Social Services and Disabled Children - Report Example

Introduction “Every individual is unique and hence ‘special,’” wrote Reddy and Sujathamalini (2006) in a book about children with disabilities (p True, children naturally have basic needs that must be provided for them to survive. However, children with disabilities as well as their families have additional and even more complex needs than the families with children who are completely able. They have more unique needs that require the assistance of other individuals and personalities from the other members of the family and even outside the community. Without the others to assist, their welfare will be threatened by the common negative consequences of their situation.  Because it is the responsibility of the government to protect its constituents from threats of any form; it is as well expected that “local authorities have a responsibility to help families with disabled children” (“Disable Children’s Services,” n.d., p. 2). One way of fulfilling this responsibility is through the provision of social services to these families. To see how these social services serve the children with disabilities and their families, this paper will present the services that the social services departments of the United Kingdom provide and how each intervention assists the members of this diverse population and their families in their activities of daily living to meet these needs. The UK Social Services Policies There are many laws enacted by the government of the United Kingdom that prescribe what specific services must the different agencies, in coordination with the health and the social services department, provide to the “diverse population of disabled children and those close to them” (Read, Clements, & Ruebain, 2006, p. 22). Among these are: (a) the Children Act 1989, (b) the Children Act 2004 which supplies specific terms and changes in relation to the general children act applicable only to England and Wales, (c) the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970, (d) the Carers and Disabled Children Act 2000, and even (e) the Carer (Equal Opportunity) Act 2004. These Acts dictate what processes the social workers departments among others must follow to perform their functions of assisting this particular population in meeting their more complex needs. According to these laws, the process of providing support to children with disabilities and their families which is made up of several processes should start with promoting visibility of social services department and upholding social awareness of the services available for them. These decrees also impose the specific regulations and standards for the departments’ responsibilities regarding continuous assessment and maintaining a register of disabled children (“Disabled Children’s Services,” n.d., p. 3). However, Gilligan and Taylor (2008) suggested that the “‘social model of disability,’ the concept of ‘inclusion,’ and the goal of children being cared for by their parents” are equally important factors that the social services departments must take into consideration in meeting the needs of these affected population. The counseling and assessment skills of the social workers are also considered essential in identifying what do the caregivers or the parents need to know regarding the essentials of the care that they must provide based on the individual conditions present since specific interventions must be applied as the needs are considered unique. Moreover, these skills will facilitate the workers in providing guidance about how must deal with the other conflicts that develop in the process of caring for their disabled children. The social services department’s efficiency to develop a “flexible and responsive ‘respite’ and ‘shared care’ services which can respond quickly to the changing needs of the disabled children, those with complex care needs, and their carers” is also another feature that they must possess to assist those who need their support in performing their functions (Gilligan & Taylor, 2008). Working for the Children with Disabilities Aside from the basic requirements that children like them need to have, children with disabilities have to face and acquire several more complex necessities which are dictated by their conditions. Many, if not most, individuals with disabilities perceive their lack of ability to perform activities and functions as a hindrance to living a normal life. This may be caused by how the individuals think about themselves; but this, too, can be due to how others, especially their parents or caregivers and the rest of their family, see the disability that a child has. Negative outlook from others lead the persons with disabilities to develop negative thoughts and emotions about themselves and their situation. This is believed to be caused by the “traditional view of disability... called ‘the Medical Model of Disability” (“Social Model,” n.d.). The Southampton Centre for Independent Living (SCIL),  an organization of disabled people, assume that the medical model of disability leads people to see the absence of one or more function or part of the body as “something they will have to make the best of and accept that there are many things they can’t do” (“Social Model,” n.d.). Hence, those who have disabilities are pushed to see themselves as ‘different’ from those who don’t have disabilities. Although there are indeed apparent differences in people who have or have no disabilities, this conviction sometimes lead the disabled people to “feel a loss, for all the things they would like to do, but cannot a loss of goals and dreams that seem unobtainable... feel they are a burden on family and friends, and a problem for doctors who cannot cure them” (“Social Model,” n.d.). Because of this, low self-esteem develops, dependence on others may aggravate; or worse, the disabled individuals may become detached from their families, friends and the community. The Social Model of Disability. For this, many organizations and even government agencies including SCIL, British Red Cross and other social services departments, theorized that this view must be opposed and the social workers must promote the ‘social model’ of disability. Unlike the medical model’s emphasis on the limitations that the impairments these people have, the social model employs the social services to promote “dignity, independence, choice and privacy” when dealing with the disabled (White, n.d.). White (n.d.) furthermore emphasized that with this model, social workers help the individuals with disabilities to “remove the barrier that society places” that hinders them from having access with things, activities and places that they want to have, want to do, or want to go. He even pointed out that the social workers, the parents and those who are close to the people with disabilities to “organize things differently, and they (the people with disabilities) are suddenly enabled -- though the impairment hasn’t changed.” Therefore, not only would the social services have provided the immediate physical and financial needs of the child and the family but their guidance using the ‘social model’ and thus inclusion will also fill a significant part in them -- probably the part which the ‘exclusion’ from the community has left unfilled. The function of the social services does not end there. They, too, have to make the community where the individual with disability aware of this principle. Once the community is made aware of it, the affected people will have better of view of themselves and as part of the community. The emotional and psychological effects of this social model and inclusion is predicted to make the disabled people to become more participative and seek ways to obtain and fulfill the other needs that cannot be met with the assistance of others but themselves. Seeing things aside from the disability is thought to benefit them by actively finding steps in achieving the complex needs that these people with disability have. Working in Partnership with the Family The families of the disabled children often become severely distressed by the situation: routines are affected; functions and responsibilities towards the other members are left unaided and suffer; and emotional conditions, social roles, and financial sources are troubled. This is the reason why social services also need to coordinate with the families especially the parents or the primary caregiver of the disabled children. Instead of providing or facilitating the provision of services only to fulfill their roles in the family, the social workers need to utilize deeper-grounded skills to ensure that these families get the needs that they have identified and cannot get only by themselves. According to a research sponsored by the UK Department of Health, the social workers must offer a specific or key workers for each family who shall attend to their needs in the duration that is specified if possible and who shall serve as an advocate for the family, promoting the use of the family’s strengths (“Meeting the Needs,” 2002; Gilligan & Taylor, 2008). They too must lead the parents in satisfying the needs of the other members of the family since this aspect also becomes interrupted. The importance of the social workers’ counseling and assessment skills that has been discussed in Gilligan and Taylor (2008) shall again be emphasized in this matter. Facilitating “short-term breaks, domiciliary services, and accessible and appropriate play and leisure services” must also be part of the services that they provide (“Meeting the Needs,” 2002; Gilligan & Taylor, 2008). Professional trainings shall be made possible by the government and other concerned agencies to help develop the skills needed by the direct social services workers to execute these functions for the benefit of the family and the affected children. Working with Other Related Agencies The basic role of the social workers and the social services department is to assist the children with disabilities and their families in attaining and obtaining the services that can help them meet their needs. Because it is not possible for one agency to provide all these needs, the social workers are responsible to create inter-agency linkages to provide them. In an article “Meeting the Needs of Disabled Children” (2002), it is mentioned that “a reason for high levels of unmet need is lack of coordination between different agencies and professionals providing services for disabled children” and their families. Thus, it is imperative that the social workers have the skills and knowledge in approaching appropriate agencies; referral systems among others are created for this purpose. They only thing that must be put in mind is that they make contact with these several agencies only for the benefit of the service recipients they are working with since they serve as the advocates and act in behalf of the children with disabilities and their families.  Conclusion Having a disability or a member of the family with a disability may make every activity of daily living or acquisition of basic needs a strenuous task. This is besides the extra effort that they should allocate in fulfilling the other unique needs that the child or the person with disability might need to survive. Being part of the community, it is the responsibility of the government and the community itself to assist them in meeting their practical and support needs to help maintain and even elevate the welfare of this diverse population. This is why social services department along with the other government and non-government organizations exist. What must be remembered, however, is that these agencies are present and are made responsible to provide and facilitate these needs as dictated by the law, and according to what is due for them. How these functions are satisfied and how the needs are met shall be in one way or another in accordance with those mentioned above.       References Disabled children’s services in England and Wales. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cafamily.org.uk/pdfs/disabled_childrens_services.pdf Gilligan, P., & Taylor, J. (2008). Social services and social work support for disabled children, children with complex care needs, and their families. In J. Teare (Ed.)., Caring for children with complex needs in community settings. Oxford, UK: Blackwell. Meeting the needs of disabled children. (2002). Retrieved from http://www.keele.ac.uk/research/lcs/makingresearchcount/briefings/pb6.pdf Read, J., Luke, C., & Ruebain, D. (2006).  Disabled children and the law: research and  good practice (2nd Ed.). London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Social model of disability explained, the. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.southamptoncil.co.uk/social_model.htm White, P. J. (n.d.). The social model of disability. Retrieved from http://www.redcross.org.uk/standard.asp?id=58926       Read More