Social welfare and policy ii final assignment

Social welfare and Policy Social welfare policy or action proposed by government and other organizations often determines the socio economic stability and ethnic equality of a multicultural society. Although the view and response of people regarding social needs and issues are deeply at odds, every individual is concerned about social welfare policies to a great extent. Social policies directly or indirectly influence all sphere of one’s social life and moreover every individual being conscious or not, gets involved in some sorts of social welfare activities. Furthermore, as the book ‘ Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy’ purports every form of social work practice embodies a social policy. (Blau & Abramovitz, 2007)
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According to me this assertion is rational because whenever a social worker attempts to help his clients in any of their problems, in addition to the particular issue he has to confront with many other social welfare policies of government. Each and every function of government is being regulated and implemented by certain policies of its own. Though policies are the guidelines for a social worker, on certain occasions they might hamper or prevent his free involvement in social issues. Blau and Abramowitz states that social policies pervade every aspect of social work practice. However much we as individuals try to help a client, our capacity to do so ultimately depends on the design of the programs, benefit or service (Blau & Abramovitz, p. 4). The opinion of the writers is authentic and every service or action that comes under the concern of individuals or society embodies a social policy. For instance, we realize and experience the rights and responsibilities of citizenship such as right to vote, the right to have access to resources, the right to participate in civic structures and the equality before the law all through various social policies of government (Carson, Dunbar & Chenhall D. 2007, p. 232).
The thoughts projected in the book ‘ Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy’, have imbued me with new conception to pursue my career as a social worker. The primary notion I gathered from this learning is that professionalism rests on a systematic body of theory that convince a social worker about causes, effect and opinion for work with individuals, groups, families and communities (Blau & Abramovitz, p. 179). Secondly, the real and practical social worker relies not only on social welfare policies but also heavily on the psychological theories of personality and human behavior. Learning such a book would definitely help a social worker to define his tasks and goals. Furthermore, I am inspired by the ethics of social work that is well described by the authors as; “ the service ideal promotes an ethic of selflessness that mandates social workers to put the needs and interests of clients before their own or those of their agency.”(p. 180)
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Since every social work practice embodies a social policy, having knowledge about numerous policies is the essential quality and obligation of a good social worker because false premise would lead a social worker to poor planning. Social work is a rewarding challenge for a well informed social worker and he would succeed in making his clients aware of what is truly significant for them to resolve their problems. It is the responsibility of the social workers to help people gain skills and self reliance and thereby support themselves by being employable (Austin, 2002 p. 2). Moreover a professional social worker ought to have collective understanding of both social problems and governing policies in order to meet his objectives. As far as I am concerned knowledge is the essential element required to create a proper foundation for social work because “ The more conscious we are of its influence, the less power it has to impede our effectiveness at work.” (Blau & Abramovitz, p. 4). Right knowledge would enable us to participate in social welfare programs effectively understanding its effect on people. While involving in issues social workers must be able to determine whether client’s problems are the result of individual or family factors; or whether the problems are created by oppressive social arrangements (Harris, Tamas & Lind S., 2007 p. 2). The right action derives from right planning and the right planning from right knowledge. For a professional social worker, the more he acquires knowledge the fewer barriers he would confront with. Knowledge gives him proper idea regarding the ethical and parameters in which he would perform his obligation as a social worker. For him every issue is a matter of reasoning where as others who suffer from the paucity of knowledge presumably confront with impediments.
In short, it is an undeniable fact that every social work embodies a social policy; and the only difference is that people including some social workers take part in various social welfare activities hardly knowing that their work should comply with an array of other social welfare policies of the nation. In such contexts sufficient knowledge regarding the concerned policies will boost a social worker’s potentiality. He can easily anticipate the cause and effect of the particular issue and that will help him for designing appropriate strategies to meet his goals.

References
Austin M. (2002). Human Service Management: Organizational Leadership in Social work
Practice. Columbia University Press, p. 2
Blau J. & Abramovitz. (2007). Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy, 2nd edn. Illustrated, Oxford
University Press US,
Carson, Dunbar, & Chenhall.(2007). Social Determinants of Indigenous Health. Illustrated edn.
Allen & Unwin, p. 232
Harris, Tamas & Lind S.(2007). Dynamics of Social Welfare Policy: Right versus Left. Rowman &
Littlefield p. 2