Cradock's 2004 study of a correlation between population categories and child abuse lead to the development of an assessment tool that allowed social workers to determine when children were at risk for child abuse and when to intervene and what actions would be seen as an over-intervention. By using this assessment, social workers will not only know how to identify the serious danger of child abuse and what children are at-risk for being abused, but also the assessment makes it possible for social workers to determine when intervening in the situation may be dangerous or unnecessary for the children involved. Of similar importance are the tools developed to assess and evaluate those convicted of both child physical and sexual abuse. In Milner and Murphy's 1995 study, the methods of assessment and evaluation are discussed and critiqued. These methods, including interview, observation, personality tests, and offender-specific assessments, are all studied in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. While the study concluded that further research is necessary before assessments can be used to legally determine whether or not the individual has indeed abused a child, Milner and Murphy suggested that the assessments were beneficial in that they allowed social workers and other professionals to determine classify the offenders in terms of rehabilitation and treatment (486). Because of this assessment tool, therefore, child protection workers can not only learn more about child abusers and their characteristics, but they can also determine whether or not a child abuser living near a child is likely to re-offend, a skill that is beneficial to the children entrusted to child protection workers' care. Additionally, a 1999 study suggested that most abuse victims and their families gained a "therapeutic benefit" from the "assessment process" (Dale and Fellows 4).
Although the use of assessments and frameworks have proven beneficial to both social work and child protection, their use does not protect the field completely from bias, nor are they always infallible. For example, Arad-Davidzon and Rami Benbenishty's 2008 study of child protection workers' views on removing children from their parents and their assessments and actions regarding this topic revealed that those who could be classified as "pro-removal" and "anti-removal" were likely to form assessments and consequent actions in line with their positions, suggesting that the assessment and framework system did not manage to eradicate social works' biases in decision making. In Sally Holland's 2001 study, additionally, the author found that children were highly underrepresented in social workers' assessment reports. Thus, the affects of some frameworks and assessments on children may not have been noted in the past.
Similarly, Jane Waldfogel's 1998 study of the United States Child Protection system found the system to be wanting. According to Waldfogel, the number of abused and neglected children "have prompted new efforts to reform child protective services," suggesting that the assessments and frameworks intended to protect at-risk children, like the assessments geared toward children likely to suffer from child abuse and the sex offender assessment discussed earlier, have not preformed as admirably as imagined (104). Waldfogel's answer to the problem is allowing the field of child protection to deal with only the most dangerous or difficult cases, while proposing a network of neighbors and community members to patrol the rest. In his review of Dale, Green, and Fellows' 2005 book...
Social Work Field Perception of Social Work Social work is a challenging profession that also helps one make a difference in the lives of others (CUW 2011). It aims at improving the overall functioning and well-being of people served. A social worker must have a genuine and special concern for the poor, marginalized, and the vulnerable. Social work is an art and a science at the same time. It fits service to
Social Work With Individuals Describe the preliminary phase of the counseling work and the beginning (or contracting) phase. As Shulman demonstrates, each phase of the work of counseling requires its own specific skills and techniques, and all phases have their own importance and necessity within the counseling process as a whole. Each phase has a skill set and knowledge base required by the counselor for the success of the work of counseling.
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Social workers find themselves in the position of being primary care coordinators. This is especially true in situations like the Parker family's, in which there are multiple interrelated issues affecting the family and those issues require input from a wide variety of diverse healthcare workers. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) stresses the importance of developing and maintaining cross-disciplinary partnerships and partnerships across different organizations that can "enhance access
Social Work Values and Ethics Description In preparation for this reflection I read, "Social Work with People with Learning Difficulties" (Williams, 2009), "Social Work Values and Ethics," (Reamer, 2013), "Issues in Human Rights Protection of Intellectually Disabled Persons," (Dimopoulos, 2010), "Values and Ethics in Social Work" (Beckett & Maynard, 2012), and "The Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy" (Blau, 2007). I also referred to class discussions and my experience as social worker. As a
Social Work Informatics in Child Protection Social Work Research The research design for this study utilizes mixed methods in order to identify variables that function as benefits and inhibitors of the use of technology by child protection case workers. Surveys that are a hybrid of quantitative (correlational survey techniques) and qualitative approaches will be conducted with case workers (Creswell, 2009). Survey questions that will permit inclusion of qualitative data in this study
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