A Case At Beenleigh Magistrates Courthouse

Social work is based on respect for the inherent worth and dignity of all people as expressed in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights(1948) It is therefore of paramount importance that a social work professional should work towards promoting the best interests of individuals and groups in society. I very much recognize the contribution that social work brings to inclusion having worked alongside social workers during the course of my shadowing placement. I possess a real commitment to promote equality which I have had the pleasure of doing in a multitude of different roles. From academic journals as well as my lecture notes I now appreciate the central importance of using the fundamental principles of human rights and equality to underpin my practice, and the inherent need to promote justice in relation with the people I will work.

Utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the point where people interact with their environment. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work’. Social work origins arise from the effects of a change to an industrial sociality and increasing impact and focus upon poverty. However it is argued that current social work practice, as illustrated by the broad definition of social work by the IFSW, finds itself expected to address wider social issues such as racism, sexism, and discrimination relating to physical or mental ability. Furthermore social work itself has changed from its origins of a charity style response to social problems of poverty. Banks (1995, p1) argues that the changes to social work have introduced different roles for different purposes of ’redistribution of resources to those in need... social control and rehabilitation of the deviant’ Banks further argues that as social work changes, the emphasis is less upon a helping relationship and more on the distribution of resources and on social control.

This essay will address the ethical dilemmas faced by social workers and how they address these ethical dilemmas when working with service users and carers. It will be illustrated that codes of practice and codes of ethics are of paramount importance when dealing with these dilemmas as they are ones that guide social workers as to how they should try and solve these dilemmas.

Human services is a profession developed in response to the direction of human needs and human problems in the 1960's (Taylor,2015) Characterized by an appreciation of human beings in all of their diversity, human services offers assistance to its clients within the context of their communities and environments (Taylor,2015) The educator of Human service professional, guide to promote and motivate the distinctive values and characteristics of human services. Therefore, human service professionals sustain integrity and ethics of the job, encourage clients, communities, and magnify their own professional development. Some of the basic values of the human services profession include respecting the dignity and happiness of clients; promoting self-determination; respecting cultural differences; advocating for social equality; and to act with integrity, honor, kindness and fairness. Human service professionals utilize these standards in ethical and professional decision making (O’Brien,2010) Conflicts can occur from the code and laws, policies in the work place, cultural practices, credentialing boards, and personal beliefs (O’Brien,2010) A Human service professional should display their ethical-decision making during situations to assure they’re making careful choices.

Social work takes its values from various sources, including – Kantian, Utilitarian, Common Morality and Professional Codes of Conduct. Both the Kantian and Utilitarian theories cannot provide social work practice with a complete set of values and ethics. Both the theories have their limitation and strengths. Kant saw the world in black and white, even if a lie could prevent a greater evil the act of lying is fundamentally wrong. Utilitarian theory justifies actions by the end justifying the means. Social work concerns “respect for the person”, this idea originates from Kant, an eighteenth century German philosopher. Beauchamp (1996) defines the principle as a fundamental standard of conduct on which many other standards and judgements depend, a principle that provides an essential norm in a system of thought or belief. Common morality is the idea that all humans have an inbuilt awareness of certain moral norms e.g. murder is wrong, stopping a child running into the road is right. Western philosophy has been debating ethics and morality for thousands of years and still has not formalised a definition for them, so how can anyone truly understand? Furthermore, if the greatest philosophers throughout history have been debating ethics and morality, how can the common man truly understand it?

This essay will focus on how contemporary social workers work to balance the competing demand of care and control. It will start by outlining the nature of the contemporary social work and what it is like and how it works within society. The discussion will then move on to look at and discuss the key professional values of social work practitioners and analyse its relationship to their own personal values, this will also bring into account how these values and views influenced the relationship a social worker can have with both service users and other agencies. Lastly it will explore the range of challenges and dilemmas that are faced by social work practitioners in everyday practice when it comes to trying to balance the demand of care and control and how they work to overcome these problems in order to ensure an effective and fair service to all who avail of it.

Prior to 28th January 2015, bail laws posed significant loopholes in the system and are deemed to be ineffective to achieve justice. Accused offenders may get away with bail based with evidence in the case if it does not seem to pose a threat to the community. The problem persists within the conditions set for their bail, as responsibility lies upon the magistrate or police to impose appropriate conditions. However, though conditions do vary, it possesses a significant risk if the conditions enforced were not strict enough, opening vulnerabilities for the accused to commit another crime, slipping through their enforced conditions.

This report will be analysing the policies and legislations guiding the service user and the organisation caring for them. The importance of ethics in social care will also be explained .the case study will be discussed using the policies and legislations provided by the government.

The New South Wales (NSW) criminal justice system has been separated into “two tiers of justice”. The two tiers of justice involve the separation of lower and higher courts, where the lower courts are comprised of Local courts and the higher courts are comprised of District and Supreme courts. The local courts role lies mainly in exercising summary jurisdiction whereas more serious indictable offences are dealt with in higher courts. However, there is more than just a jurisdictional divide and there are other aspects that significantly distinguish the lower courts from the higher courts.

The journey towards the attainment of the Bachelor of the social work degree has been an enlightening and educational experience, as the individual is exposed to the realities of many social and political issues in the society. As a student, I ventured into the degree, with minimal insight as to how the degree can influence and shape the way I perceive the social world, and the way I relate these matters to myself. However, throughout my endeavour, which encompasses years of theoretical studies, and two intensive placements at two drastically different organisations, I believe I have accumulated the bare minimal knowledge to possess a solid foundation about the unfairness and inequality that people in disadvantaged conditions face. Social workers are predominantly found in welfare organisations which Howe (as cited in Limber, 2015) suggested largely influences the practice, direction and values of the social worker, and impacts on their ability to act autonomously (Lymbery, 2015). During my placements, there was a dominant theme that frequently stood out and enticed my attention. This was the accepted practice of focusing on the individual’s problem, as opposed to the social problems that existed and the lack of acknowledgement about the social restrictions of the human agency that limited self-determination. The realization that organisations were managed this way was important in ensuring that I made a proactive effort to understand and untangle the reasons behind such

IntroductionThis paper discusses and explores both case studies in order to find the powers and duties a social worker acting in a statutory capacity might exercise in these cases, how might they be exercised and how might wider principles of welfare law impact on their decision making? It also analyses the tensions and dilemmas that may exist, referring to specific legislative provisions, and identify how anti-oppressive practice might influence the resolution of these case studies. It also demonstrates an ability to study relevant law in social work practice and have a critical and analytical understanding of the service delivery standards and powers and duties of social workers, demonstrate a working knowledge and understanding of key

The basic division in the structure of criminal courts is between the lower criminal courts – the local courts, Children’s court and Coroner’s court – and the higher criminal courts – the District Court and the Supreme Court. In observing proceedings at the Local, District and Supreme Courts over a period of three days a number of aspects of the criminal justice system were made apparent. The administration, processes and practices of the criminal trial are extremely varied dependent upon the level of criminal court being observed. The distinctions between the workings of the two courts revealed a number of the differences between summary proceedings and trial upon indictment. The cases observed served to

In this essay I will be giving a brief introduction to the history of social work practice, by introducing the laws that contributed to its development. Explaining how the sub divisions divide into specialism 's within the variety of social work settings, using both public and private sectors to show understanding. Also, demonstrate knowledge of different legislation that has been introduced to social work practice over the past 25 years and why it is used in particular areas. Then to finalise using protection issues, how to justify why legislation was used by assessing the likely impact of results.

This essay will explore what it means to be a professional social worker and what the term ‘social work’ entails in contemporary England. Then, it will briefly focus on the history of social work regulation as well as exploring how ‘personal values’ and ‘professional values’ impact on social work practice and also explain how professional standards, codes, values and ethics are relevant to social work practice and their relevance to service users and carers.

Improving the lives of individuals is the objective of the social work profession. There is six values within National Association of Social work Code of Ethics (NASW): Service, Social Justice, Dignity, and Self-worth of the person, Importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. These values are for social workers and their work with the client(s). Regardless of one’s race, religious belief, sex or sexual orientation each value benefits all individuals. Social workers should always practice professional values. Clients suffer from when the social worker does not uphold values. Code of Ethics is established for all social workers to obey and follow them. In this this paper, I will discuss the how “Importance of Human Relationship” will be the easiest to uphold and how “Social Justice” will challenge me as a social worker working with future clients, community and organizations.