Role and Responsibilities of Social Worker including Legal obligations in Child Care - Essay Example

Role and Responsibilities of Social Worker including Legal obligations in Child Care 0 Introduction: The services of the social worker involves close coordination with the agencies providing child care, service users and the community in order to ensure that the children looked-after are getting adequate and quality services at a lower cost. The social worker has also to understand that there are various legal regulations governing the duties of the social workers as well as the agencies connected therewith. A social worker is always confronted with situations in which he/she has to take the role of the protector of the children’s welfare irrespective of the difficulties he/she has to face. Although the structural changes brought about by the Children Act 2004, provide for the provision of education and other social care services to the children with a much larger scope, the social worker is still confronted with circumstances, where an immediate decision needs to be taken about the course of action that will ensure the welfare of the children. Usually the social worker is informed about the potential harm to children in any particular area or home. Despite the difficulties, that the time and place may pose, it is for the social worker to visit the children to find out what is required to safeguard their interests. Even a slight delay on the part of the social worker might do much harm to the children under distress. Unless the social worker visits the place, makes an assessment by him/herself, it may not be possible to arrive at the correct solution to the problems of the children. Whatever be the provisions of law, those can take effect only when the social worker makes a first hand assessment of the children’s plight. Thus, a lot of responsibilities are placed on the social worker and the role the social worker plays in the lives of the children under distress is very vital. 2.0 A Brief Description of the case study: Being a social worker, one late morning I received a phone call from the local health visitor, that she found two children, whose living conditions need my immediate attention as a social worker. The details I found about the family and the children are: Alan Lawson aged about 25 years and Susan Brown aged about 23 is living with their children David aged 6 years and Lorraine aged 3 years. The family lives in a high rise apartment with sparse furniture. David and Lorraine both were suffering from recurrent coughs due to the house being always cold and damp. David was even diagnosed for Asthma. As far as the financial situation of the family is concerned the couple were living on Income support and also repaying a Social Fund Loan. Susan was having the problem of depressive illness and this had made her to leave the children with her mother for several days on three occasions in the past. When I visited the house, the children were alone at home. When enquired I was told by David that his Dad had not been with them for the past two weeks and is living with his parents miles away and the mother had gone out “because her head hurt” .David expected his mother to be back soon. I was also told by David that there was some quarrel between his father and mother and he is unsure of the issue on which they quarreled. On an inspection of the house I observed that some food had been made during the day and the children would have probably eaten just before and also that the children appeared decently dressed and also fairly content. 3.0 Options Available to the Social Worker for the Children under the Case-Study: Under the circumstances described above I considered the option of waiting for Susan to come back and discuss and work with her about the possible course of action to protect the children’s welfare. In the meanwhile I considered the following legal remedies that are available to the children: 3.1 Legal Provisions governing the Child Welfare: Under Section 12 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, the general duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of the children in need in their area is entrusted to the Local Authorities. The Local Authority is expected to provide such services to the family, that will be appropriate for the upbringing of the children. In General the Social Worker has the following options of safeguarding the interests and Section 22 subsection 3 states that such a service may be provided: (a) for a particular child; (b) if provided with a view to safeguarding or promoting his or her welfare, for his or her family; or (c) if provided with such a view, for any other member of his or her family. According to Clause (b) of the same section the service provided may take the form of any assistance in kind or in exceptional circumstances cash. Such assistance in the form of cash will be offered after the local authority is satisfied that the family cannot support the children without such cash assistance. The cash assistance may or may not be with a repayment condition which depends on the means of the children and the parents to make repayment. Section 25 of the Act deals with the needs of the children; the conditions of some children may demand the services of not only the social services but also those of the health and psychological departments. In some instances the services will be in the form of assistance to the parents for ensuring that the children achieve a reasonable standard of health or development. “Most of the work to help children in need whose health or development may be impaired is carried out with children living at home and being cared for by their parents with support from social workers and services” (Scottish Executive) Under Section 55, 56 and 76 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, the local authority can make an enquiry under ‘local child protection procedures’ when it is having doubts that a child is suffering or likely to suffer significant harm. If on the basis of such enquiries the local authority is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds to believe that significant harm to the child is imminent then the local authority may: Apply for a court order authorizing action to protect or assess the child Refer the case to the Principal Reporter where compulsory measures of supervision may be required. Thus the legal provisions provide for leaving the children under the care of the parents and providing service to the children and/or the parents depending on the assessment of the needs of the children. Alternatively, the local authority on the basis of enquiries may include the names of the children in the “protection register’; and in cases where the local authority is of the opinion that there is a potential situation of significant harm to the children, the authority may apply to the court for the protection and care of the children. In emergent situations the local authority may apply for an emergency protection order to take custody of the children for a minimum of eight days. 3.2 Other Issues: Laving alone the statutory remedies there were other issues which as a social worker I had to consider. The first thing is the current financial status of the family – I was not sure of the purpose and status of the Social Fund Loan. The questions here are; how long the family can sustain with the present income if any and what are the chances that the Social Fund Loan will be promptly repaid? What is the plight of the children if the loan is over turned? A check on the income and benefits of the family needs to be undertaken. One more thing that needs to be discussed with the parents and if necessary to be cross checked is that whether Alan Lawson is the only earning member of the family or is there a support from any other individual or organization to maintain the family. Another issue is, considering the ages of the children it might not be safe that they live in a high rise building. Some alternative in this respect needs to be evolved. Considering all the legal remedies and also the other issues that need to be clarified with Susan, the mother of the children I chose to wait, meet and discuss with her about the possible options for the protection and proper upbringing of the children. I also discarded the other solution of entering the names of the children in the protection register or separating the children from the parents by the intervention of the court immediately, as in any case it appeared that there was no emergent situation to call for the intervention of the court. I also considered that since the children are under formatting ages, they need the parental affection and support. 4.0 Role and Responsibilities of the Social Worker: The role of the social worker is explicitly discussed by the ‘Changing lives; Report of the 21st Century Social Work Review. According to this report the social worker has to work along with the people to enable them to regain their resilience. The acts and words of the social worker should make people build hope and optimism and regain their lost abilities. But at the same time the social worker has a responsibility to confront situations of danger and uncertainty and face them boldly. Such situations may relate to change in behaviour of the people. The social worker should develop the skill of balancing between care and control. The role of the social worker takes the following forms according to Clark et al (2005) Case worker working with individuals to help them address personal issues; Advocate on behalf of the poor and socially excluded; Partner working together with disadvantaged or disempowered individuals and groups; Assessor of risk or need for a number of client groups; also associated with surveillance; Care manager who arranges services for users in a mixed economy of care, but may have little direct client contact; and Agent of social control who helps to maintain the social system against the demands of individuals whose behaviour is problematic. There are varying responsibilities for the social worker depending on the circumstances of the case. In general the Social Worker: Should assess, plan and manage the delivery of care and well being of the children are in need of protection and/ or facing the potential danger of significant harm Must carry out detailed enquiries about the need for the protection or other services and based on the enquiries make suitable recommendations for the provision of such protection to the children Should take the responsibility for the development , monitoring and implementation of a proper plan to protect the children Identify any risks that may hamper the continued provision of the benefits of protection or other services to the children due to changes in the prevalent conditions and make suitable amends to the pans so that such risks are removed. In cases where the children are looked after and accommodated the role and responsibilities of the social worker include: Assessing to decide whether there exists any necessity for the children to be accommodated away from their parents Monitoring the progress in providing the needs and welfare of the children including making assessments and suitable recommendations while such provision of welfare measures are in progress “Providing the social work contribution to reviews of children including making recommendations on behalf of the social services agency to a Children’s Hearing about the termination or variation of Supervision Requirements”; (21st Century Social Work 2005) and Providing for the recommendations and planning for implementation of the after care assessments made In the case of provision of child care the social worker: Should assess and make suitable recommendations on the availability of adoptive and foster parents and other cares Take care of the provisions and regulations of fostering panels governing the adoption and other procedural requirements relating to the review of the conduct of the foster parents In order that the career of the social workers are shaped perfectly and they become perfect link between the needy and the Local authority or other governmental agencies, the Scottish Social Services Council is taking remarkable steps in raising the standards of the Social service work force. 5.0 Role and Responsibilities of Other Agencies: The other agencies connected with the social work are the Criminal Justice Social Workers, Education Department Officials and Police Officials. The role and responsibilities of these agencies include: Providing information on the identification of children that are in need for protection and welfare measures due to any reason Seeking advice or guidance from the local authority or any other agencies or professional in connection with the provision of the children welfare and protection Providing assistance and supportive measures to the children who are under care Voicing their opinions and suggestions in the assessment meetings being attended by them on invitation regarding the provision of child welfare measures Making their fullest contribution in the matters of planning, monitoring and implementing the child protection plans. 6.0 Rights of Service Users, Their Families and the Community: The provision of services to the children, young people and their families is regulated by the provisions of The Children Act 1989. The main purpose of this act is to help and protect the children who are in need. To provide the supportive measures an assessment is made of the extent of assistance required to by a family to promote a child or young person’s health and development. Such a support and advice on the availability of various other protections is usually provided when the child is in need because the family is in crisis or such assistance is required because a parent has a disability as in the instant case study. Such a provision of welfare measures is required when the children is abused or at risk of abuse or neglect. On the provision of such measures, the service user has the following rights: Usually the people who are considered eligible or for whom the provision of protection is necessary shall have the right to make choices about their lives. In the instant case study Susan and Alan are at liberty to choose the further course of their lives. However they would be given a counseling on solving the issues and problems they face in rearing their children Similarly on the basis of a consultative meeting they are entitled to receive the social and health services they need for the proper upbringing of their children The service users have the right to be informed about their rights to claim and receive the various services for which they are entitled to The service users also have the absolute right to enjoy equal opportunities in leisure activities, provision of education to their children, or getting the necessary training and development for themselves for the economic up-lift of their lives. They also enjoy the right to be treated as different from normal people but at the same time not to be subjected to racial or other discrimination The service users have the liberty to prefer complaints to the local authority or any other appropriate forum when something is not going correct with respect to the provision of such services to them. 7.0 Justification on the Proposed Action Based on Anti-racism/Anti-discriminatory frame work: While making an assessment of the children’s needs and providing services either to the children or their family it is mandatory for the local authority to have regard to the Child’s religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background to the maximum extent possible. In this connection: social workers should identify these aspects of a childs experience and identity assess their significance for the way in which the childs needs can be best met. As suggested earlier the social worker should wait for the children’s mother, have a detailed discussion with her about the potential harm to the children if they are not taken care of and arrive at a solution to provide service to the children or the family as the case may be depending on the views of all concerned. Since it is mostly a consultative and counseling process to make the parents understand the plight of their children, the social worker would not be subjected to any anti-discriminatory or anti-racial activities. As Thompson has put it in “Anti-Discriminatory Practice 1997” an Anti-Discriminatory Practice is “an approach to social work practice which seeks to reduce, undermine or eliminate discrimination and oppression, specifically in terms of challenging racism….& other forms of discrimination encountered in social work.” Here again there is no question of discrimination arises as the advise to take up the option of entering in to detailed discussions with the parents affected by financial strain resulted in their failure in proper upbringing of their children is arrived at as the best one based on the circumstances of the case. Under the existing circumstances best described in the case study the best option available is to have a discussion about the future of the children and by making suitable provision for welfare and protection measures so that the future of the children is groomed in a proper way. Moreover there are no circumstances which necessitated the separation of the children form the parents. As outlined elsewhere in the paper, there are strong causes for providing the protection by keeping the children along with the family. In the instant case there are no racial or any other forms of discrimination encountered by the social worker. Hence the option of working out with the parents about the protection and welfare of the children is recommended for the social worker in the case of the children David and Lorraine. 8.0 Conclusion: As outlined above, the social worker has a legal responsibility to make sure the child is safe and not at the risk of any significant harm. Only in exceptional circumstances the decision to move the child away from the home and the parents is to be taken. In cases where there is even a slightest possibility to offer positive support and bringing back the harmony of the home the social worker should strive to follow such a course of action to provide welfare measures by allowing the parents to have a re-look into their lives as well as their children’s lives. Only where there is the potential danger of the harm to children being continued of there is the risk of any immediate danger to the safety of the children, the social worker should follow other courses of action like placing the children in the protection register or approaching the court to take control of the children. Word Count: 3158 References: 1. 21st Century Social Work (2005) Reserved Functions of the Social Worker Report of the Role of the Social Worker sub-group http://www.socialworkscotland.org.uk/resources/pub/ReservedFunctionsoftheSocialWorker.pdf 2. Clark, C Asquith, S, and Waterhouse, L (2005) The role of the social worker in the 21st century - a literature review, Scottish Executive. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/02094408/8 3. Scottish Executive Scotlands Children:The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 Regulations and Guidance:Volume 1 Support and Protection for Children and Their Families http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/10/20066/44709 Read More