Discussion 1

 The social worker’s role is to support the family and connect them to resources and services including the parenting classes.  There are many visible (lack of transportation, need for language interpretation) barriers and invisible barriers (shame, fear, confusion about expectations, etc) which prevent families like the one in the case study from following through.  What strategies might a social worker use to address these two kinds of barriers? 

Discussion 2

 What’s the damage, what’s the impact of the social worker’s bias and prejudice against an LGBTQ client? 

Discussion 3

Child Welfare Policy II

Policies in any domain determine what can and cannot be done within that domain, and social work is no exception. Social workers need to be prepared to assume and maintain leadership roles in public discussions about policies, programs, and services affecting children and their families. In fact, the social work profession’s role as a voice for children, their families, their education, and their future was a key element in its development—and it is as vital today as it has been at any other time in history.

How do you think understanding and being able to analyze policies in social work could help you as a social worker? Could you operate within the guidelines of policies without thoroughly understanding them? Could you propose amendments to existing policies or argue for new policies without being able to analyze the existing policies?

This week, you analyze the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) child welfare initiatives, as well as past and current social policy related to a social issue you select. You also identify funding levels associated with a specific welfare policy.

Learning Resources

Required Readings

NASW. (2009). Social work speaks. Washington, DC: NASW Press.
Child Abuse and Neglect (pp. 42–48)

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (n.d.) Laws & policies. Retrieved from https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/laws-policies/

The Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2013). Kids count data center. Retrieved from http://www.datacenter.kidscount.org

Social Policy: Child Abuse and Neglect

Protecting children from abuse and neglect is a cornerstone of the social work profession. Social work professionals strive to ensure that children grow into healthy, well-developed adults. They also develop, implement, and evaluate policy initiatives regarding child welfare. Such initiatives should aim to not only reduce child abuse and neglect, but also provide support for children’s development and resources that will enhance their well-being. As a social worker, to what extent do you understand the existing policies addressing child abuse and neglect? In addition, how prepared are you to propose new policy initiatives in this regard?

For this Discussion, review the resources, including the NASW’s policy statement on child abuse and neglect on the NASW website. Pick one of the NASW positions and consider a policy initiative you would introduce to further that initiative. Be sure to think about the policies that already exist in your state and how this initiative might alter existing policies.

By Day 3

Post a brief description of the position you selected from the NASW policy statement on child abuse and neglect. Then, describe a policy initiative you might introduce to further that position. Finally, describe the policies that already exist in your state and explain how your initiative might alter these existing policies.

 Respond to at least two colleagues who selected a different position from the one you selected by suggesting how the policy initiative can be achieved. Be sure to identify any challenges or obstacles you see in passing and implementing the initiative. 

Discussion 1

 Chana Smith RE: Discussion – Week 8COLLAPSE

From the NASW policy,I agree with the position that states that in domestic violence cases, the child along with the non offending parent or guardian should be left in the home. The parent who was the offender should be removed instead of the child and the non offending parent as to avoid disrupting the child’s sense of stability (NASW, 2009).We should do what we can to prevent causing more damage to our clients as we provide resources and aid to address the issues that they are dealing with.   A Social workers responsibility is to do no harm (NASW, 2008). 

A policy initiative that I might introduce would be to incorporate a mental health professional to address the victims needs in domestic violence cases. Currently, after the offending parent or abuser is removed from the home, there isn’t a policy in place to have a mental health profession to come out to the home and assess the non offending parent and the children, This could help the children process what is has happened and aid them on how to cope move forward in a healthy way. 

A policy that already exists in Greenville, NC is called Child Trauma Response Initiative. This initiative appears to only be available in some areas. I would further the initiative by making it mandatory that counselors in every state visit the home of a domestic violence victim. They would be required to assess and counsel the non-offending parent and children once the offending parent/guardian is removed. 

Discussion 2

 Tameka Sutton RE: Discussion – Week 8COLLAPSE

In this week’s discussion, we are to understand the NASW’s resources of a policy statement on the social welfare topic of child abuse and neglect. We are to select an NASW policy statement and create an initiative that the social work practitioner would welcome to give more substance to the selected NASW policy. We are to describe the child abuse and neglect policies that govern our home state.

The NASW policy statement position of choice is, “children have a right to be treated with respect as individuals and to receive culturally sensitive services. Children have a right to express their opinions about their lives and have those opinions considered in all placement and judicial proceedings.”  A policy initiative welcomed to accompany the NASW policy statement is the proposal to have the judicial system use the child’s (age 6 to juvenile) spoken thoughts and feelings about “who” and “where” they would like to reside.  There are state statutes that recognize determining the best interest of a child, with not having a criterion for “best interest” of the child (“Child Welfare Information Gateway. Laws & Policies,” n.d.).In the state of North Carolina, there is a statue that determines the best interest of a child in the subchapter Gen. Stat. § 7B-100 report, “to provide procedures for the hearing of juvenile cases that assure fairness and equity and that protect the constitutional rights of juveniles and parents.”

A juvenile considered are the ages between 10 and 18.  A child with an opinion as to “who” and “where” they would like to reside ages 6 to 10 years would not be a consideration because the child age is not recognized as a juvenile. Which places the child’s right as null and void — taking the step in welcoming the initiative to request that the ages of the child be lowered to 6 years old, position the child’s spoken opinions and feelings to be relevant to the case. This initiative will change the present statue by having a standard in the definition of the “best interest of the child” in the state of North Carolina.

In the state of North Carolina, child abuse and welfare has a Gen. Stat.§ 7B-507 report, “to provide standards, consistent with the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, P.L. 106-89, for ensuring that the best interests of the juvenile are of paramount consideration by the court and that when it is not in the juvenile’s best interest to be returned home, the juvenile will be in a safe, permanent home within a reasonable amount of time.”

Question

 You identified some interesting policies in your post; what suggestions do you have to improve or revise these policies? What are some of the unintended consequences?