Still the Poor Relations?: Perspectives on Valuing and Listening to Foster Carers

2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 6-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Kirton ◽  
Jennifer Beecham ◽  
Kate Ogilvie
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Quantitative Survey ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Status ◽  
Service Managers ◽  
Research Studies

There has long been debate regarding the treatment and status of foster carers, but this has gained added significance in the context of moves towards professionalisation and recognition of carers as part of the children's workforce. While research studies have often touched upon the extent to which foster carers feel valued, appreciated or members of a team, less attention has been given to the perspectives of social workers and managers. Drawing on quantitative survey data and qualitative material from focus groups and interviews, Derek Kirton, Jennifer Beecham and Kate Ogilvie explore from the different perspectives of supervising social workers, service managers and foster carers, the extent to which the latter are valued, listened to or regarded as ‘colleagues' by social work professionals and agencies. Key findings include that carers’ sense of being valued may be linked to factors such as age, experience, health and number of placements provided. Discussion of the status of foster carers revealed not only wide variation in practice but also a complex set of sentiments and significant divisions among social work professionals on the question of whether carers should be regarded as ‘colleagues’.

The Promotion of Avoidable Ignorance in the British Journal of Social Work

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eileen Gambrill
Keyword(s):  
British Journal ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Evidence Based Practice ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Professional Journals ◽  
The Status ◽  
Dangerous Knowledge

The manifest purpose of professional journals is to share important knowledge. Increasing revelations of flaws in the peer-reviewed literature shows that this purpose is often not honored and that inflated claims of knowledge as well as other concerns such as misrepresentations of disliked or misunderstood views are rife. In this article, avoidable misunderstandings of science and evidence-based practice (EBP) in publications in the British Journal of Social Work 2005–2016 are described as well as strategies used to forward misinformation. Such discourse misinforms rather than informs readers and decreases opportunities to accurately inform social workers about possibilities to help clients and to avoid harming them and to involve clients as informed participants. Those writing about avoidable ignorance highlight how it is used strategically, perhaps to neutralize what is viewed as dangerous knowledge—the process of EBP and science generally, which may threaten the status quo.

Shame and Social Work

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Full Participation ◽  
Painful Experience

This book aims to approach the phenomenon of shame, especially in the context of social work. It explores the profoundly damaging experience of shame on the identities and potential of many service users, who, through, for example, the stigmatised experiences of poverty or abuse, are silenced within and disconnected from full participation in societies and communities. The book considers shame as a social, moral, and politically generated phenomenon, but equally focuses on the powerful, painful experience of each individual subjected to shaming. Having set out key contextual issues and theoretical approaches to understand shame, the book turns its attention to service users, more specifically young people and the poor. Finally, it offers examples of shame in relation to how social workers experience this in organisations and through, for example, human mistakes and limitations. In relation to shamed social workers and shamed service users, attention is given to how it might be possible to begin to address this painful state.

In Good Company

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Fraser ◽  
Nik Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Animal Studies ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Human Animal

Companion animals play an important role in many human’s lives, including many Australian social workers and clients. Yet Australian social work has been slow to address the burgeoning area of human-animal studies. In this embryonic research, we focus on women’s close relationships with companion animals and some of the broad implications this has for social work practice. We analyze some of the themes expressed by women who participated in three focus groups we conducted: two on a university campus and another in a community welfare agency setting. We also examine how the women interacted with each other as they spoke of “their pets,” as these dynamics point to a potentially important source of inspiration and energy that social workers may wish to harness in their day-to-day work with women.

scholarly journals Social Work Curriculum Review Case Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-44
Author(s):  
Elizabeth C. Watters ◽  
Cheryl-Anne Cait ◽  
Funke Oba
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Cultural Awareness ◽  
Comprehensive Evaluation ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Curriculum Review ◽  
Canadian Association

This paper presents the findings from community focus groups, comprised of social service users, and explores the characteristics of effective social workers. Focus groups were conducted as part of a case study to inform a Master of Social Work (MSW) curriculum review at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Social Work. Wilfrid Laurier University has two MSW programs—the MSW Aboriginal Field of Study (AFS) and a non-Aboriginal program. The case for this study was the non-Aboriginal MSW program. Ongoing program evaluation that includes feedback from service users honours the knowledge of marginalized communities, and is an accreditation requirement of the Canadian Association for Social Work Education (CASWE). Four focus groups were conducted with a total of 24 individuals who access programs from human service organizations that provide supportive housing, immigrant, or refugee services in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Service users identified numerous characteristics of effective social workers, including kindness, cultural awareness, and strong communication skills, as well as the need to articulate and address issues of professional suitability. We conclude by querying whether the typical assessment of MSW students’ suitability for the profession is adequate, and provide the AFSwholisticand comprehensive evaluation as an example of an alternative approach to MSW student assessment.

Social Work: A Very Short Introduction

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Holland ◽  
Jonathan Scourfield
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Work Relationships ◽  
Social Suffering ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
What Works ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World ◽  
International Human

Social workers spend their time trying to ease social suffering. They encounter the extreme casualties of social inequality: the victims of poverty, illness, addiction, and abuse; they work with abusers and offenders; and operate in the space between the state and the poor or marginalized. Social Work: A Very Short Introduction explains what social work is and looks at its rich historical development. Reflecting international human stories of social problems and social work relationships, as well as the philosophies behind the practice and the evidence about what works throughout the world, it looks at the various definitions, history, and debates about purpose and effectiveness, theory, and methods.

Social workers’ perceptions of the causes of poverty in the Nordic countries

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Blomberg ◽  
Christian Kroll ◽  
Johanna Kallio ◽  
Jani Erola
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Street Level ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Municipal Level ◽  
Causes Of Poverty

Street-level bureaucrats have been given an increasing role in the implementation of policies aimed at the poor. The article analyses: (1) how social workers in the Nordic countries explain the causes of poverty and whether there are variations between countries in social workers’ perceptions; and (2) the nature of the impact, if any, of various individual- and municipal-level factors on social workers’ perceptions of the causes of poverty. Survey data gathered from social workers in four countries are analysed and combined with data from the municipalities in which the respondents work. The results illustrate that social workers display a surprisingly large variation in perceptions: there are differences between countries and also differences related to individual-level factors, while municipality-level factors do not appear to influence the perceptions of social workers in an obvious way.

The lived experiences of social workers working with refugees in Lebanon

2021 ◽  
pp. 146801732110083
Author(s):  
David P Cecil ◽  
Rachel J Hagues ◽  
Rania Mansour ◽  
Aimee Ghanem ◽  
David E Robbins
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Interview Guide ◽  
Humanitarian Crises ◽  
The Status ◽  
Quantitative Results ◽  
Work Education

Refugee care in Lebanon Understanding the lived experiences of social workers. Summary This mixed methods study examines the status of social work in its response to the refugee crisis within Lebanon, a country with the highest per capita refugee population in the world. Findings A structured interview guide and brief ordinal instrument were administered through interviews ( n = 10) and 10 focus groups ( n = 37) ( N = 47). Participants were recruited with the help of Lebanese social work colleagues. We explored professional roles, greatest refugee needs, social worker coping, and recommendations for refugee social work trainers and educators. Qualitative results are presented as themes with examples of direct quotations. Culturally specific services accurately targeting needs are among the major themes identified. Quantitative results, primarily using descriptive statistics and one Pearson’s r correlation statistic, report on participants’ overall stress levels, sense of effectiveness in refugee practice, and connection of faith/religion to motivation for refugee work. Applications This work is applied as best practice recommendations for social work education and for front-line training of those in social work roles working with refugees in Lebanon. This work also raises awareness about one of the most critical humanitarian crises in history.

Educating Australian social workers in the post-Apology era: The potential offered by a ‘Whiteness’ lens

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Young ◽  
Joanna Zubrzycki
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Whiteness ◽  
Whiteness Theory ◽  
Critical Whiteness Theory ◽  
Research Studies

• Summary: The Australian Prime Minister’s 2008 historic Apology to the Stolen Generations gives Australian social work an opportunity to confront its past complicity in Australian Indigenous disadvantage and embrace the development of Indigenous social work as central for practice. Critical Whiteness1 theory in social work curricula could assist the development of Indigenous social work as a core approach by challenging the ongoing and largely un-reflexive practices emanating from social work’s Euro-centric heritage with its often taken-for-granted knowledges and principles which negatively affect Indigenous peoples. • Findings: Recent professional and theoretical attention on critical Whiteness highlights race privilege, questions the invisibility and continuing invisibilization of race, critiques previously taken-for-granted Western knowledges and practices, and facilitates the development of countering practice approaches. Research studies reveal some practitioners to be aware of the need for different practices as well as some who practice differently without realizing they are using critical Whiteness principles. • Application: Critical Whiteness theory in the social work curriculum offers a strong conceptual and practical opportunity for students and practitioners to become more racially cognizant in their work with Indigenous people, allowing this work to be more effective in the profession’s social justice mission as well as decreasing some of the extant colonizing practices.

scholarly journals Contemporary dilemmas in social work: The social work degree in England and its implications for practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-42
Author(s):  
Martyn Higgins
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Social Work Education ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Ethical Approval ◽  
Work Education

Abstract: The social work degree was established in 2002 to improve the status and competency of social workers. However, since then social work education continues to be subject to a series of significant changes. The aim of this study is to identify how the degree can illuminate the dilemmas of contemporary social work practice. A qualitative case study of a social work degree programme in England was undertaken after obtaining ethical approval. Data were collected at two different points in time by means of interviews and focus groups. Interviews were conducted with academics (10), practice educators (8) and academics involved in practice learning (2). Two focus groups were undertaken with service users (11) and three focus groups with students (17). A total of 48 participants were involved in the data collection. A thematic analysis approach using versus coding was adopted. The findings indicated that the social work degree contained inherent contradictions which were reflected in social work practice. The contribution of this study lies in the identification of dichotomies in social work education and practice. Any successful and lasting reform of social work education would have to adopt a critical framework able to address contemporary dilemmas.Keywords: social work degree; social work education; reform; dilemmas

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