How Can Social Workers Promote Resilience - Essay Example

How can social workers promote resilience? Researchers have often mentioned that abuse against children can be physical, sexual, emotional or verbal which may promote malignity and frustration among them. Negligence from the part of the parents plays a vital role in child’s physical and emotional development. When the parents neglect the physical and emotional needs of children it can also be a form of severe abuse against children. The term resilience reveals a positive human adaptation in the context of sufferings and frustration. Formation of resilient children is a serious and responsible effort for individual or an organization. Social workers and organizations have immense chances to prevent various abusing activities prevailing among children. In promoting resilience among children, social workers in this field have a serious responsibility towards the community. The idea of resilience is regarded as not a new subject for people who lived in a modern society. Researchers have noticed number of specific factors, such as, emotional support both inside and outside the family, establishment of trustful relations, self –esteem, encouragement and self confidence, sense of being lovable, positive academic performance, morality, and the feelings of security. The initial step in the process of promoting resilience among the society is that the identification of child’s anxiety, stress, self perception, his or her way of interaction with others and the way of addressing serious adversities. It is sufficient that along with primary needs like food and shelter children need love and trust, encouragement and self confidence. Social workers and welfare organizations can promote various programs such as social campaigns, medical programs, and lectures for both family members and others. The neglected children require a kind of safe relationship from the part of family members and his/her friends who help to foster good friendships and encouragement. Edith H. Grotberg asserts; “On the contrary, too many adults crush or impede resilience in children or give mixed messages, and too many children feel helpless, sad and not fully loved” (Edith H. Grotberg., n.d.) Parents are the primary teachers of a child and they can promote resilience among their children during the period of early childhood. Social workers can advice the parents to give unconditional love and show their affection through physical and emotional relationships. Home visiting and other common interactive programs play vital roles in the process of promoting resilience among the social workers. Individual and Family Level Implementation of resilience activities can be divided into three layers; individual and family layer, school and layer and finally community and environmental layer. Individual and family are the most productive resilience promoting factors in the society. In individual and family level, one can collect the medical records of the child and it help the social worker to understand various traits such as genetic problems, IQ problems, physical and mental disorders. Another step is to give awareness programs to the children about the gender. It plays a significant role in child’s life. Knowledge about physical and mental transformation is essential for a child’s life. It is an important fact that adolescent period is considered as one of the most crucial periods in a person’s life. Visible changes both in physical and emotional may affect person’s life. Here an adolescent needs extra care and support from inside the family and the society. Conducting studies and researches about the culture and ethnicity about children and establish educational scholarships and other financial helps for children who suffered with poverty and disease. It is a part of common knowledge is that African Americans and Hispanic groups live in severe poverty and frustration. Social workers often play the role of a care giver in a child’s life and helping the guardians to reduce a large number of risk traits and other kinds of childhood vulnerabilities. Previous studies have mentioned that parents, guardians and teachers find frustrations to discriminate between healthy or positive childhood sexual experimentation and sexual misbehavior ensuing from disclosure to pornography. Social workers can give guidelines to the parents and guardians to evaluate sexual disturbances and identify the signs of physical and emotional damages. Sexual preoccupation, inappropriate sexual behavior, and Aggressive sexual behavior constitute sexual abuse. School and Community level Establishment of strong and effective peer limits, involvement of positive social groups and the workings of formal and informal institutions have a specific role in child’s social and emotional life. Home visiting and effective family interaction help a person, who work in a social welfare organization in the processes of promoting resilience. Through such relation a social worker can make an intervention plan which helps both the family and children. Counseling and medical camps provide numerous occasions for a social worker to ensure the positive result. Punishments and scolding make the children more aggressive and violent. A social worker should also understand the fact that in the case of an adolescent, physical and emotional traits are very crucial. As there is possibility for an adolescent to oppose and disagree, parents should be vigilant enough to avoid isolation and assure the feeling of security to their children. Both academic and non academic activities in school pave the way for emotional and sexual abuse. Children often exhibit their hesitation in revealing such kind of emotional and sexual abuse. Children who have poor academic performance and inefficiency in sports activities are possible to express an aggressive behavior. The web article entitled; Building resilience in children and families: Proven strategies to prevent child abuse & neglect, is supportive to the former argument. The article comments; “School officials, and child welfare officials, need to recognize and act on educational neglect” (Building resilience in children and families: Proven strategies to prevent child abuse & neglect, n. d.). Concurrently working with media, social workers can develop their work field and they can serve millions of children. Generally various physical and sexual abusing such as beating, hard exercises, and rape attempt result severe psychological trauma among the children. Newspaper reports and magazine articles about various children’s risk traits and other research reports are ready to lend a hand for social workers in conducting social campaign. Substance abuse and drugs paved the way for parent’s aggressive attitude towards their children. Awareness programs against substance abuse and alcoholism require immediate attention from the part of social workers and other officers. In community level social workers can promote various opportunities such as athletics and games for sexually abused children for the establishment of self esteem and self efficiency. Intervention programs for abused children play an integral role in the process of promoting resilience against child abusing. Various intervention programs such as mentoring, social skill training, career development programs, substance abuse prevention, and HIV/AIDS prevention help the social workers and medical officers in early diagnosis and the adoption of prevention methods. Delinquency prevention, counseling, and residential treatment require active participation and cooperation from the part of the social workers. Social and environmental level Resiliency has the relation to both social and psychological features and it is an inspiring fact for a social worker to assure his service. These kinds of social welfare organizations can persuade the government and local bodies to make policies for abolishing economic centralization among a particular group of people. This may help them to decrease poverty issues in economically disadvantaged families. Social groups and care givers can organize financial helps children to continue their education after their schooling. Through identifying the dropped out children Social workers can help the abused children to get back to school after a period of elimination. It is a part of common knowledge that educational competence became very crucial in education field. Poor academic performance and other socio-economic factors force the children to discontinue their learning. It is clear that poverty is often play a powerful risk factor in child’s life and inadequate income is an effective protective factor. Energetic attempts to endorse and support children’s educational opportunities help the reader to understand more about the role of social workers in promoting resilience. Here Social workers can ensure a) child’s participation in early reading and feedback activities, b) ensure stability and continuity in the time of early education, c) aware the children that education is the most useful way to develop good personality, d) inspire the children to participate social work programs and hobbies, e) To give consistent support and encouragement to the children, f) act as a friendly guide or a role model among the children, g) ensure child’s regular attendance in school. These activities help the social workers to reach the mainstream in the promoting resilience in education field. Systematic development of various language skills such as listening, speaking reading, and writing is essential for a child’s academic development. To conclude, child abuse constitute posttraumatic stress turmoil resulted vulnerable behavior, anxiety disorders, mental or physical depression and other psychiatric disorders among the children. Promoting resilience among the abused children requires the active participation of social workers. Social workers can organize resilience programs in various layers of the community such as individual, family, school, society, and environ mental. Counseling, home visiting, intervention programs, campaigns, and awareness programs help the social workers to promote resilience against child abuse. Reference List Building resilience in children and families: Proven strategies to prevent child abuse & neglect (n. d.). [Online] Available from: http://www.newyorkcenterforchildren.org/conference/seven_point_plan_061406.pdf [Accessed 20th Mar 2010]. Edith H. Grotberg. (n.d.) A Guide to Promoting Resilience in Children: Strengthening the Human Spirit [online] Available from: http://resilnet.uiuc.edu/library/grotb95b.html [Accessed 20th Mar 2010]. Read More