scholarly journals Working in the department of social services in the shadow of the coronavirus

2020 ◽  
pp. 147332502097329
Author(s):  
Keren Hadar
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Stress Factors ◽  
Team Cooperation ◽  
Care And Support ◽  
Department Of Social Services ◽  
Shed Light

In this article, I present a position and share my thoughts about working in the Department of Social Services in Israel in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. I will reflect on the unprecedented challenges created by the coronavirus, such as the uncertainty over health, employment and finances, the increased stress factors on social workers and how this affects team cooperation, as well as coronavirus fears and how this has impacted social work practice. The aim of this article is to shed light on the importance of the care and support provided by social workers, particularly during times of great uncertainty.

Radical Hope

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Krumer-Nevo
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Service Users ◽  
Critical Social Work ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Impact

This book describes the new Poverty-Aware Paradigm (PAP), which was developed in Israel through intense involvement with the field of social work in various initiatives. The paradigm was adopted in 2014 by the Israeli Ministry of Welfare and Social Services as a leading paradigm for social workers in social services departments. The book draws from the rich experience of the implementation of the PAP in practice and connects examples of practice to theoretical ideas from radical/critical social work, critical poverty knowledge, and psychoanalysis. The PAP addresses poverty as a violation of human rights and emphasizes people’s ongoing efforts to resist poverty. In order to recognize these sometimes minor acts of resistance and advance their impact, social workers should establish close relationship with service users and stand by them. The book proposes combining relationship-based practice and rights-based practice as a means of bridging the gap between the emotional and material needs of service users. In addition to introducing the main concepts of the PAP, the book also contributes to the debate between conservative and cultural theories of poverty and structural theories, emphasizing the impact of a critical framework on this debate. The book consists of four parts. The first, “Transformation”, addresses the transformational nature of the paradigm. The second, “Recognition”, is based on current psychoanalytic developments and “translates” them into social work practice in order to deepen our understanding of relationship-based practice. The third, “Rights”, describes rights-based practice. The fourth, “Solidarity”, presents various ways in which solidarity might shape social workers’ practice. The book seeks to reaffirm social work’s core commitment to combating poverty and furthering social justice and to offer a solid theoretical conceptualization that is also eminently practical.

Older people, pensions and poverty: An issue for social workers?

2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liam Foster
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Eu

Poverty is encountered by the majority of users of social services but is often overlooked in social work practice. This article explores the relationship between poverty in older age, pension receipt and the role of social policy formulation in the UK with particular reference to New Labour governance. It also briefly explores the EU context before considering the implications for social work.

Can child and family social work research really assist practice?

1999 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 93-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Sellick
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Foster Care ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
The Past

British social workers at the sharp end of foster care and social work practice have experienced a flood of official reports in recent years (Association of Directors of Social Services, 1997; Utting, 1997; Warren, 1997), mostly, though not exclusively, highlighting the problems of too few placements for an increasingly challenging number of children and young people. In addition, British and North American foster care research over the past twenty years has shown how children in public, including foster, care have been:

Using Single-system Research Designs to Evaluate Practice

2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Artelt ◽  
Daniel T.L. Shek ◽  
Bruce A. Thyer
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Single System ◽  
System Research ◽  
The People ◽  
Research Designs

The use of single-system research designs (SSRDs) has the potential to help social workers empirically evaluate the outcomes of practice. Descriptions of using SSRDs to evaluate social work practice are provided. SSRDs have the potential to help social workers in Chinese contexts to provide scientifically credible evidence to others that social services benefit the people.

scholarly journals Social work in the public services in Brazil - disclosing ruling relations in a local context

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-146
Author(s):  
Trond Heitmann
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Local Context ◽  
The Public ◽  
Professional Careers ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

This article about social workers in the public social services in Brazil explores professional social work practice through the subjective standpoint of the social workers. Inspired by institutional ethnography, this approach explicates how understandings of social work are interpreted and implemented in various contexts. The findings show that the formalization of the relationship with the employer through contracts of employment implicate that the disciplinary normative definitions of social work succumb to institutional regulations, which are not necessarily discipline specific. In addition, the temporary character of the contracts of employment makes the social workers align their practice to institutional frameworks and demands, as they are personally interested in renewal of the contracts and the maintenance of their professional careers. With this approach, disciplinary, political, ideological, legal and moral definitions of social work are not viewed as the essences of social work, but rather as contextual processes that are locally activated in different contexts. At the same time, it underscores social work as a political profession which should naturally include interventions on political, juridical, economic and organizational levels. Consequently, professional social work is not one thing, nor only one profession, but rather professional practices adapted to a variation of contexts. This perspective is significant to help detect areas of intervention for social change.

scholarly journals Professionals unprepared: A critical appraisal of social work practice at the Drugs Abuse Rehabilitation Centres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-120
Author(s):  
Shakeel Ahmad ◽  
Abida Bano
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
Qualitative Approaches ◽  
Social Work Theory

Social work is a practice-based profession that facilitates, enables, and rehabilitates the neglected segments of society facing various issues, including substance abuse. However, social workers' efficiency in substance use rehabilitation is constrained by several factors. Pakistan follows the imported theoretical models of social work, which face enormous challenges during implementation for lacking contextual understanding. This study examines professional social workers' role to examine the challenges in providing institutional service delivery in substance (drugs) abuse treatment centres in Pakistan. The study found that the social work theory and practice gap hurts services delivery in Drug Abuse Rehabilitation Centres through qualitative approaches. Training in social work theory does not adequately equip the students to provide the required social services at the drugs rehabilitation centres. Donor-driven social work drives and demotivated social workers testify to the mismatch between social work theory and practice. Indigenous philanthropy models and broadening institutional support could remedy the situation.

scholarly journals The triplets: Investment in outcomes for the vulnerable – reshaping social services for (some) New Zealand children

2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
Key Terms

Social work and social services are in a period of significant change built around three key terms; investment, vulnerable, and outcomes. Those terms are not simple neutral descriptors. Rather, they are shaped in critical ways by the neoliberal framework which informs them. The framework is critically examined here by exploring how it is reflected in the specific meanings and implications of each of the three terms. Social work practice and social services delivery will be heavily influenced by the political and ideological framing of investment, vulnerable and outcomes. The paper takes up some of these implications and raises a series of questions for children and families, for practitioners and for agencies. The responses to those questions will be critical for social work and for those with whom and for whom social workers work.

Observation Programs in the United States: A Meeting of Social Work Colleagues

1951 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 288-294
Author(s):  
Eunice Minton
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
English Language ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Study Programs ◽  
Basic Services

In a challenging and refreshing way these colleagues have been able to strip away the chaff and quickly isolate many of the basic fundamentals in our social work practice. Perhaps their limitations in the use of the English language proved to be an asset by preventing their becoming lost in our extensive professional vocabulary. They found that this is a land of wide contradiction—of great wealth, yet much need. They also found this contradiction in our social work—great resources and a high degree of specialization, yet many gaps in basic services to people. Perhaps this presentation of a few of the comments and reactions of these fellow social workers indicates the range of their social work interests, the keenness of their perception, and the depth of their professional consciousness. These comments may also indicate some of the possible values that accrued to them through the observation and study of social work in the United States. The reactions of agencies and social workers who have participated in their study programs indicate that American social workers have been enriched through their association with these social workers of other lands; perhaps their earnest and intense seeking of knowledge about the best ways to serve people has stirred American social workers in their particular specialization grooves to think of their international responsibilities and of the fundamental objectives in our total social work practice, and to examine American social work, not only in relation to its effectiveness in achieving adequate social services, but also, of perhaps greater importance, in achieving basic social justice.

scholarly journals From Needs to Relationships to Organisations: Transactional Complexity in Social Work in the Swedish Social Services

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 2098-2115
Author(s):  
Evelyn Khoo ◽  
Lennart Nygren ◽  
Ahmet Gümüscü
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Family Needs ◽  
Complex Needs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Interactive Relationship

Abstract This article explores how Swedish social workers in different sectors of the social services understand complexity in relation to the needs found in ‘family’ and in social work practice. This study is based on interviews with sixty social workers in five service sectors: child welfare, elderly care, disability care, substance abuse and social assistance. The social workers’ reports of understanding and dealing with families with complex needs reveal distinctions between deeply rooted and broadly based needs. Complex family needs are transformed into complex cases based on family composition, relationships between clients and social workers and organisational context. Complexity theory, and in particular the term transactional complexity, is applied to describe the interactive relationship in and between complex needs, relational complexity and organisational complexity. The boundaries between these three domains are not distinct, and the interconnectivity and complexities occurring in and between them contribute to the production of much of the ‘wickedness’ that exists in social work practice. Social workers may gain from this knowledge in order to unravel the often intangible complexity that commonly appears in social work with families.

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.

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