Social Work Professionals: Pregnant And Parenting Adolescents

In the “High Stakes and Frightening Lapses” case study, the report indicates various problems that face individuals with careers in the social services cluster. There was evidence of high case loads with low pay, lack of attention to families that needed it the most (the Ventura family), absence of leadership from administration, broken promises, bureaucratic issues, etc., which can all lead to unsuccessful relationships between clients and social workers as well as distrust within the helping process. The actions pursued by both DSS and La Alianza Hispana (LAH) resulted in the horrifying situation of several children that could have ultimately been prevented by the professionals.

Ways in which human services professionals can meet the needs of families and children are to actively listen to each individual’s perception of the problem and address each issue. If the worker is qualified to provide counseling sessions, such as a marriage and family therapist, single members in addition to the family as a whole should receive services. Referrals should be given to the family if the worker cannot provide counsel (Martin, 2011). A family social worker can assist in providing resources for food, medical, housing, child care and utility assistance, support in filling out appropriate paperwork should be offered as well. Professionals can offer referrals to legal assistance offices in order for a single parent to obtain child support. Informing those in this population of the means for furthering their education can help them regain their independence. A school social worker may be appropriate for those children suffering in their academics due to family matters so they can provide support for the child and to determine what further resources are needed (O*Net Online, 2010). Child welfare investigators as well as health care social workers may have to provide investigations as well as working with other professionals to assess patients' medical or physical condition

Community education and advocacy are both important components of the work that human service professionals do with children and their families. Both types of interventions play an important role in work with this population. There are many social issues which has an impact on children and families today. Teen pregnancy is a social issue which has an impact on the teen parents as well as the family as a whole unit. As a human service professional we can assist through advocacy and community education.

Social Work is a career defined as “work carried out by trained personal with the aim of alleviating the conditions of those in need of help or welfare”. Social work varies in several fields, social workers work as part of multi-disciplinary teams with child welfare organizations, adoption and foster care agencies, hospitals, schools, prisons, mental health institutions, and more. Social work may leave the impression that it’s an easy field because it is assumed that all social workers do is serve others and manage paperwork but that is only a small chunk of the job. Social workers must deal with the ethical and emotional aspect of helping others. As a social worker, it is critical to comply with the National Association of Social Workers

The samples represented a cross section of the child welfare services workforce. Approximately half of the participants had roles as caseworkers or clinical roles, approximately a quarter were in supervisory or managerial roles, while approximately three percent were in directorial/administrative roles, and the rest represented other roles. The participants selected were required to have worked in the system for a relatively long period.

Social workers want more people to know about the situations they face but at the same time they are not allowed to put important business out there. The problem with parents is that they don’t even want to focus on the ones they had so why adopt another. Poverty is a world issue and

social workers are the middle [wo]men between families, social service agencies and schools; working to reunify kids with their families or working to keep kids with their families. By providing advocacy to biological families and foster families, social workers exercise their power of judgement in deciding if the home is a good placement for said child. In a video uploaded by Public Children Service Association of Ohio (PCSAO), the lives of 3 social workers from Ohio and their work experience are documented. Karla Lindsey describes her typical day as “chaotic, and unpredictable” dealing with daily new reports of abuse and neglect (PCSAO).

Children and families are the foundation of our society and our future. I understand family social work as both tertiary intervention and primary prevention. Issues such as unemployment, abuse, neglect, and lack of housing can put undue stress on family systems. By addressing and helping to alleviate these issues as a tertiary intervention a family can have increased stability in its home life. This strengthened environment can be a primary preventative measure for the children in the home. It can lead to lower levels of incarceration, higher education rates, higher employment

There are many tools in place to help professionals and clients associate with the field of social work to ensure ethical practices and a basic set of values and legal boundaries to protect the professionals in the field as well as the community they serve. Three such tools are NASW Code of Ethics, the CSWE Educational Policy and Standards, and HIPAA. These organizations and laws are set into place to protect the and support both the social worker and the vulnerable populations social workers serve, one such population being minors who are in the precarious situation of being unable to consent for themselves, having parents who often are incapable of making decisions on their behalf and susceptible to dual relationships with their social

My current field placement as a social work intern is at the Family Assessment Program (FAP). FAP is a voluntary program that aims to strengthen families and help them stay together. FAP seeks to reduce youth’s future involvement with the juvenile justice and the child welfare system. The clienteles that FAP deals with, are parents who are having difficulties with their teenage children and want assistance and guidance with changing the children’s behavior and developing a positive relationship. In addition, FAP is the last step before parent files for a Person In Need of Supervision (PINS). FAP would assess the family situation by interviewing parents and children individually and together, they determine the best suitable intervention for the family. If the intervention does not solve the issue or the child refuses to participate, then the alternative is to file a PINS to control the child’s behavior. Engaging with some families, I was able to apply four concepts; empathy, boundaries, social taboo and focused listening. In applying these concepts, I was able to identify my obstacles, weaknesses, strengths and develop my social work skills. The following scenarios will focus on my strategies with applying the concepts, the obstacles I encountered and ways in which I could have improved the concepts. Through self-reflection, I was able to select four cases where I was able to apply the above-mentioned concepts.

"In 13 years in this job, I think I've only once come across a case where the parents really didn't seem to love their child," -Sallyanne Jones (Moorhead, 2012). Jones has been a social worker who specializes in child protection for the past 13 years. As a mother herself, she finds it unbearable to consider losing her child to the foster system. In the article, “Removing a Child is Terrible”, Jones goes over a case in which she's shown working with a young couple, Tiffany and Mike, who are struggling with the determination of trying to care for their three-year-old son. Jones and her team of fellow social workers do their best to train the duo into becoming adequate parents. But soon, Tiffany becomes pregnant for the second time. Sallyanne

A social worker that works with mother that are facing postpartum depression are called perinatal social worker. The perinatal social worker helps the community, family and individual that is dealing with psychosocial issues from pregnancy to the first year of an infant life. Perinatal social worker help the client prepare their strength and as they get ready for child bearing. They also assisted in challenges that the client might have during pregnancy and after birth. They assist in helping the parent have a healthy relationship with the child. The perinatal social worker advocates in the health care setting for woman and families. If anything happens with the baby the perinatal social worker helps the families deal with the new normal of

Social workers challenge social injustice and pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. A social worker in Marcos' community will need to start with a framework for assessing the community. According to Netting, Kettner, McMurtry and Thomas (2012), comparing the needs of the community to another will present a target population. If we are to use teen fathers as out target population based on our case scenario, we can move to identifying the characteristics of the population. While there is much research and relative known resources for teen mother, teen fathers are lacking attention (Thompson & Crase, 2004). The goal of this community assessment wills identify the lack of known and available resources to teen fathers, and how it impedes their wellbeing. Netting et al. (2012) divide community assessment into three parts. Task one is to focus on the target population. Identify the population or subgroup, understand the characteristic and locate date and information on the members in the population. Second, Neeting et al. (2012) determine community characteristic by, space, social problem, shared values and oppression and discrimination experienced. Third, Netting et al. (2012), identify the community structure, in terms of power, resources available, service and deliveries and patterns of resource control.

In July 2013, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded competitive four-year Pregnancy Assistance Fund grants of $21.6 million, to several states to support pregnant and parenting teens and women continuing their education. The Pregnancy Assistance Fund offers pregnant and parenting teens and women a continuous network of support services to assist them in completing educational degrees, whether high school or postsecondary, and to obtain and keep access to health care, family housing and other essential funds.

Social work within the school system is an important and necessary asset to have. It helps many students with a severity of problems that children and adolescents face, whether it be at home or at the school itself. The role of the social worker is to establish a working relationship between the school and the family. In addition, they also help make sure that the child’s needs are met, whether it be their academic achievement, social, emotional and behavioural competence. By observing the child in its environment, they establish what needs that child might have and they figure out how they can utilize that perspective on the child to ensure that they perform to the best of their abilities academically or socially. We are looking at the different polices and job duties that a social worker faces while working in a school, whether it is a child with mental health related issues or a child with learning disabilities.