scholarly journals “You try to keep a brave face on but inside you are in bits”: Grandparent experiences of engaging with professionals in Children’s Services

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Tarrant ◽  
Brid Featherstone ◽  
Lindsay O’Dell ◽  
Clare Fraser
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Policy Preference ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Legal Recognition ◽  
Formal Support ◽  
Children’S Services

This article presents findings from an evaluation conducted in 2012, of the advice and advocacy service provided by the charity Family Rights Group for families involved with children’s services. It specifically focuses on the experiences of grandparents and explores accounts from grandparents who were either in the process of seeking care of their grandchildren or were already caring for grandchildren but without formal support or recognition. The findings suggest that there is a need to pay greater attention to the fears of such grandparents about children’s services in a context where there appears to be a policy preference for adoption. Also evident is a paradox at the heart of contemporary social work practices towards grandparents. While some felt dismissed and marginalized very quickly by social workers and imaginative approaches to care possibilities did not appear to be pursued, others were carrying enormous burdens of care often for very long periods of time without either financial support or legal recognition. To strengthen the care options for children and respect the ethic of care that is clearly to be observed operating in grandparenting practices, it is suggested that a more thorough interrogation of the multiple and often highly contradictory meanings attached to family is required on the part of social workers.

The Color of the Wrapping Paper: Teaching Cultural Diversity in a Children's Services Course

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Porter Hurd
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Student Evaluations ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Children’S Services

Children are one of society's populations most at risk for harm. It is essential that social workers be educated to work effectively with all children; this demands that they be taught to be culturally sensitive. An approach to incorporating content on cultural diversity intensively throughout a baccalaureate social work course on children's services is described. Course goals, organization, teaching methods and assignments are discussed. One assignment, based on the instructor's own research, requiring students to interview parents of races different than their own is outlined in detail. Student evaluations of the course reveal an increase in the ability to recognize strengths in children and families from various cultural backgrounds.

Social workers’ peculiar contribution to ethnographic research

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald de Montigny
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Ethic Of Care ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Ethical Orientation ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Face

Over generations, social workers have borrowed theories from sociology. However, sociologists have generally avoided borrowing theory from social work. By beginning with social work practice wisdom, we can unfold the complex elements organizing social work practice and by extension ethnographic research. Complexity and resulting uncertainty are antidotes for theoretical purity. Practice as grounded in life, that of client’s and social workers is inherently “dirty”, i.e., messy, disorganized, confusing, unfolding, and uncertain. Understandings and practices are accomplished in a connection of self to a profession, agency/organization, mandate and purpose, and ethical orientation, in interaction with colleagues and clients. Social workers take sides as they are grounded in an ethic of care. The challenge of developing an ethical practice in the face of difference, disagreement, disjunction, and conflict lead social workers to bracket, and hence reflect on the putative coherence of a “life world.” Face-to-face work with individuals rather than being a liability provides a source of knowledge and wisdom to inform social science generally.

Unveiling Neoliberal Dynamics: Government Purchase (goumai) of Social Work Services in Shenzhen's Urban Periphery

2017 ◽  
Vol 230 ◽  
pp. 269-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mun Young Cho
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Full Support ◽  
Government Purchase ◽  
Migrant Youth ◽  
The Government ◽  
Party State

AbstractHow has social work, which has emerged as a distinct profession in the PRC with the full support of the party-state, come to produce neoliberal outcomes similar to those found in other, capitalist countries? In this article, I draw attention to the government purchase (goumai) of social work services, which is commonly considered as confirmation of state capacity and leadership rather than the passing on of state responsibilities to civil sectors with tight budgets. Ethnographic research on the actual social work practices in Shenzhen's Foxconn town reveals how neoliberal-style outsourcing has converged with diverse historical legacies, thus creating precarious labour conditions for frontline social workers. Neoliberal dynamics end up filling most of these social work positions with migrant youth from the countryside, reproducing and perpetuating China's rural–urban divide. Institutional efforts at social care may not only reduce the existing inequalities but may also rely upon and even reinforce them.

scholarly journals The perspective of Gestalt therapy in social work practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 03004
Author(s):  
Alina Petrauskiene ◽  
Irena Zemaitaityte ◽  
and Vida Grigaliene
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Security ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Phenomenological Approach ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Gestalt Therapy ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Therapeutic Work ◽  
Expert Model

The paper analyzes social work integrating the principles of Gestalt therapy, such as dialogue and phenomenological approach, internalization, responsibility and creative adaptation. The main perspectives of Gestalt therapy, which are related to the cases of social work, contexts and possibilities of therapeutic work, are highlighted. The article also reveals obstacles (e.g. dominant, patronizing, controlling and expert model of client assistance, isolated and restricted by directives the reality of social work, institutionalized social work practices and bureaucratic dependence of social security) that impede the development of therapeutic social work in Lithuania. It can be argued that the perspective for Gestalt therapies is available to social workers who seek therapeutic social work practice methodologies, help relationships, and empower clients for change.

scholarly journals "Orientation" as a Sensitizing Concept in Social Work

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-41
Author(s):  
Siv Oltedal
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practices

Studying institutional discourses between clients and social workers could strengthen reflections on social work practices by asking: What definitions of the situation do the partners talk from? What content do the partners wish to communicate and could there be considerable differences between the two of them? Why are the partners using specific forms of talk and what does that meta-communicate? Are they developing working agreements and tuning into each other or are communication complicated by contributors speaking from diverse footing and frames? This article explores some of these issues.

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