Social Work With Groups and Communities - Coursework Example

Theory, Practice and Community Development Name: Institution: Date: Introduction This paper explores, develops and gives the practical application of the principles that are useful in comprehending and acting within the community and even regional development. The paper examines community development practices and the significance of the use of best community development practices on individuals and the community as a whole. The theoretical perspectives presented in this research concerns the manner in which community development interventions strengthen, facilitate and improve the less advantaged communities leading to empowering of the members to take part in the process of development and interact with larger economic, social and political systems. The paper also presents the application of photovoice as means for people to express their stories and experiences of individuals and communities using photographs and words. A case study of a boy employing photovoice to express his feelings in detailed. Overview Social work and community development is very integral part in determining the needs of children living in foster families. This body of knowledge is mandated with the capacity to create awareness and incentives for prevention of social injustices on children caused by either neglect, abuse or both. It leads to the involvement of every member of the community in activities that strengthens the society by taking collective action and generating solutions to common problems. This paper found out that effective community development strategies are evolving from the individual level lead to enhancement of social, economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing of the larger community. It does play a significant role in support of active democratic life through the promotion of self-standing voice of vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. The group that the paper will study comprises of a ten-year-old boy who lives with a foster family. The boy who has an eight-year-old brother and a four-year-old sister has been living with the foster family since his mother cannot take care of them. The mother is ever out drinking with friends and is not able to even provide food for the children who now live with others. The boy, Daniel is, however, unhappy with the behavior of his brother but he still misses his company. Daniel incurs the human and social cost, and this prompts for an invention, and he is enrolled in Children in Care Youth Advisory group. The analysis of the case study data shows that there are the adverse and negative effect of child neglect on the nurturing and providing stable environment during early years of development of a child. The child undergoes severe mental and psychological torture as a result of the negligence of the parent who fails to take care and provide the basics needs of the child. It is clear that alcoholism can be of gracious effect on the development and the social well-being of a child. There is a correlation between maternal alcohol consumption with child abuse and negative impact on the social, psychological and economic environment of the child. In communities where drinking is done outside the home and the family, there is a conflict between the time taken when drinking and the time required for the family life. The implication of the boy's narrative, for social work and community development organizations, is a creation of awareness of such social injustices that the children are capable of undergoing. It stimulates for further research on the methods that can be used to prevent the occurrence such. I am of the opinion that training on skills of parenting should be initiated and be implemented even from our high schools. Measures such as such as services to children affected, Family support programs and Home visitation, voluntary reporting by the community, tightening the rules that govern child protection, Intensive family preservation services, campaigns toward changing the perceptions of the community among others are capable of controlling such negligence and help the affected children overcome. Community Development Community development is the coming together of the members of a community with the aim of strengthening the civil society by taking action together and generating solutions to common problems (Hardina, 2013). The development of social, economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing of the community evolves from such actions at the local level. It empowers the local communities, both communities organizing around individual policy initiatives or specific themes, communities of identity or interest and geographical communities. Community development may involve small initiatives within a small group and to important initiatives involving the broader community. It adds strength to the ability of individuals to be active citizens through their networks, organizations and community groups; and the ability of both non-governmental, private and public agencies and institutions to work in connection with the local community to change and shape the community. Community development plays an important part in support of active democratic life through the promotion of self-standing voice of vulnerable and disadvantaged communities (Lynn, 2006). A superior community development is an action that assists individuals and communities to single out and enhance their potential and capacity, making them able to organize themselves to react to the needs and problems which are common to them. That leads to the establishment of healthy communities that utilize and control assets aiming to enhance the quality of community life and promote social justice. The quality of the government also gets improvement through the working together of public agencies and the community. Theory of Community Development There may be some methods implementable for right practice, but I believe that the community development approach is probably the most practical framework available to social workers with the intention of creating a long-lasting change for the societies and communities in which they live and for individuals. Theory of community development moves towards the center of the manner of overcoming externally imposed social problems of the oppressed people. The theory is work of community development since it speaks for itself by the mere fact of its definition and it is adaptable to other disciplines like the elaboration of the neighborhood. The foundation of social work has a lot to share with the basics of community development. The definition of both put forward by Mendes (2009) shows that community development is a component of social work. He defines community development as the application of the structures of the community to address social needs empowering communities. He defines social work as the act of professionally intervening when addressing personal crisis and distress situations through inflicting a change in the social environment where people live. The sociology focus makes the theory of community development unique from the social work practice principles. The former employs and lays weight on the structure of the community in the performance of change. Appropriate engagement and empowering of the people of the community and these structures would mean that my work as a social worker for instance, in the framework of community development would be much inclined to facilitation (Mendes and Binns, 2013). For the social workers to contribute mainly to the change within the community of their operations, community development must be a long-lasting activity. It should also be adequately planned, equitable and inclusive, whole and instead of separation into parts. The work should be geared towards benefiting the community and must be supported and imitated by the members of the community. The effectiveness should establish on experiences that lead to best practices. Community development should be understood as a local process through which the communities in question increase their responsibility, plan and organize as one, develop options for healthy lifestyles. It empowers the people of the community thereby reducing suffering and poverty and leading to the creation of more economic and employment opportunities. The process when well organized will steer the achievement of economic, social, environmental and cultural objectives of the community (Gitterman, 2006). Improvement of the quality of life is a sure goal of community development. Shared responsibility and mutual benefit among the members of the community is a result of effective implementation of the theory of community development. Challenging oppression through social movements, or learning from social movements The social workers should recognize and challenge any form of abuse experienced by a range of linguistically and culturally diverse groups by implementing the principle practices of anti-oppression. Affirmative action is justifiable in instances where there is a denial of the rights of an individual to access resources necessary for his/her well-being. One of the major examples of the participation and the involvement of the community in the eradicating oppression is the civil rights movements. Such actions indicate the power in solidarity and the impact of togetherness in seeking for the freedom from any form of abuse by empowering individuals and changing the community as a result. Membership of a particular race, gender, class, age and (dis)ability group impact of the experiences of individuals and community negatively. Proper implementation and involvement of each and every member of the community can result in controlling oppression. I believe a global and holistic approach to the work of social and community development that allows the participation of people is important in controlling abuse. In an attempt to fight oppression, we should lay much weight on the community level social work. The involvement of the community is significant because it creates opportunity and faith in the solidarity of the oppressed population. The individuals learn that their problems have social and economic causes and standard solutions. The method Photo Voice is a Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methodology for preventing and controlling complex public health problems based on the premise that people are experts in their lives. The method involves taking pictures and writing brief descriptions to document the realities of an environment and to identify opportunities to advocate for change (Stevens, 2010). The principal purpose of Photovoice is to tell stories and experiences of individuals and communities using photographs and words. The use of photovoice leads to the development of leadership skills of the participants, increases the sense of community and empowers the participants (Russell and Diaz, 2013). For those participating in photovoice, they get the chance to portray their experiences visually and share personal knowledge about some issues that are otherwise hard to express by words alone (Craig, 2009). For use by researchers, the photo stories that result from the utilization of the photographs provides a rich platform for offering a complete comprehension of the issues of a community. It helps the experts to capture visual depictions enhancing their capacity to make an accurate record of the social issues from the participants' point of view (Bogre, 2011). My Data Member introduction I will use the story of Daniel who is ten years old. Currently, Daniel is accommodated by Richard and Doris after being taken from the care of his mother three years ago. Before that, Daniel's was out often with her friends drinking. The food was not in the house for Daniel and his two siblings. Daniel has an understanding of his mother's inability to take care of them, and the memories of his mother going out leaving them alone in the house are still fresh in his mind. Daniel did take care of his little brother and sister. He too now enjoys the attention given him by Richard and Doris who are an older couple but are caring and Daniel feels he can share his inner feelings with them. Daniel has settled in his foster home and is happy at school. He enjoys living with this couple but he Kieren(8), his brother and Lucy(4), his sister. Richard and Doris sometimes let Kieren spend the weekend with them but not very often owing to the misbehavior of Kieren. Daniel is happy to meet his brother Kieren who also attends the children care group initiative, but he is worried about his misbehavior. He is afraid that he will lose contact with Kieren because he cannot stay in one place. This is his biggest fear, and he is hopeful that by attending the group, he is in a position to inform the council that keeping brothers and sisters together is significant. Daniel always looks out for his brother in the group encouraging him to join in and express his feelings. Ethics Ethics can be defined as a set of moral principles shaped by religious influences, cultural practices, and social norms that guide the behavior of a person and gives a reflection of what is wrong and what is right, what is unjust and what is just, what is bad and what is good. The photos below were taken by Daniel during the children in care advisory group incentive. pic1 Daniel takes this picture to show the unwillingness of Daniel to separate in every meeting with Kieren. He cannot bear to see Kieren step outside the door, he is like a cat at the door. pic2 The picture (pic2) from Daniel’s point of view, he likens himself to a dog, looking up at every time and Kieren meet. Daniel misses his brother Kieren. pic3 The third picture shows a group of chicken and it reminds Daniel of the scenes of his life together with Kieren and Lucy. Like a group of chicken living in a farm, so is the group of brothers and sisters living happily together. Daniel misses this. Analysis The story of Daniel shows the effect of child neglect on the nurturing and providing stable environment during early years of development of a child. The experience that the child undergoes because of neglect has both short and long-term development of the brain of the child and their capacity to be full participants in the society (Hallahan and Irizarry, 2008). It shows that even with a good company in the foster families they still luck and miss something that is vital for their development. I believe that child neglect is part of child abuse because of the resulting conditions such as hunger and lack of care in direction Child neglect is a public and social problem as well as a children's rights issue in Australia. When parents are intoxicated so early, it results in child neglect since they cannot even manage to prepare food for their children, even if there is food available. Some parents go further to selling food to buy alcohol an indicator that child neglect due to alcohol means that the children will not be well nourished and will be under-socialized as well. The result of the same has forced many of the children to beg and steal food, refuse to attend school and participate in other delinquent activities. It can be established from the narrative that too much drinking is capable of impairing the manner in which individual functions and their participation in various social responsibilities significantly. The story can be used to show a comprehensive picture of the adverse impact that alcoholism can cause on the children and even the alcoholic's partner ( Wodak et al. 2003).There is a correlation between maternal alcohol consumption with child abuse and negative impact on the social, psychological and economic environment of the child. In communities where drinking is done outside the home and the family, there is a conflict between the time taken when drinking and the time required for the family life. Alcohol consumption is also capable of draining the family economically especially of a low-income family making other family members devastated. Implications for social work It is surprising that not much labor and research has been carried out to examine the effectiveness of preventive interventions when the prevention of child neglect and abuse almost globally spoken of as a significant social policy (Hegar, 2012). Some measures of interventions like home visitations have been carefully researched, yet still, many more responses that I feel are applicable in this field of social work still lack inadequacy of evaluation. From the story of Daniel and the many programs available, there is much focus in the past laid upon perpetrators and victims of child neglect and even abuse. I would recommend the study and implementation of those approaches with the goal of preventing child neglect from occurring in the first place. I will recommend the following practices for social workers: Training in parenting There are already many developed and practiced interventions geared toward improving parenting practices and giving support to the family. Such sets of structured activities are usable in training of the parents on the development of children and helping equip the parents in developing skills helpful in the management of the characters of their children. I believe that providing training and education for prospective parents and parents is of great benefit in the development of sound behavior in the children though many of the programs on training in parenting are usable with families in which child neglect and abuse have already occurred or high-risk families (Nussbaum, 2011). I would suggest that training on parenting should be introduced in high schools. With the implementation of this, students and young adults will get equipped with the knowledge about child development and care, and at the same time gain practical experience by working with small children at daycare centers and preschools. If the neglect and abuse have already occurred, there should be a measure to prevent a recurrence and curb the negative outcome of the child such as delayed development and emotional problems (Gil, 2013). Family support programs and Home Visitation Home visitations by trained social workers will take the community development resources to the relatives thereby leading to prevention of adverse outcomes of child neglect such as violence. During the visits, the family will get the assistance with the necessary information; get support and other services leading to improvement of the functioning of the household (Wallace and Pease, 2011). Intensive family preservation services An intervention mechanism with the aim of putting the family together to prevent the placing of children in substitute care is applicable. This should be applied toward families like Daniel's in which maltreatment has been identified. An intensive intervention for a short time should be directed to the family in question or another place that is familiar with the child (Mendes, 2007). There should also be implemented various other mechanisms such as services to children affected, voluntary reporting by the community, tightening the rules that govern child protection, campaigns toward changing the perceptions of the community among others. Conclusion Community development adds strength to the ability of individuals to be active citizens through their networks, organizations and community groups; and the ability of both non-governmental, private and public agencies and institutions to work in connection with the local community to change and shape the community. Community development plays an important part in support of active democratic life through the promotion of self-standing voice of vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. Photovoice assists the participants to get the chance to portray their experiences visually and share personal knowledge about some issues that are otherwise hard to express by words alone. For use by researchers, the photo stories that result from the utilization of the photographs provides a rich platform for offering a complete comprehension of the issues of a community. It helps the experts to capture visual depictions enhancing their capacity to make an accurate record of the social issues from the participants' point of view. References Bogre, M. (2011). Photography as activism. Oxford: Focal. (available as an e-book) Craig, C (2009). Exploring the self through photography: Activities for use in group work. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Gil, D. (2013). Confronting injustice and oppression: Concepts and strategies for social workers. New York: Columbia University Press. Gitterman, A. (2006). Building mutual support in groups. Social work with groups, 28(3-4), 91-106. Hallahan, L. & Irizarry, C. (2008). Fun days out: Normalising social experiences for refugee children. Journal of Family Matters, 14(1), 124-130. Hardina, D. (2013) Interpersonal Social Work Skills for Community Practice. Springer Publishing Company: New York. Hegar R. (2012). Paulo Freire: Neglected mentor for social work, Journal of Progressive Human Services, 23(2), 159-177. 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Family & Community Health, 33(4), 275-284. Wallace, J., & Pease, B. (2011). Neoliberalism and Australian social work? Accomodation or resistance? Journal of Social Work, 11(2), 132-142. Wodak, A., Symonds, A., & Richmond, R. (2003). The role of civil disobedience in drug policy reform: How an illegal safer injecting room led to a sanctioned, medically supervised injection centre. Journal of Drug Issues, 33(3), 609-624. Read More