Social Work Process In Children’s Homes

Question 1

I have been largely involved in child welfare social services having previously volunteered as a social worker within a private owned children’s home that is also funded by a non-governmental organization. The home majorly takes in young orphans and needy children who are homeless and provide them not only with food and shelter but also education and a chance of a better life. According to senior (2016) when it comes to child welfare especially in privatized organization such as children’s homes the most common model of contact used is the generalist intervention tool which generally encompass seven steps including: Engagement, Assessment, Planning, Implementation, Evaluation, Termination and follow up . While the organization I was involved with did not specifically follow the steps in sequential order or even entirely, the general social work process included Assessment, Planning, Implementation, Evaluation and Follow up all of which involve the various steps of the ASPIRE MODEL including Assessment, Planning, intervention, review and evaluation (Sutton, 1999).

The common social work process for such institutions especially when it comes to children’s welfare includes; investigating allegations of abuse, neglect, and maltreatment to locate children with poor living conditions (Louie, 2019). After which they are taken in, protected and supported to lead a better life. while my role was more in the implementation phase including providing services and help to the already taken in children, including social learning, help with their meals and general organization and administration of the children’s home, I would say that the institution often indulge various protocols and processes in taking in a child under their protection for the children’s own good. This includes Assessing a child’s background including any guardians or parents and other personal data as well as whether the children’s home could be the best place for them in line with their current position. Planning of the child’s care including source of funding and living plan, careers and life path as well as any possible adoptions are planned before being put in implementation by the children living within the children’s home. Periodic evaluation of the child’s growth and development is carried out afterwards providing relevant information for any follow up.

Based on the level of services afforded to the children in the children’s home, including a round the clock care of 20 children by four nurses taking 8 hour shifts and a support staff of a cleaner and cook including volunteers highlights a high level of care. The children are also effectively cared for and given all necessary necessities for growth and development. As such based on the experience of working there and the interaction with the children as well as their care givers, I can claim the quality of services offered by the institution as well as the caregivers to be of top standards above any required standards.

Among the strengths the institution has when it comes to provision of social services include an efficient social service staff including: loving and caring nurses that were very concerned and caring of all the children under their care at all times. In addition the support staff was also friendly and the entire institution operated under a very friendly organization culture that upholds ethical standards and human dignity. This above all else enabled the effective functionality of the institution in being able to support the growth and development of children. The institution also maintains records and uses significantly well structured means to get into contact with the children and take them in for protection.

Question 2

The three major values of that guide social work according to the BASW code of ethics include: Human rights, Social Justice and Professional Integrity. All of these values are significantly important n the area of child welfare given the vulnerability of the children and the duty of their protection. Among the three principles to focus on however include: Upholding and Promoting Human dignity and well being, Upholding Values and reputation of the profession and Challenging Discrimination (BASW, 2014).

These three principles are particularly important especially with consideration to the vulnerability of children and the necessity to protect and nurture them into responsible adults. Above all else all social workers should be able to respect, uphold and defend each person’s physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual dignity and well being regardless of whether or not they are children. Given the children’s inability to protect themselves however, social workers working within child welfare as such should especially be aware of this principle and make sure to uphold it at all times. In addition the social workers should further strictly uphold values and reputation of the profession enabling increased confidence from the public and significantly impacting success. At all times workers should be able to act professionally and treat the children with respect according to the set out professional standards in order to maintain their confidence in them and look up to them as mentors and supportive figures.

In addition discrimination is a significantly big issue that significantly impact children as they grow, being discriminated against could adversely impact a child’s self confidence and self appreciation leading to lack of achievement of their full potential in life. Given the major objective of the children’s home include providing the children with the best life and opportunity to grow and develop into responsible citizens’, care and love in equal measure is especially important and as such highlighting the need for social workers in this field especially to engage in challenging discrimination. BASW (2014) highlights that social workers have the responsibility to challenge discrimination on the basis of characteristics such as ability, age, culture, gender, skin color, sex, marital status, political opinions or any other physical qualities, sexual orientation or spiritual beliefs.

Upholding and promoting human dignity and well being is adhered to more easily and thoroughly within this area given the need to protect and care for children who are unable to care for themselves. As such social workers in child welfare are generally predisposed to promoting individual well being and dignity.

Potential tension that could arise within the areas of social work involving children welfare include discrimination of one or many children based on color or any other mentioned characteristics or qualities. This also goes against my personal values of equality and fairness. Resolution of such tension can however be carried out by educating the discriminating party o the wrongs they indulge in against human dignity and further ensure no occurrence of such again.

Question 3

Intervention in child welfare services often come as a result of reclaiming the children being abused by welfare services who are then assigned to other loving families that are in need of children. Hope and Van Wyk (2018) points out that, children are removed from their caregivers as a result of abuse and are placed at child and youth care centers. Maluccio (2013) further points out other services offered with the intervention to children to include counseling and Advocacy in case of any abuse experienced, family and caregiver support programs if the children do not receive enough care due to lack of enough resources and alternative living arrangements including out of home placement for the children.

Dufor and Chamberland (2003) Highlights four basic needs for children who require intervention including Deficits in social sensitivity and relationship development, which includes problems related to poor attachment formation, the development of empathy, and affective expression, Cognitive and moral development, which refers to poor social judgment and school performance in particular, Problems in self-control and aggression as well as Safety and protection from harm. While these different needs require different intervention techniques to impact change and improvement, studies highlights success in the intervention technique being able to impact some of the needs.

According to Westwater and Jovanovic (2009) the intervention has been able to bring about some positive changes for victims in cognition including change of attitudes, representations and knowledge as well as in behavior. While Dufor and Chamberland (2003) highlight contradictory findings on certain aspects they also point out that other aspects seem to be more difficult to modify with this intervention strategy for instance social attitudes in the children feeling of solitude, aggressiveness or inappropriate sexual behavior which highlight the limitations of the intervention process. however in comparison to leaving children in abusive families or without shelter or homes to be street children, the intervention strategy is effective in being able to effectively offer children shelter and families for support as well as love which can significantly change their attitudes and approaches towards life and proceed to be responsible adults within the society

Question 4

A major issue in child social welfare and protection as well as the highlighted intervention process is the lack of an effective model of intervention and practice of social care for these children. According to Hope and Van Wyk (2018) the lack of a practice model to guide professionals, as well as the significant challenges experienced by such professionals including high caseloads, staff turnover, lack of resources as well as the fact that the current intervention strategies in child protection are rushed due to bureaucracies, children are ripped off from their family and settled in other families leading to loss of emotional connection with anyone at all for the child. With a lack of emotional connection and guidance from a parent figure most children will often not recover from some of the problems and deeds experienced such as cognitive and moral as well as emotional problems like anger issues. Further Green et al. (2015) highlights that due to the rushed processes of finding these children other out of the house shelters including adopting families and adoption homes, most children end up with parents and families that are incompatible leading to a re assignments. Children who undergo this can further develop additional problems of social anxiety due to moving a lot in different families and set ups.

Another aspect is the various problems and needs that the children in questions have and whether this can be solved by the intervention processes. Dufor and Chamberland (2003) point out that results are contradictory on certain aspects of children’s needs and problems while others seem to be more difficult to modify, for instance feeling of solitude, aggressiveness or inappropriate sexual behavior could present a problem for solution of the welfare as well as the families that the children may be allocated too. This is specifically so given the lack of adequate information with how to solve such problems and needs in psychological perspectives. Dufor and Chamberland (2003) points out that while significant changes and improvement are documented in maltreated children’s intervention processes in terms of cognitive and behavioral changes some aspects have provided inconclusive results and thus a possible failure of the process. For any identified child maltreatment including physical or sexual abuse, neglect and exposure to domestic violence the intervention techniques have had significant success and impacted an improvement in the children’s cognitive, emotional and behavioral practices as they grow, however for unspecified abuse often the child’s trauma is retained despite some behavioral and physical changes.

From the article by Dufor and Chamberland (2003), I have learnt the importance of the intervention technique utilized in social care with regards to the problem needing solution especially when it comes to children’s welfare. While the interventions may be effective and conducted in the most effective manners they still may fail to work due to the approach in relation to the child’s needs and problem. As such establishment of the child’s needs in the assessment period of social care provision should intensively indulge in highlighting the child’s needs and any problems that should be intensely addressed in the process of the intervention.

References

• BASW (2014). Code of Ethics. [online] BASW. Available at: https://www.basw.co.uk/about-basw/code-ethics [Accessed 3 Jan. 2020].
• Dufour, S. and Chamberland, C. (2003). The Effectiveness of Child Welfare Interventions: A Systematic Review. [online] Cwrp.ca. Available at: https://cwrp.ca/sites/default/files/publications/en/SKRNoApp.pdf [Accessed 3 Jan. 2020].
• Green, B., Ayoub, C., Bartlett, J., Furrer, C., Von Ende, A., Chazan-Cohen, R., Klevens, J. and Nygren, P. (2015). It's not as simple as it sounds: Problems and solutions in accessing and using administrative child welfare data for evaluating the impact of early childhood interventions. Children and Youth Services Review, 57, pp.40-49.
• Hope, J. and van Wyk, C. (2018). Intervention Strategies Used by Social Workers in Emergency Child Protection. Social Work, 54(4).
• Louie, K. (2016). Guide to Child Welfare Social Work. [online] Onlinemswprograms.com. Available at: https://www.onlinemswprograms.com/careers/types-of-social-work/guide-to-child-welfare-social-work.html [Accessed 3 Jan. 2020].
• Maluccio, A. (2013). Children: Practice Interventions. Encyclopedia of Social Work, 5(3), pp.96-132.
• Westwater, G. and Jovanovic, V. (2009). Evaluation of Child Protection Unit intervention within the framework of social welfare system reform and decentralisation of social service processes in Albania. [online] Unicef.org.

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