Philosophy of Social Work - Admission/Application Essay Example

Some of the risks that children go through include maltreatment and neglect which are typically characterized by physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The grim statistics provided by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (2009) justifies this study. One of the approaches used by social workers in dealing with such issues is the family-centered practice which is aimed at enhancing the capacity of families to protect children (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2011). This creates a need for the appraisal of the entire child welfare system to determine its effectiveness, challenges and ways of overcoming these challenges and the overall impact of social work in the system.

In doing this, several aspects of the child welfare system are addressed; beginning with the social justice and welfare issues in relation to the major stakeholders in the system, typification of the problem of sexual abuse and the child welfare system, an analysis of the problems that occur in this system and their solutions in relation to behavioral theories and finally, the role of social work in promotion of justice and change in the child welfare system in relation to major stakeholders involved.

After this, an interpretation on the philosophy of social work will be made and a conclusion will then be drawn regarding the state of the child welfare system based on evidence from this study. According to Schagrin (2007), social justice refers to the entitlement of all citizens to the same rights and services. Children are especially disadvantaged and anonymous in this case since unlike other sections of the society, they are unable to lobby any elected representatives to fight for their rights or organize protest processions to agitate for better services.

This puts the social worker in quite an important position in regards to the welfare of children since they would be unheard to a huge extent in case no interventions are instituted and the