Choosing the career in social work can at times be very difficult. Reasons being, you are not always going to come out satisfied with the results of a “patient”, the outcome of a case, or in general always be making the right judgments/decisions. As an article in the Washington Informer said, ” They(social workers) daily bear the responsibility of making tough decisions that place them in unpopular positions with both the families and the systems they serve. Yet, many workers go about their responsibilites and protect many vulnerable and at risk children. Their actions on behalf of the families and communites usually go unnoticed by the public. But, when a tragedy occurs they are the first to be blamed.”  And as  mentioned in my esscence blog, for these workers it is crucial to their lives to know when to let things go and to leave it at the job, instead of bringing it home and letting it affect their lives. Their are so many different aspects that a social worker has to deal with in deciding whether to become one or not. Job wages are a huge deal to almost every person within the United states now especially with the prices of just living such as:

• Owning a car
• Owning a house
• Buying Groceries
• Having a family

On http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos060.htm it says,”Median annual earnings of child, family, and school social workers were $37,480 in May 2006. The middle 50 percent earned between $29,590 and $49,060. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $24,480, and the top 10 percent earned more than $62,530.” This here is a perfectly clear example of how life might not come as smoothly as it may for some other professions. One of the most obvious questions that is out their with this work is looking at where you would start, that’s even if you have your masters. So where you would start and slowly work your way up, because the top ten percent are those who have stayed in the field for about twenty years or so. But as you look at Social Workers now and those who are studying to become one, do you think they are really looking at how much money they are going to make in the future, how much school they are going to have to put into it, and how long it will possibly even take them to get to the sufficient paying jobs? Or do you think they are more focused on helping the people around them?

Citations:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos060.htm
The Washington Informer: Feb. 14-20 2008, Vol. 44 pg. 47 (the author was unknown)

Image:

Whether the Child is in America or across sea’s, they both seem to have the common generality within HELPING the child. There is one quite distinct difference though that we might/you might be able to notice within the world or within the two different “areas” on Social work. Within the United States a vast majority of the children who are entered into the social work system are those who are going through drastic domestic changes. Specifically focusing mainly on the child care, and through divorces. As you all seem to know about today divorce rates have SKY ROCKETED and over half of marriages are ending in divorce. And half of the half of divorces are leaving children lost, unwanted, and more than anything deeply impacted. Simon Vevers, author of Piecing the abuse Jigsaw together, reports “Emotional abuse of children is difficult to discern but there are signs that should alert professionals.” These children depending on their age and of the harshness of the situation end up having serious issues later down the road whether parents or people around them realize it or not, they are suffering. And those who are suffering may end up suffering in ways that most people may not think. Eric Wharton, a Social Worker from the childcare services in Alaska said,” the most unnoticed impact on a childs life as they grow up appears when a relationship forms with a “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”, it is then that the child within starts to feel it, and why this is, really has not clearly been firgured out.” Now if you where to look at social work with children across the sea’s you would find a much different occurence of issues, although the divorce can still be one, it is the little of their problem. Children across the sea’s are mainly suffering due to the fact of malnutrition, and in general not being cared for or raised properly. This issue is especially noticed within Africa. Although there are many people who try to help this problem it just seems to be a growing pandimic. What is it really going to take for children to be cared for properly? Fed right? And to just be in generally loved and wanted by their parents? Whether it’s in the United states or across the Seas, will it ever happen?

Citations:

Ruth, Dawn. New Orleans Magazine(April 2008, Vol 42. Iss. 7; pg. 40)
Vevers, Simon. Journal, Community Care Jan. 31st, 2008
Wharton, Eric. Social Worker (interview) Called Jun. 6th, 2008

Image:

www.google.com/images/socialwork

•  families
•  groups
•  and communities.

They learn to confront and change the problems that are causing the injustices, the discriminations, and the oppressions. For the essence of their work is all about the help that they are able to supply to those whom are going through such difficult times with in their lives. LeRoy Schultz, a professor of Social Work at West Virginia University stated in his Social Work Journal that, “The greatest obstacle to achieving social justice is the limited amount of social resources available.  The social worker providing information as an expert witness can serve to advance social justice.  Courts deal with objectivity and not agency needs when a person is charged with a criminal offense (Barth & Sullivan, 1985).  Therefore, one of the professional services provided when courts or the defense or prosecution need assistance is evidence from a social worker not attached to the agency which starts a court action.” 

One of the hardest things for a social worker to have to deal with is leaving their work at work, and not bringing it home with them. For each and every single Social Worker that is out there and trying to help improve upon peoples lives, no matter who they are, they are going to have to deal with some traumatic cases. In all different areas within the field of Social Work, the cases almost always have an impact, and In all honesty no matter how traumatic the case is, it is always going to leave the imprint on the Social Worker and on their Career. A Social worker forms a bond with the person of whom they are trying to help, and no matter who you are in life once a bond has been formed you are never going to forget that person you have made that connection with. In most cases the Social Worker can see a littler deeper than what is just sitting on the surface of the person of whom they are assisting, they begin seeing inside of them and who they truly are. This is where it then becomes difficult, that once your work has been done for the day and you return home, you are expected to leave the cases alone, to ignore them and to move one with your OWN life. Fighting Monsters, a social worker from England, Uk explains, ” Sometimes, I just want to -do- something,  but have to walk away. I think those are always the hardest situations and those are the people that sometimes I think about when I’m going to sleep at night.I know I shouldn’t. I’ve been given and have given out the advice a million times about not taking work home with you – but I suppose there must be a way to stop thinking without stopping caring.”

Citations:

• http://fightingmonsters.wordpress.com/
• http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume1/j1_2_4.htm

Image:

• http://www.socialworknationalconference2008.org/Graphics/oasw_logo_graphic.jpg

This picture is a strong depiction of Social Work, and how it is used in the world around us today. As stated in Bls.Gov, “They’re their with a strong desire to help improve people’s lives”. The power of help, and to want to help is the most incredible characteristic these individuals hold with in them. Not only are they the beholders of this power, but they feel the need to use it and to spread it into their own communities, and to the world surrounding them. When this power has been spread to the individuals of whom these social workers have become acquainted with, it is then that traits of this picture begin to be witnessed. Not only are they witnessed by the lives who are living the experiences, but by the community and the people surrounding them. The unity of the social worker and their “patient”, can become very strong, and together they form an immense amount of strength. The social worker constantly reassuring them that they have to “just keep chugging, just keep chugging“, and until everything has been sorted out and their “patient” is well enough to be on their own, they will still be there to help and to guide them on their way to success. They continue giving them constant little “you can do it’s“, to form their bond and their strength. And very often a “patient” has been through an immense ordeal causing them to rarely trust anybody, and sometimes causing relationships to be much more difficult to correlate. It is then that the unity and the strength of the social worker and their “patient” becomes critical.

Once the Bondage of the Social worker and their patient have become evident, then does the world begin to witness the power that they have been able to sculpt with one another. The feeling that everyone strives for with in life becomes evident for these “patients”, success. They where able to conquer a situation, and as the picture depicts it was sought through working together within unity, strength, and power.

Image was taken from: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://tk3.storage.msn.com/x1pGg9EMswqL-8Oz82VI_h2v6pXtEhNbiPiAOO__0JCND02X-M68A8MwaO8kSYEvym_RRetMgr4R1zuYTNYqmSwf4_keemOXboqZ2V3k1fuFhoux-CsY2oG_ZEsNn10OMEoPYQn32kxLIGk1XjA03_rivi8DQI4un1M&imgrefurl=http://asthaparmar.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!BB0155A45B1604C7!783.entry&h=600&w=400&sz=24&hl=en&start=12&um=1&tbnid=0SKGHp76AS7J6M:&tbnh=135&tbnw=90&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSocial%2BWork%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

Citations:

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos060.htm

Helping a community, or all around just helping in some kind of way is most likely what you came up with, and according to www.dictionary.com  “organized work directed toward the betterment of social conditions in the community, as by seeking to improve the condition of the poor, to promote the welfare of children, etc”, you where right. The whole reason social work even became a career, was people wanted to give back to their communities, and those struggling around them. They where set out in the world to increase the betterment of those lives who where in need of their special helping hand.

A Social Worker’s whole career is literally based around helping. Whether it’s helping a family, a child, a school, the mentally ill, substance abusers, and those who are ill. A Social Woker is their to assist those of whom may need their help. Many Social Worker’s strong dedicated areas are giving counseling and accumulating the situation in which their “patient” may be in. They then talk to the people about their lives, in order for them, to better understand the situation, and then try to solve their problems by suggesting resources that way they can be on a more clear path to bettering their lifestyle. Another strong area for them is by, finding the resources for people. For a person with family difficulties, social workers might find a parenting class or support group. For a homeless person, they might find a place to live and a career training program. For a student, they might find a mentor or someone who can have more dedicated teaching time with them.

 The charisma of these workers is absolutely amazing. If you where to look at the large picture and to gather all possible information you could on a social worker, you would gather that these people in a whole are not getting paid to immensely. They make enough to get by, but for all the work that they do and for all the help that they provide they make borderline wages. But for these social workers as you can see money is not what it is about, solely it is about helping. Without wanting to help, without wanting the betterment of those lives of whom they are their to help, there is not career of Socail Work. Social workers are there to improve a life, to better the situation, and to make the changes that are needed to be made, happen. They’re practical, focusing on critical issues that matter to individual lives and to society as a whole. It’s a group of strong hearted people who see that their goal in life, is to simply help.

     For these posts I have chosen to write about Social Work, and how it is used throughout the world in the special area of children. The Social work that I’m going to be focusing on with these children has to do with the cases of  Domestic Violence, Drugs and Alcohol, or through extreme custody issues. This subject has a lot of meaning to me, not only have i had my own experiences, but it is also the field i am most interested in while studying in college. I want to help the kids that are stuck in the position that i was. I want to give them someone to talk to, who is actually going to listen to them, and to help get them in a better, safer, and more respectable environment. Four years, my life dragged on with no one listening to me and my brother to help us get out of the situation we where in. Until, a strong willed and powerful minded man came our way. Eric,  our social worker had been working in his profession for 21 years, listened to us and fought until we where satisfied. I’d never come across someone so caring and so devoted to helping the children. Ever since he happened to magically appear in my life, i knew that my goal was to help give back as well. He too had gone through the troubled childhood, and as he grew up, he just knew, he too was devoted to helping the children who had/are going through the same thing. I believe that the uniqueness of these posts, is going to give us high schoolers a voice. A voice to be heard and to show just how intelligent we really are. Some topics seem a bit intense for “juniors” in high school to be writing about, but i believe that we seem to outsmart a lot of people when we begin talking about something we are passionate for and are very familiar with. These blogs are going to give us a chance to prove just how clever we really are.