Description
Advocacy for social and economic justice is an ethical responsibility of all social workers. The social workers need to analyze policies from many different aspects, anticipate unintended consequences, and educate legislators, stakeholders, and the population on policy issues. This requires a specialized skill set, and this week’s Assignments will provide you with some of these skills.
This week, you examine social policies and analyze how they are evaluated. You also examine the role of lobbying and campaigning in social work practice. Finally, you explore the steps for incorporating policy in social work practice that reflects professional ethics.
Discussion 1:
Policy Analysis and Application
According to the NASW Code of Ethics section 6.04 (NASW, 2008), social workers are ethically bound to work for policies that support the healthy development of individuals, guarantee equal access to services, and promote social and economic justice.
For this Discussion, review this week’s resources, including Working with Survivors of Sexual Abuse and Trauma: The Case of Rita and “The Johnson Family”. Consider what change you might make to the policies that affect the client in the case you chose. Finally, think about how you might evaluate the success of the policy changes.
Post an explanation of one change you might make to the policies that affect the client in the case. Be sure to reference the case you selected in your post. Finally, explain how you might evaluate the success of the policy changes.
Discussion 2:
The Social Work Advocate in Politics
Social workers often have commitments to specific policies, laws, or funding of programs that are vital to the population they serve or an issue that they strongly support. Such commitments often lead social workers to become involved in political issues and the campaigns of specific candidates. Being a social worker, such campaign experiences, the outcomes of your efforts, and how effective you felt you were may affect your view of the political process and the likelihood of becoming involved in similar campaigns in the future.
For this Discussion, reflect on your experiences if you have ever participated in a political campaign. What was the outcome of your participation? If you have not participated in a campaign, choose a campaign topic you support or oppose and consider the ways you might like to participate in that campaign. Likewise, think about your experiences if you have ever lobbied on a topic. If you have not, choose a topic for which you might like to lobby in favor or against. Finally, consider how you think social workers might have a powerful and positive effect as elected officials.
Post an explanation of the role of lobbying and campaigning in social work practice. Then, explain how you think social workers might have a powerful and positive effect as elected officials. Finally, explain of the impact, if any, the experiences and opinions of your colleagues have had on your own experiences and opinions.
Reference
Popple, P. R., & Leighninger, L. (2015). The policy-based profession: An introduction to social welfare policy analysis for social workers. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education..
- Chapter 12, “Taking Action: Policy Practice for Social Workers” (pp. 262-283)
- Chapter 13, “Conclusion” (pp. 284-289)
Trauma: The Case of Rita
Rita is a 22-year-old, heterosexual, Latina female working in the hospitality industry at a resort.
She is the youngest of five children and lives at home with her parents. Rita has dated in the past
but never developed a serious relationship. She is close to her immediate and extended family as
well as to her female friends in the Latino community. Although her parents and three of her
siblings were born in the Dominican Republic, Rita was born in the United States.
A year ago, Rita was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance of a male coworker. Rita and a
female coworker met Juan and Bob after work at a local bar for a light meal and a few drinks.
Because Rita had to get up early to work her shift the next day, Bob offered to drive her home.
Instead of taking Rita directly home, however, he drove to a desolate spot nearby and assaulted
her. Afterward, Bob threatened to harm her family if she did not remain silent and proceeded to
drive her home. Although Rita did not tell her family what happened, she did call our agency
hotline the next day to discuss her options. Because Rita’s assault occurred within the 5-day
window for forensic evidence collection of this kind, Rita consented to activation of the county’s
sexual assault response team (SART). Although she agreed to have an advocate and the sexual
assault nurse examiner (SANE) meet her at the hospital, Rita tearfully stated that she did not want
to file a police report at that time because she did not want to upset her family. The nurse examiner
interviewed Rita, collected evidence, recorded any injuries, administered antibiotics for possible
sexually transmitted infections, and gave Rita emergency contraception in case of pregnancy. The
advocate stayed with Rita during the procedure, supporting her and validating her experience, and
gave her a referral for individual crisis counseling at our agency.
My treatment goals for Rita included alleviation of rape trauma syndrome symptoms that
included shame and self-blame, validation of self-worth and empowerment, and processing how it
would feel to disclose to others when the time felt right. In addition, Rita would receive important
information regarding state policy and procedure for victims of sexual assault that would assist her
in deciding when and how to report the crime if she chose to do so.
My treatment involved crisis intervention and stabilization along with emotional support and
validation surrounding her experience. Managing her trauma and acute stress symptoms were key
to her recovery. Those symptoms included guilt, shame, emotional shock, powerlessness, anxiety,
fear, anger, and doubting her judgment. We processed Rita’s emotional dysregulation and sense
of outrage over what happened. Over the weeks that followed, we also explored Rita’s relationship
to her immediate and extended family and how they had high expectations for her and her future.
Rita’s shame over the assault prevented her from telling her family for fear they would also be
shamed and judge her for accepting a ride from someone she did not know well. We discussed the
policy for reporting a sexual assault to the police in our state and how Rita only had a 90-day
window to report the crime after her forensic evidence was obtained. After 90 days, the forensic
kit would be destroyed.
The problem with the current 90-day hold policy in our state for victims like Rita is that a person
in crisis experiences strong and conflicting emotions and is faced with an acute sense of
disequilibrium and disorientation. This, in turn, affects her or his ability to retain information and
make decisions. The person, therefore, has barely enough time to make sense of what happened to
her or him, let alone decide what to do about it. The 90-day hold policy may not afford a
traumatized victim of sexual assault enough time to make a decision to report to law enforcement.
I utilized a strengths-based model in my treatment with Rita to help her address the decision to
report the crime. A strengths-based framework is client-led with a focus on future outcomes and
strengths that the client brings to a problem or crisis. It is an effective helping strategy that builds
on a person’s resiliency and ego strength. An integrative strengths-based intervention
can contribute to the development of a positive outcome for clients in crisis.
I counseled Rita for 6 months. After 5 months, Rita felt strong enough to disclose to her family
and file a report with the police. However, because the 90-day window had closed by the time she
was stabilized and emotionally ready to file, her forensic evidence was unavailable.
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