Social Construction
The idea of social work revolves around human beings who are capable of making their own decisions and choices. Sheppard (2006, p.3) argued that the main objective of social work is to provide empowerment that will involve maintenance, social functioning and coping with the problem. It is a common among social workers to provide assistance to those people who experience poverty. The study of Asquith, Clark, and Waterhouse (2012) have revealed that the poor and unemployed are hostile towards social workers during the initial stages of the counseling because they develop a sense of being rejected by society and breeds discomfort that has been reinforced due to the negative perception of unemployment. As a result, poverty and unemployment has threatened the “fabric of identity” for the poor people who belong to the lowest level of the social strata. At the same time, it results to a misconception that other people despise them due to their social status that can result to trauma and anxiety. It has been a common notion that being jobless and having no source of livelihood will result to a stigmatizing
behavior during the first instance.
Social Work Services for Children
Based on the report of Nandy (20120, the poverty rate in UK has increased for the past decade. The children of poor families have often become the victims of poverty since they are not provided their basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, education and guidance of their parents. However, there was failure on the part of the government to recognize that poverty has affected the children while they are outside of the school premises despite its significant impact on the their performance in school. For the past years, the out-of-school support for children who come from poor families have been decreased due to the local grants and budget settlements. As a result, the youth services have diminished as well as the financial aid given to families below the poverty line have disappeared (Nandy 2010). In addition, it is unfortunate that many have speculated that child poverty will continue to grow in number and has placed the social workers are under tremendous pressure.
Asquith, Clark, and Waterhouse (2012) stated that social work has often been misunderstood by the public since it is equally influenced by its association with public scandals that involve children. There have been several public survey results that have revealed that social work earned a negative public image for lack of explanation given to the public regarding its purpose. Thus, the impact on public acknowledgement and understanding of social work had been partly influenced by the publicized cases involving children. In order to remove the negative perception on social work, it is recommended that the future of social work must take into consideration the value of public opinion as one element of that comprise the social context within which the social work functions. This view has been supported in the work of Asquith, Clark and Waterhouse (2012).
People in Poverty
The term poverty has been defined in different contexts by policy makes and academicians. The common denominator among these experts is that they are people who live with meager resources. However, the definition of poverty given by the United Nations (UN) became the standard definition of poverty. For UN, absolute poverty shall refer to the condition that is characterized by severe deprivation of the basic necessities of man such as food, clothing, potable water, sanitation facilities, shelter, health care and education. The two elements of poverty are lack of income, inadequate livelihood, dangerous environment and social discrimination (Seymour, 2000, p. 5).
Attitude/Behavior of the Poor People
Those people who are considered poor or belonging to the poverty level share the common the belief that they are accountable for their own misfortune. Some of those who are regarded as the poorest among the poor are likely to impose self-blame. Low self-esteem and self-blaming is prevalent among these groups of people. It is believed that such perception and attitude influence the way they think and act (Streliz and Lister, 2008). At the same time, there are also those affluent or rich individuals who claim that the poor people have adapted the negative psychological behavior because of their own doing. Thus, it is believed that poverty is both a cause and a consequence of poor mental health and can cause depression. There is a direct causal relationships between poor mental health and poverty, in such a way that poverty is an effect of depression for being unemployed. This view has been supported in the work of Streliz and Lister (2008).
Result of Poverty
In most countries, there is a perennial over-representation of minorities who are placed inside the prisons because of their economic backgrounds, and those who are poor and uneducated have a higher possibility to become criminals. As a result, those people who are at the bottom of the social hierarchy are expected to incur higher number of arrests, convictions, and prison admission (Poulin, 2009). This theory has been supported by claims of both the economists and sociologists who have concluded that individual members who come from low-income families are most likely to engage in criminal activities because of lack of employment opportunities, particularly for those who reside in the poor urban communities. In most cases, the poor people resort to illegitimate drug trade to earn income and disregard the possibility of being arrested and imprisoned. This will affirm the theory that there is a direct causal relationship between economics and sociology, where poverty increases criminality in communities. It is believed that crime is initiated by circumstances such as poverty, lack of education, and discrimination or social barrier between the rich people and the poor people. This view has been supported in the work of Poulin (2009).
Role of Social Workers
The social workers are required to initiate timely action to help alleviate the lives of the poor as part of their moral obligations. Beckett and Maynard (2005) stated that it is a reminder for them the social work is regarded as a value based profession that is meant to improve the lives of other people by trying to ease their burden. Such profession requires service for others, which includes those who are poor and underprivileged. At the same time, it is a result of the strong desire of social workers to contribute in their social obligation to improve their condition especially for the people who experience personal problems. These conflicts are oftentimes family-related concerns that they have to undergo in their respective homes. Social work is regarded as a service profession that accompanied by customary principles and beliefs. This view has been supported in the work of Poulin (2009, p. 16).
Based on the NASW Code of Ethics, social work is deeply associated with values and ethical principles that shall cover service to others, social justice, dignity and worth of a person, and giving importance to preserve human relationships. The most common problems of families that are being encountered by social workers include lack of work opportunities, absence or inadequate job skill, lack of shelter or home, poverty, financial distress, serious illness or disability, drug abuse which may result to an anti-social behavior. This view has been supported in the work of Kumar (2004). It has been identified that the role of the social workers is apply solutions and cost-efficient measures to resolve these conflicts, by giving free consultation and counseling to these people and guarantee that treatment services are afforded to them to relieve them from such complicated scenarios.
Asquith, Clark, and Waterhouse (2012) stated that the role of social workers can be influenced by the changes in social context that shall include demographic changes, especially for those people who belong to the aging population since it can cause an effect of the ability of families to provide care for their dependents. At the same time, poverty and social exclusion are that are considered important and have become continued provision of social work.
Conclusion
In this study, the intended learning for social workers has been achieved. In fact, those social workers who have been operating through direct practice are designated to render services that may be in the form of casework, community organization, administration or field of practice, which may fall under the field of medical, industrial, psychiatric care, child welfare and education. Thus, it can be concluded that the role of the social caseworkers is focused mainly in identifying problems of individual persons. At the same time, it shall include the ability to maintain the level of socially oriented awareness of unit and community workers, by keeping in the willpower of proportionately distinct professional identities. This view has been supported in the work of Lesser and Pope (2011). Therefore, as a guiding principle for all social workers, the National Association of Social Workers Code or NASW was created to place them in the proper perspective while they perform their official duties. This is in association with their duties to clients and by upholding the values of integrity and service. Social workers have the primary goal to provide assistance to the poor and address other social problems in the future. Finally, social work advocates public service since it follows the principle of love for nation instead of advancing self-interest (Poulin, 2009). It was a realization the social work deals with several functions such as a case worker, or a counselor, an advocate, assessor of risk and a partner to his or her clients. Being an advocate of the poor means providing assistance and support to both poor individuals and groups and by becoming their spokesperson in such a way that they will be given the voice to express their wishes, sentiments, needs, goals and aspirations. This view has been supported in the work of Asquith, Clark and Waterhouse (2012).
References
Adams, R., 2010. The Short Guide to Social Work. UK: The Policy Press.
Asquith, S., Clark, C. and Waterhouse, L. The Role of the Social Worker in the 21st Century:
A Literature Review, 2012. [online]. Scottish Executive. Available at : http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/47121/0020821.pdf. [Accessed 21 June 2013].
Banks, S., 2006. Ethics and Values in Social Work, 3rd ed. Basingtoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Beckett, C. and Maynard, A, 2005, ‘Values and Ethics in Social Work’, Sage, London.
Dolgoff, R., Loewenberg, F.M. and Harrington, D. 2012. Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice. California: Cengage.
Gray, M., Midgley, J. and Webb, S.A., 2012. The SAGE Handbook of Social Work. California:
Sage.
Hugman, R., 2008. Ethics in a World of Difference. Ethics and Social Welfare, 2(2):118-32.
Hutson, S. and Liddiard, M., 1996. Youth Homelessness: The Construction of a Social Issue. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Jenkins, R., 2008. Rethinking Ethnicity: Arguments and Explorations. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage
Koehn, D., 1994. The Ground of Professional Ethics. London: Routledge.
Kumar, H, 2004, Social Work. New Delhi: Chawla Offset Press.
Lesser, J.G. and Pope D.S. ,2011. Human Behavior and the Social Environment: Theory and Practice. New York: Pearson.
Lyons, K.H., Hokenstad, T., Pawar, M., Huegler, N. and Hall, N., 2012. The SAGE Handbook of International Social Work. California: Sage.
Nandy, L., 2012. As child poverty increases, social workers must be supported. The Guardian. [online] Available at :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/social-care-network/2012/oct/24/social-workers-child-poverty. [Accessed 21 June 2013].
Parrott, P., 2012. Values and Ethics in Social Work Practice. California: Sage.
MacIntyre, A., 2002. A Brief History of Ethics. London: Routledge.
Mohan, B., 2008. Rethinking International Social Work. International Social Work, 51 (1): 11-24.
Poulin, J., 2009, Strengths-Based Generalist Practice: A Collaborative Approach. California: Cengage Learning.
Reichert, E., 2003. Social Work and Human Rights. New York: Columbia University Press.
Seden, J., Matthews, S., McCormick, M. and Morgan, A., 2010. Professional Development in Social Work: Complex Issues in Practice. London: Routledge.
Seymour, J., 2000. Poverty in Plenty: A Human Development Report for the UK. UK: Earthscan.
Sheedy, M., 2013. Core Themes in Social Work: Power, Poverty, Politics and Values. England: McGraw Hill.
Sheppard, M., 2006. Social Work and Social Exclusion: The Idea of Practice. England:
Ashgate.
Strelitz, J. and Lister, R., 2008. Why Money Matters: Family Income, Poverty and Children's
Lives. UK: Save the Children.
The Policy, Ethics and Human Rights Committee, 2012. The Code of Ethics for Social Work.
UK: British Association of Social Workers.
