scholarly journals COMPETENCE-BASED APPROACH TO TRAINING SOCIAL WORKERS IN WORKING WITH CHILDREN FROM FAMILIES IN DIFFICULT LIFE CIRCUMSTANCES

Author(s):  
Olesya BIK ◽  

The family is recognized in the international community as the best condition for the survival, protection and development of children, the main center of society, the natural environment for humans. As has been repeatedly noted, the efforts of the state and the public should be con-centrated at the well-being of the family, creating conditions for the protection of its rights in society and the rights of family members. Today, there is an urgent need not only for social support for a family that has certain problems in its life, but also for special work with families who find them-selves in difficult life circumstances and have more serious psychosocial problems, such as systematic violations of human rights. Such families are traditionally dealt with by law enforcement agencies, human rights are protected by law, but prosecution cannot be the only approach, since our main goal must be to preserve the integrity of the family (its family feelings, ties). First of all, long-term socio-pedagogical work aimed at re-education, training of its members in new techniques and methods of interaction should be carried out. International experience shows that majority of govern-mental social programs are focused on families. Existing family life adaptation programs in the United States are designed for families at different stages of development, each targeting different types of family issues. One more program - "Intensive course for adults on raising children”. In England there is a John Barnes program, which aims to work with children in families experiencing a crisis. The job of a social worker or a teacher is to study such a family, tosimulate the change in relations between its members, tohelp in adaptation, to train parents in self-control. Teach them and their children how to set strategic and supporting goals. Help to overcome obstacles without corporal punish-ment. In Croatia, children, who exhibit deviant behavior, are engaged in “peer-to-peer” school mediation programs, while specialists work with parents, revealing the shortcomings of family psycho-emotional and educational dynamics. Professional social activity is currently intensifying and improving in Ukraine. Therefore, the social education sys-tem must be flexible, mobile, respond quickly to changes in social policy and the social sphere, the needs of individuals and society as a whole. The education of students majoring in "Social Work" at the National University "Lviv Polytechnic" is determined by the Canadian-Ukrainian model of training of social workers, adapted to national conditions and needs. In terms of pro-fessional competencies in working with children and fami-lies, such training includes the acquisition of knowledge and practical experience. This further gives the opportunity to develop their own innovative programs, based on experi-ence gained on the problems and needs of the client. The most widely represented is the cycle of profession-ally oriented disciplines, which includes a 90-hour course "Social work with children and families." The content of the discipline covers all the main aspects of the social worker's work with this category of clients: from the concept of fami-ly, its functions and role in the child's life and identifying aspects of family risk of crisis, to the processes of interven-tion and improvement of children's social security. Particu-lar attention in the subject is paid to topics of deviantology, causes, manifestations and types of deviant behavior. The section "Interventions" covers such topics as: the functions of a social worker; theoretical principles of family counseling; methods and forms of family counseling; pro-fessional intervention focused on the family; institutional model of care for abused and neglected children; preventive measures. The study of the "Improvement of children's social security service" topic includes a mandatory study of possible changes in the system of services and possible ways of policy formation in the field of social security. A characteristic feature of the training of social workers according to the Canadian-Ukrainian model is the teaching of professionally-oriented disciplines in the form of integrat-ed classes, which are divided into two main categories: lecture-practical and lecture-laboratory. Students' educational activities are diversified by excur-sions to social services, video classes, participation in vol-unteer actions, educational conferences, trainings, work of the international scientific-practical seminar organized at the Department of SR, meetings with well-known experts in the field of social work, etc. According to the concept of training specialists in the field of social work, the leading place in this process is occupied by practical training of students. The cycle of practical training of students includes different types of practical educational activities of students: internships within the semesters, organized by "blocks", and educa-tional and research workshops conducted on the basis of social services, lasts 4 semesters (years of study 3rd and 4th) and occurs once a week during a full working day. The workshop aims, in particular, to develop students' skills to carry out scientific research, during which they have the opportunity to collect the necessary empirical material to perform individual tasks in professionally-oriented disci-plines that have a research nature, and writing term papers and dissertations. When performing the tasks of educational practice and educational-research workshop, students have a real oppor-tunity to apply the acquired knowledge, skills and abilities in professionally- oriented, fundamental and other disci-plines.

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 20-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anaru Eketone

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


1996 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Gibelman ◽  
Philip H. Schervish

The authors review the current status of the social work labor force within the public sector by means of an analysis of the National Association of Social Workers member data base for 1988 and 1991, with additional data drawn from a 1993 member survey. Changes in the proportion and composition of the public social services labor force are documented, including education, experience, gender, and ethnicity. The decreasing professional social work labor force within public social services is discussed within the context of the realities of public social services practice and social work's historic place within this sector. The authors encourage debate about the implications of these trends, focusing on whether social work should influence labor-force trends or be influenced by them.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 7-9
Author(s):  
Vilija Blinkevičiūtė

The present text is the opening and welcome speech to the 4 international conference “Social work and the development of community services”, which was in 2001, Vilnius, November 23-24. The speaker was Vilija Blinkevčiūtė - the minister of Social security and work ministry of Lithuania Republic. The minister welcomed the participants of conference and presented the goals of the Eleventh Government of the Republic of Lithuania to develop and enhance the social assistance system.


Author(s):  
Maryna Lekholetova

The article presents an analysis of different approaches of domestic scientists to the interpretation of the concept of «social work management». The author surveys the features of management as an object of governance in the activities of a social worker. Features include the social nature of management information; the need for motivation methods that effectively influences and motivates professionals to better results in social work; availability of social workers' professional competence; the presence of problems with forecasting the results of management in the social sphere; the importance of current and final management results. The author proves the necessity of social workers' self-management skills (time management, motivation, stress resistance and recuperation, development of emotional intelligence) for the effective performance of management tasks in professional activities.  The article highlights the principles that should be followed in solving organizational and managerial tasks in social work management (purposefulness, ability of realization, adaptability, efficiency). The researcher presents the structure of social work management methods in the study (economic, administrative, social counselling, psychological and pedagogical influence, social influence). Research characterizes the methods of social work management while working with recipients of social services (methods of individual social work, methods of group social work, methods of community work, methods of social service design).


2018 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 488-499
Author(s):  
Yunxian Huang ◽  
Weijia Tan ◽  
A. Ka Tat Tsang

Social workers were introduced to funeral homes in China amid the transition and expansion of both the funeral home industry and the social work profession and are proving to play a valuable, though under-researched role in serving not just clients but also communities and funeral home staff. Funeral home social work fills gaps in after-death care and mental health and is distinct from palliative, hospice, end-of-life, and bereavement social work. Based on the experiences of funeral homes that employ social workers, this article argues that this innovation may bring new ideas to bridge some of the service gaps in after-death care in China and globally. This article outlines the support that will be needed from funeral homes, social work service agencies, and educational and research institutes to facilitate further development of funeral home mental health and social services and to promote the professionalization of funeral home social workers in China.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-241
Author(s):  
Gabriela Ježková Petrů

Further education of the employees in the field of social work is one of the future challenges. The goals of further education are constantly changing with regard to the changes in society and the requirements of the clients of social services. Social work represents a multidisciplinary conception of the performed work and a continual need for further education. In organizations, further education is implemented through various educational methods, which are also evolving. The article aims to identify which educational methods in the field of social work are preferred, both within the leading managerial positions and within the ones of social workers, and to describe the goals of further education in both groups. The goal was achieved through the quantitative research conducted in both groups – i.e. the managers and the social workers. Using the Survio platform, the research addressed organizations providing social serviced according to the Register of Social Service Providers of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic. The results were processed using descriptive statistics, and conclusions were drawn based on the results. The results showed different preferences of educational goals for managers who prefer the expansion of competencies and for social workers who prefer development. Research into the preference of educational methods has found that managers and employees prefer professional lectures, self‑education and Internet resources.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 109
Author(s):  
Putri Erika Ramadhani ◽  
Hetty Krisnani

Perceraian tidak hanya berdampak bagi yang bersangkutan (suami-isteri), namun juga melibatkan anak khususnya yang memasuki usia remaja, perceraian merupakan beban tersendiri bagi anak sehingga berdampak pada psikis. Reaksi anak terhadap perceraian orangtuanya, sangat dipengaruhi oleh cara orang tua berperilaku sebelum, selama dan sesudah perceraian. Metode dalam penulisan artikel ini menggunakan studi literatur. Studi literatur yaitu data sekunder yang dilakukan dengan diawali mencari kajian kepustakaan dari berbagai literatur seperti buku, jurnal ilmiah,  artikel, ataupun hasil penelitian sejenis yang telah dipublikasikan mengenai dampak perceraian orang tua terhadap anak remaja. Hingga saat ini dampak perceraian orang tua memang dapat memberikan dampak buruk bagi anak, baik fisik maupun psikologis anak. Sehingga perceraian memang perlu dipertimbangkan matang-matang, dan orang tua harus bisa memberikan pengertian yang baik kepada anak sehingga dapat mengurangi dan mengatasi dampak buruk pada anak pada saat perceraian terjadi. Tetapi fungsi keluarga untuk memberikan pengertian dan perhatian pada anak/remaja ternyata tidak berfungsi dalam kaitannya dengan kasus perceraian. Untuk mengatasi perlakuan salah tersebut, maka dalam praktik pekerjaan sosial, seorang pekerja sosial harus berupaya mewujudkan ketercapaian akan kesejahteraan bagi anak. Pekerja sosial dapat melakukan proses pertolongan sesuai dengan tahapan pertolongan pekerjaan sosial, pekerja sosial memberikan layanan konseling, serta  pekerja sosial memberikan layanan konseling keluarga.  Divorce is not only an impact to the concerned, but also involves children, especially those entering adolescence, divorce is an individual burden to the child so that it affects the psychic. The child's reaction to the divorce of its parents, is heavily influenced by the way parents behave before, during and after divorce. The method in writing this article uses literature studies. The study of literature is secondary data conducted by beginning to seek literature study from various literatures such as books, scientific journals, articles, or similar research results that have been published regarding the impact of divorce of parents To teenage children. Until now, the impact of parents ' divorce can adversely affect children, both physical and psychological. So the divorce does need to be considered mature, and parents should be able to give a good understanding to the child so as to reduce and overcome the adverse effects on the child at the time of divorce occurs. But the family function to provide understanding and attention in children/adolescents is not functioning in relation to divorce cases. To overcome such mistreatment, in the practice of social work, a social worker must strive to realize the welfare of the children. Social workers can do the relief process in accordance with the social job relief phases, social workers provide counseling services, as well as social workers to provide family counseling services.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Nykänen ◽  
Leena Mikkola

This study examines how disability service workers identify the discourses of the client-worker relationships. We studied the clientworker relationship from the perspective of the relational dialectics theory with a focus on relational contradictions and the meanings created within discursive struggles. We analyzed the interview data from 22 social workers using contrapuntal analysis. According to the social workers’ perceptions, two discursive struggles exist in client-worker relationships: i) the struggle of integration, consisting of the contradiction of the ideal and the real and the contradiction of closeness and reservedness and ii) the struggle of certainty, consisting of the contradiction of predictability and novelty and the contradiction of openness and closedness. These struggles and contradictions arranges on the societal and relational frames to fully depict the nature of social work. Overall, our analysis shows that the client-worker relationship is both bound to the norms of a professional and a close interpersonal relationship, making its study particularly interesting.


Author(s):  
Dariya Andreevna Vagapova ◽  
Svetlana Nikolaevna Ispulova

Currently, we can note positive trends in the formation and development of social service institutions for families. The dynamics of the main statistical indicators characterizing the formation and development of institutions for social services to the family indicates that the number of institutions for social services for families and the system of social protection of the population has increased signifi cantly. At the same time, the burden on specialists dictates the need to develop various mechanisms for working with families. This paper deals with the development and application of cases in social work with families.


Author(s):  
Leon Ginsberg

This chapter covers the criminal justice program structures and services and the ways in which social workers are involved in them. Social work’s involvement in the complex criminal justice system is extensive and varied. Direct or clinical practice with individuals, groups of individuals, and their families, are the primary activities of social workers in criminal justice. Social work, among the human services professions, is broader in its approaches than are most others. The social work profession not only focuses on direct or clinical services to clients and their families, but it also involves itself in larger system concerns, such as public policy and research. These nonclinical functions are included in the National Association of Social Workers’ Social Work Code of Ethics, social work licensing standards, and in programs of education for social workers.


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