly journals Emotional intelligence as a part of critical reflection in social work practice and research

2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110247
Author(s):  
Mari D Herland
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Emotional Aspects

Social workers often experience higher levels of burnout compared with other healthcare professionals. The capacity to manage one’s own emotional reactions efficiently, frequently in complex care settings, is central to the role of social workers. This article highlights the complexity of emotions in social work research and practice by exploring the perspective of emotional intelligence. The article is both theoretical and empirical, based on reflections from a qualitative longitudinal study interviewing fathers with behavioural and criminal backgrounds, all in their 40 s. The analysis contains an exploration of the researcher position that illuminates the reflective, emotional aspects that took place within this interview process. Three overall themes emerged – first: Recognising emotional complexity; second: Reflecting on emotional themes; and third: Exploring my own prejudices and preconceptions. The findings apply to both theoretical and practical social work, addressing the need to understand emotions as a central part of critical reflection and reflexivity. The argument is that emotions have the potential to expand awareness of one’s own preconceptions, related to normative societal views. This form of analytical awareness entails identifying and paying attention to one’s own, sometimes embodied, emotional triggers.

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