Social Work In Public Schools

Social workers play a crucial role in many professional realms. With the focus on social workers in educational settings, I interviewed Erika Bougdanos who is a Dean of Students at Niles North High School, located in north suburban Skokie, Illinois. Bougdanos has been working at Niles North for over ten years as a Dean and holds her MSW degree and Type 75 certification (Illinois Administrative Certificate). Bougdanos mentioned that although the high school is highly ethnically diverse, the majority of the student population is White. While Bougdanos interacts with many students throughout her work week, she mentioned that the students she primarily sees in her office are those from low-income or minority backgrounds.

Social workers are responsible for helping those who suffer with such social problems. They explore options that will help the poor live adequately. For those who may need assistance, social workers have access to resources that can help financially. One of the available resources is emergency cash for security deposit, this is used to help individuals or families pay their security deposit for housing (Torrico, 2009). Not only will social workers help the clients with the pay of the housing deposits, they can also explore other housing options such as, low-income housing units, housing vouchers and other housing programs that may link to permanent housing. They’re to be familiar with the local housing grant programs and also ways to connect to community resources such as churches and schools. The connection social workers have with the community resources can be helpful for families that way children are kept in a safe and adequate environment (National Association of Social Workers,

School social workers not only provide direct services to children who require basic needs or exhibit challenging behavior, but also lead prevention efforts that support children through building the capacity of family members, other school staff, and community agencies to improve student outcomes (NASW, 2012)

Social workers must be cognizant of the various risk factors that potentially affect the adolescence developmental stage. Therefore, it is important that social workers are aware of school practices that incite the devastating process of school-to-prison pipeline which push students particularly students of color and students with disabilities out of the classrooms into the juvenile criminal justice system. Moreover, social workers must understand the risk factors that affect quality education and equality. Therefore, Social workers must continue to work towards changing adverse school policies through, advocacy, legislation reform, and societal awareness.

School social workers can become change agents in their agencies, and assist schools in developing workshops so that school administrators and staff are trained and educated on the needs and educational challenges of undocumented students (Perez, 2010).

Social workers should be able to expand into school in a less restrictive approach. School Social Work Association of America states that, “School Social Workers are trained mental health professionals who can assist with mental health concerns, behavioral concerns, positive behavioral support, academic and classroom support, consultation with teachers, parents and administrators as well as provide individual and group counseling/therapy.” (2012). School social workers can work alliance with education staff to improve the academic outcome as we know that there are environmental factors that affect a child in which is reflected in the academic assessments. Through the skills and knowledge that the social workers retain, they can educate the district and public to improve the quality the education that is provided.

The first two chapters in School Social Worker: A Direct Practice Guide, by JoAnn Jarolmen, overviews the history, the theoretical frameworks along with interventions used, and what a typical day can entail for school social workers. An important legislation, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990, assisted the social workers in establishing their place in the schools through the services they provided (p. 3). Overtime, the job focus of the school social workers became broader and encompassed the emotional and environmental influences of the students. Subsequently, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) in 1955 recognized school social workers as a specialty (p 3). Generally, school social workers practice through

Ms. Alexander is a 17-year-old waitress who was referred after being arrested for drinking and driving. Ms. Alexander has been referred to the social work office of the alternative high school by the court due to our specialization and extensive experience with substance abuse and addiction. The court has order counseling since this is her second drinking and driving related arrest, and she is now facing an additional charge since her passenger/friend is now in a coma after the single car, car crash. The court will be sentencing Ms. Alexander based upon social worker recommendations. One year ago, Ms. Alexander was arrested for the first time for drinking and driving, and simply paid a fine and attended a driver’s safety course for six weeks. She found the program to be a waste of time and she claims she did not learn anything.

A school social worker has many different roles when working with immigrant children. One role that a social worker has is being an advocate for the need of after-school programs. School social workers also advocate for funding at a local, state, and federal levels. Another role is being an educator. School social workers can educate families of the benefits that after-school programs have. They can also educate the community members about specific immigrant populations. This way the community members can better understand more about the culture of the immigrant population in their community and became more culturally sensitive. School social workers can also educate policy makers on the importance of after-school programs. An additional role a social worker has in this setting is a broker, connecting

Fourth, I am going to write about strengths and weaknesses in relation to social work practice and educational need. One of my strongest strengths as a social worker is patience. It helps me to persevere enthusiastically towards conquering goals and objectives when assisting my clients. Patience keeps alive the objective in mind to meet. Physical or psychological exhaustion only reaffirms the importance of patience. For that reason, it’s important to be patience with what we start out with the aim of clients’ benefit.

School social workers work within schools to provide a variety of social, emotional, and mental health services to students to support overall success. The intent of this research is to evaluate the significance of having a school social worker available to general education students within the Owatonna High School setting and to examine the gaps in services that may have appeared since removal of this position in 2009. Various related studies were examined to outline a range of ways in which school social workers are used to support student success. During this study, a total of seven employees of the Owatonna School District were interviewed regarding school social work. As a whole the participants identified a large number of gaps

Health issues, lack of family support, as well as poverty and feelings of inferiority lead to poor attendance in schools. They thought “visiting teachers” known as school social workers today should be assigned to address these issues in children to decrease the rates of poor attendance in our youth. In 1918 the compulsory attendance law was passed in each state. Compulsory school attendance refers to the minimum and maximum age required by each state in which a student must be enrolled in and attending some type of equivalent education program defined by the law.

Many problems remain in the American society such as the increasing number of people living in poverty, the juvenile crime rate, unaffordable housing for the working middle-class and poor people, backlash against illegal immigration, and the shortfall in social welfare programs (black). Social workers try to combat these problems, which are a result of society, economics, and development problems. Social work in the United States is a profession about promoting and offering social services through practicing with people, communities, and organizations; advocating with and for clients; and creating social work knowledge (Writing in social work). Social work in the United States utilized the direct practice with individuals, families, and communities. Social workers need to continue to advocate for social problems (Writing in social work).

The paradigms of social work practice are based on the ideologies of social and agency policies to advocate for change, and to make good decisions about people’s lives. “Social work is, by its nature and professional ethics, is concerned with the well-being of all members of society” (Segal, 2013, p. 2). Social policies are based on the principles of social justice, non-discrimination, improving people’s lives, and advocating for social change for improving individual lives to self-determination and self-efficacy. It is apparent that social change has been “influenced by war, economic crisis, demographic changes, and the international threat that affect public and professional sentiment concerning the systematic changes in developing community

Throughout the years, I have changed my major several times from Psychology, Education and Family Child Science. Eventually, I found myself enrolled at FAMU School of Social work. I decided to study social work because it is a combination of my interest and I love children. The definition of a school social worker- is an advocate who helps students reach their potential in the school setting. A school social worker provides support services in order to help remove obstacles to a child’s success in school. These obstacles may be school or home-based. As a result of this, the school social worker/visiting teacher becomes a link between home, school and the community.(http://staff.harrisonburg.k12.va.us)