Vulnerability, Law, and Dementia: An Interdisciplinary Discussion of Legislation and Practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Titti Mattsson ◽  
Lottie Giertz
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Social Work Research ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
Social Welfare System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Vulnerability Theory

AbstractLegislation for dementia care needs to be continually rethought, if the rights of older persons and other persons with dementia are to be addressed properly. We propose a theoretical framework for understanding vulnerability and dependency, which enables us to problematize the currently prevailing legal conception of adults as always able — irrespective of health or age — to act autonomously in their everyday lives. Such an approach gives rise to difficult dilemmas when persons with dementia are forced to make decisions on their own about basic living conditions, such as housing and care, without decision-making support. In Sweden, for example, such matters are frequently left to the person him- or herself to decide, often without any assistance from social workers, and with family members serving as caregivers of last resort.Using vulnerability theory as the framework for our discussion, we argue that policymakers should not apply a group-oriented approach (based on factors like age, legal status, or mental capacity) to persons suffering from dementia. The needs of such individuals are as complex and varied as they themselves are. We discuss our findings from an interdisciplinary (law/social work) research project in which we examine the dilemma that social workers face when they are required, under the terms of the Swedish Social Services Act, to determine whether persons with dementia are to be granted support.We argue further that a cross-disciplinary approach — in which vulnerability theory furnishes the framework — opens up for new ways of understanding and developing social welfare law and practice. This, we believe, can help us better address the rights, interests, and needs of people with dementia, of their families, and of professionals in the social welfare system. Finally, many of the problems faced by ageing societies in general can be understood on the basis of such an approach.

scholarly journals The purposes of cultural supervision

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 20-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anaru Eketone
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Services Sector ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types

If you are working in the social services sector, over 40 and Māori, chances are that you will have been asked to provide cultural supervision for a younger Māori worker. However, when you ask what do they mean by cultural supervision, after a slightly panicked look, you can get a variety of different answers. They all know that it is supposed to be done, that it is considered important, in fact some are required by their employers or contracts to have it, but until very recently few seem to know what they actually wanted. This article reports on a brief research project as part of a Masters in Social Welfare programme that interviewed Māori social workers and Māori and Pākehā social work managers about their expectations and experiences of cultural supervision. The participants were asked four questions about the purpose of cultural supervision, who should get cultural supervision, the qualities of a cultural supervisor and problems they had encountered in cultural supervision. Four different types of cultural supervision are identified

SOCIAL WORKERS IN THE POLISH SOCIAL ASSISTANCE SYSTEM. A FEW REMARKS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE SYSTEM

2021 ◽  
Vol specjalny (XXI) ◽  
pp. 331-347
Author(s):  
Wiesław Koczur
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Assistance System ◽  
Full Time ◽  
System A ◽  
Social Welfare System ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Times

This article presents – in the context of the evolution of the Polish public social assistance system – the genesis and shaping of the personnel of this system, with particular emphasis on the place and role of social workers in this system. Attention was drawn to the direction of the evolution of the personnel of the Polish social assistance system: from the honorary activities of social workers in the times of the Second Polish Republic (1918-1939), through a mixed model of full-time social workers supported by a network of socially active local social workers in the times of the Polish People’s Republic, to professional social service, performing the regulated profession of a social worker in modern times. It also indicated how social workers were perceived in different periods of the evolution of the social welfare system and how the regulations of their legal status were assessed

scholarly journals Małżeństwo w kryzysie: czy warto/należy ratować je „za wszelką cenę"? – refleksje nad wybranymi problemami klientów pomocy społecznej

Sympozjum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2 (41)) ◽  
pp. 65-88
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Słowik
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Statistical Data ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Social Welfare System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Theoretical Considerations

A marriage in crisis: is it worth / should it be saved „at all costs"? – reflections on selected problems of social welfare clients The reports on the increasing number of divorces/separations in Poland and the statistical data on the scale of the problem of addictions and violence (in the social welfare system, and not only), became a contribution to the theoretical considerations on the need and limits of saving marriages in crisis affected by the above mentioned problems. It was explained: from what it is worth/necessary to save a marriage in crisis, who is to save it, how to do it, what it means „at all costs” (who pays what price?) and where are the limits of saving? The issues presented in this article may be interested to many counselors, therapists, social workers, and spouses caught up in addiction and/or violence. Doniesienia o wzrastającej liczbie rozwodów/separacji w Polsce, a także dane statystyczne na temat skali problemu uzależnień i przemocy (w systemie pomocy społecznej i nie tylko) stały się przyczynkiem do podjęcia teoretycznych rozważań nad potrzebą i granicami ratowania małżeństw w kryzysie dotkniętych wyżej wymienionymi problemami. Wyjaśniono: przed czym warto/należy ratować małżeństwo w kryzysie, kto ma je ratować, w jaki sposób to robić, co to znaczy „za wszelką cenę” (kto i jaką cenę ponosi) oraz gdzie się znajdują granice ratowania. Przedstawiona w tym artykule problematyka może być interesująca dla wielu doradców, terapeutów, pracowników socjalnych oraz dla małżonków uwikłanych w problem uzależnienia i/lub przemocy.

scholarly journals Voldsramte migrantkvinder - Om køn, kultur og mandlig afmagt

1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Britta Mogensen
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Battered Women ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Battered Woman ◽  
Residence Permit ◽  
Male Violence ◽  
Social Welfare System ◽  
The Social

This article deals with the battered immigrant women's plight on leaving her batterer, especially when having no knowledge of Danish and no residence permit in her own right. Her encounter with the social welfare system and the police for aid and support may turn out to be a difficult task as - in spite of the law - individual social workers and police officers still deny a battered woman her rights. I argue that this is caused by an alliance between patriarchy and psychotherapy, the former presupposing the subordination of women,and the latter defining male violence as en expression of powerlessness. These ideas along with the notion that if a battered woman does not leave her batterer she is suffering from the battered woman's syndrome and is psycologically paralysed are devastating to a battered women who attempts to get away from a violent man.

New Trends in the Digitalization of Social Welfare and Social Services in Russia

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-49
Author(s):  
S.E. Gasumova ◽  
◽  
A.V. Karpunina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Social Welfare System ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
Informal Communities ◽  
Perm Region

in the article on the basis of the network approach, a scientific analysis of trends in the digitalization of social welfare and social services is proposed, the stages of this process are highlighted. The features of interaction of social work subjects with citizens in the context of digitalization in Russia are shown. Particular emphasis is placed on the inevitability of accelerating the introduction of digital technologies under the influence of the self-isolation regime due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Based on a number of empirical studies conducted in the Perm Region in 2019–2020, the problems and prospects of digitalization of the social welfare system and social services are described, new trends in this area are shown. We also is analyze the formation of informal communities in the virtual space, allowing the population to independently create additional, alternative channels of self-information about measures of social support or social services. Some recommendations are proposed for improving the process of digitalization of social welfare and social services, some expectations of society in this direction are shown.

The ups and downs of the professionalization of social work in Poland after 1990. The comments on the debate

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 108-124
Author(s):  
Kazimiera Wódz ◽  
Krystyna Faliszek
Keyword(s):  
Complex System ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Central Administration ◽  
Social Welfare System ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Control ◽  
Institutional Foundations

The article attempts to present the process of professionalization of social work in Poland after 1989. It was shown in terms of the classical attribution model and in the concept of Abbott, in which the essence of the pro-fessionalization process is primarily the functioning of the profession in a complex system of internal and exter-nal dependencies. Analyses indicate that the process of professionalization of social work in Poland is currently far incomplete, and the ongoing and planned changes in the social welfare system are unlikely to favour its development. We deal with specific monopolistic practices of the state in shaping the institutional foundations of social assistance in accordance with the interests of the central administration, which seeks to shift responsibility for implemented activities to external entities, retaining full and even increased possibilities of exerting influence and control. This is also reflected in the ongoing attempt to standardize social services, which is ultimately an element of deprofessionalisation of social work

scholarly journals Examination of Employment for Mental Health Purposes in the Social Welfare Systemin the Social Welfare System

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-23
Author(s):  
Rita Kolumbán
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Social Welfare System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Mental Health Activity

Mental health is an essential element of many social services. In the course of our research, we are looking for the answer to how mental health activity develops in the services of the Hungarian social network in Transylvania, what types we recognize, and whether they are compatible with the forms of activities found in the literature. Who and how they work in these processes? In our study, we present the partial results of the research examining 240 services. Keywords: mental health, occupational therapy

scholarly journals “When we talk about intimate partner violence we talk in an adult way” – Social workers’ descriptions of intimate partner violence between teenagers

2021 ◽  
pp. 147332502110028
Author(s):  
Emmy Högström Tagesson ◽  
Carina Gallo
Keyword(s):  
Intimate Partner Violence ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Intimate Partner ◽  
Treatment Quality ◽  
Age And Gender ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender

This article examines how seven social workers within the Swedish social services describe intimate partner violence between teenagers (IPV-BT). The article adds to the literature by examining IPV-BT outside a U.S. context, where most studies have been conducted. Based on semistructured qualitative interviews, the authors analyze descriptions of IPV-BT in relation to Charles Tilly’s notion of category making through transfer, encounter, negotiation, and imposition. They also analyze how the social workers’ descriptions of IPV-BT relate to the intersection between age and gender. The results show that the social workers mostly described IPV-BT by referring to encounters with teenagers and by transferring knowledge and theoretical definitions from their specialized working areas, primarily intimate partner violence between adults (IPV-BA) and troubled youth. More rarely, the social workers based their definitions of IPV-BT upon negotiating dialogues with teenagers. Also, those who worked in teams specialized on IPV had the mandate to impose their definitions of IPV-BT to other professionals and teenagers. When taking age and gender hierarchies in consideration, the results show IPV-BT risks being subordinate IPV-BA on a theoretical level, a practical level and in terms of treatment quality. The study suggests that social work with IPV-BT needs to be sensitive to the double subordinations of the teenage girl and of the teenagers who do not follow gender expectations.

scholarly journals Exploring the experiences of social workers in working with children suspected to have fetal alcohol spectrum disorders

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-172
Author(s):  
David J Gilbert ◽  
Raja AS Mukherjee ◽  
Nisha Kassam ◽  
Penny A Cook
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Fetal Alcohol ◽  
The Social ◽  
Prenatal Alcohol ◽  
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum ◽  
Lack Of Knowledge

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is one outcome from prenatal alcohol exposure. Social workers are likely to encounter children with the condition, due to the greater likelihood of prenatal alcohol exposure among children in social services settings. This study explores the experiences of social workers in working with children suspected of having FASD and the support offered to social workers, the children and their families. Semi-structured interviews followed by qualitative framework analysis were conducted with seven child and family social workers along with one child protection solicitor who had experience of handling FASD cases. The two main themes that emerged from the data were a lack of knowledge about FASD and the paucity of diagnosis. Lack of knowledge among the social workers was linked to difficulty in managing children suspected to have the condition, feelings of frustration and normalisation of challenging behaviours. The paucity of diagnosis led to an under-emphasis of FASD in assessments, a dearth of specialist services and confusion about its specific effects in contexts of multiple substance misuse and harmful socio-environmental factors. The need for increased FASD awareness within social services and the development of FASD-targeted support for children and families is highlighted. Social workers would benefit from the inclusion of FASD-focused training in their curricula and professional development plans. Improving the diagnostic capacities of health institutions would address the paucity of diagnosis and raise the profile of FASD, especially in the social services setting.

Readiness and regulation: perspectives of Canadian stakeholders on the labour mobility of internationally educated social workers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Brown ◽  
Annie Pullen Sansfaçon ◽  
Kate Matheson
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Research Council ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Labour Mobility ◽  
Cultural Adaptations ◽  
Social Welfare System ◽  
The Social ◽  
Neoliberal Ideology ◽  
Regulatory Bodies

This chapter synthesises the data from two knowledge exchange fora where the findings of a four-year research study funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) were shared with, and subsequently responded to by, social work employers and provincial regulators as well as internationally educated social workers. The key themes of knowledge, values, and skill transfer, cultural adaptations, and understanding of the Canadian social welfare system align with the priorities of migrant social workers themselves (Pullen Sansfaçon et al, 2014), suggesting a congruence of central concerns. At the same time, tensions exist between the actual, lived experiences of the social workers and the expectations and practices of the stakeholder group. In this chapter we analyse these points of convergence and divergence, shaped as they are by Canadian social welfare’s prevailing neoliberal ideology and its structural manifestations brought to bear on social work service employers, supervisors, and regulatory bodies.

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