Roles and responsibilities:
Definition of social work:
“Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing (International Federation of Social Workers and International Schools of Social Work - IFSW/ISSW, 2014)
Sources or types of knowledge used in social work:
· Research and evidential knowledge
· Service user and carer knowledge (experiential)
· Policy and community knowledge
· Organisational knowledge
· Practitioner knowledge (practice wisdom)
· Theoretical knowledge (theories from psychology, psychology, and social work)
· Factual knowledge –which includes knowledge of local communities and cultures.
Common issues that social workers deal with:
· Poverty, social exclusion and disadvantage
· Neglect and abuse
· Substance use/misuse – drugs and alcohol
· Child criminal exploitation
· Violence
· Child sexual abuse
· Teenage pregnancies
· Young carers
· Child maintenance
· Kinship care, foster care and adoptions
· Bullying, racism and other forms of discrimination and oppression
· Crime and, disorder and anti-social behaviour
· Mental illness and poor mental health for parent and children
· Self-harm
· Domestic violence and abuse
· Cyberspace and related issues
· Old age, etc
· Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and adults
· Trafficked children
· Missing children
· Female genital mutilation
· Abuse linked to belief and faith
· Care leaving
· Transitions to adulthood
Social work practice settings/agencies (these can be understood as primary and secondary settings):
· Adolescents services
· Adults/older people services
· Alcohol and drugs (substance misuse) services
· Children and young people safeguarding services
· Families (parents and care givers) services
· Physical and mental health services
· Learning difficulties services
· Physical disabilities services
· Management (junior and senior management)
· Voluntary sector
· Youth justice services
· Probation services
· Children’s guardians
· Education welfare services
· Food reliefs programmes, school feeding and soup kitchens
Social work contexts:
· Service user context (voluntary and involuntary service users
· Social work practice contexts
· Societal context (social structures, culture)
· Policy and organisational context (government & agency policy, procedures, structure of services, etc)
· Legal and ethical contexts (legislation, values, ethics, etc)
· Professional context (professional standards, regulations, etc)
· Interprofessional/interagency context (relational and power dynamics, boundaries, attitudinal, working together polices, etc)
· Disaster relief and response
· Climate justice
Tasks and roles for social workers.
· professional judgement and decision making during assessments, planning, intervention and reviews;
· Evidence based report writing and recording, etc.
· Working with individuals, groups and communities
· Interviewing;
· referring;
· case managing
· advising,
· advocacy;
· counselling;
· listening;
· information sharing
· enabling;
· befriending;
· collaborating;
· liaising
· recording;
· giving evidence;
· training,
· supervision;
· team meetings;
· Community organisation