Lee High School

How might a Social Worker work with a team to give children a source of hope?

Family and Child Services (Social Worker)

Nyijah Crawford

Senior Capstone

Jody Snyder

April 13, 2017

Nyijah Crawford
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Jody Snyder

Senior Capstone

April 13, 2017

The Power in Guiding

Child and family social workers protect vulnerable children and support families in need

of assistance. Social workers help people solve and cope with problems in their everyday lives

(Bureau of Labor). Becoming a social worker has been a part of my plan ever since I witnessed

my own family being taken away by Child Protective Services (CPS) to live a higher quality life.

I have the gift to guide, which will benefit me in this field. My intention for the future is to work

with a team to give children their sense of hope again by following three main steps,

identifying people and communities in need, helping clients adjust to changes and

challenges in their life, and assisting those to a healthy and happier life, mentally,

physically, and emotionally.

The major role of a Social Worker is helping people, whether that is marriage, substance

abuse, child and family abuses, domestic violence, and also even mental health disorders. Child

and family services is a top pick for many people, simply because its relatable. Family is

supposed to be the most trusted, and the most supportive. Without a support system, life is hard.

Everyone relies on family to be there during the toughest stages of life through the most success.

The first main step in being successful in this career is identifying people and communities in

need. According to the article 10 Things A New Social Worker Needs To Know About People by

Linda Conroy, she mentioned how many new social workers can have the opportunity to be great

and their job. She stated, All parents have big dreams, ideals, and plans, even if they are young,
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uneducated, or poor...and things can go wrong for lots of reasons. Not all parents hope to be bad

parents, it just kind of happens and thats what Conroy was implying. Its the Social Workers

jobs to be able to know and understand that parents may not intentionally try to hurt their kids,

but they have to also understand that if its not stable enough for the children, the best thing for

them to do is leave and find better opportunities for themselves. While giving full attention to the

children, there are still situations where parents need help, too. As a Social Worker, its their job

to help guide everyone. For example, a mother of five was struggling to keep her house and

didnt have enough money to provide for all of her kids. They moved into their grandmothers

two bedroom house. They were loved dearly, and they were not abused in any way. In fact, life

was great for them. It took a turn for the worse when they got taken away because the household

was too small for everyone that lived there. All five kids were in one room, and thats a safety

hazard. Its not that the parent didnt care about them, but in this case, it was just that if a parent

cannot handle the pressure of being a parent of five and is not financially stable, then it will be

determined that the children must go somewhere else to live. This parent ended up losing the

case, and the woman lost her children. Again, its not always the case that people are BAD

parents. Pilnik on the other hand is a Social Worker who helps her clients find resources that

meet their needs, and does whatever it takes to help them succeed. Social Workers like Pilnik

provides transportation, has open opportunities for everyone in need, and help find agencies,

caseworkers and attorneys.

Lisa Pilnik (the director and co-founder of Child & Family Policy Associates, a small

consulting firm) is a role model to many social workers because she fights for all of her clients

until theyre in a better place. In the quote, it mentions how she find resources that meet their

needs. What she means by that is getting them psychological help if needed, or physical
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assistance such as food, clothes, and a stable home. She even talks about how she makes it her

personal goal to let clients know shes on their side. Social Workers find it important to

understand their clients, spend time with them, and learn their behaviors so that they know where

to put them that will be beneficial. It also states in the quote how social workers does not just

leave the parents behind. They actually provide them with transportation, and another chance to

get their children back. People have this perception that social workers are just putting their nose

in the business of peoples families simply to get money, or to break families apart. This is not

the case at all, as Social Workers identify people and communities in need before going to court,

and the other things that comes with the services.

Helping children adjust to changes and challenges have got to be one of the hardest, yet

most important roles of a social worker. If this step is not done properly, children can be

traumatized by what theyve been through, and most likely, their children will go through the

same thing. There is an article called, The child -centered social worker and the sexually abused

child: pathway to healing, where a social worker is on the case of a sexually abused child.

Throughout the article, it shows the roles of a Social Worker, and how they guided the young

child to a better life. Although they wont forget what happened to them, its still important that

they get the help that they need. Often, there may be two different social workers working with

the same family, one providing therapy or treatment and the other--typically through the auspices

of a victim witness program--helping the child and her family understand the court processes.

(Anderson, Weston, Doueck 368). Working with a team to help children mentally, physically, and

emotionally is of utmost importance. In most cases, its better to have a woman social worker

involved in a sexually abused child case for girls simply because they will feel like they can

relate more on a feminine level. Children of this age can be easily manipulated through
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curiosity or fear, they are targets for recanting their accounts. Latency-aged children, while able

to distinguish between "good" and 'bad" behaviors, feel some level of responsibility for their

abuse. (Kuehnle). When children are growing up they often feel like everything is their fault.

Its just the way humans are, they dont know if theyre doing the right or wrong thing, in other

words theyre still learning. Basically what Kuehnle is saying, is that when children get taken

away its hard for them to even be happy, because they will feel its their fault they arent with

their parents in the first place. All parents have a different way of parenting. Punishments,

awards, they do everything differently. Andrea Donovan (a former teacher at Lee High School)

recently had a baby, and in her interview she was asked, How will you punish your child

without being too extreme? She then replied, I plan to use time outs when they are young to

provide time to reflect on the behavior. I also hope to be respected enough that when my

child(ren) make mistakes, they will feel poorly for doing so and that will be a consequence in

itself. (Donovan). Not all parents are abusive, and not all parents believe that talks and time outs

will teach them the listen. But its all about whats safe. Its about being mature, and handling

accordingly. Children will obviously make mistakes, and like Donovan said, if taught right

children will automatically feel bad about the situations. These are just the plenty of different

ways to safely punish your children.

In conclusion, social workers are required to be there for their clients and help them in

any way possible. They need to be there identifying people and communities in need, helping

clients adjust to changes and challenges in their life, and assisting those to a healthy and

happier life, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Clients must feel understood, listened to

and must feel as if someone is there for them. Social workers must make sure they have a
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support system and that the parents are getting help, too. Instead of taking children away, they

are trying to get help for everyone and mend them back together. Social Workers must help the

parents as well, and reassure them that they are not alone. They have resources people to help

them out, too. Last but not least, Social Workers must go over the steps to a clients recovery, and

how they have to get through the obstacles. Overall, Social Workers that work in Child

Protective services are just trying to help, and they are heroes to many people. They are the light

at the end of the tunnel.

Work Cited

Anderson, Lorie Elizabeth, et al. "The child -centered social worker and the sexually abused

child: pathway to healing." Social Work, vol. 47, no. 4, 2002, p. 368+. Academic OneFile,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE

%7CA94590286&it=r. Accessed 13 Apr. 2017.

Barth, Richard P. "Shared family care: child protection and family preservation." Social Work,

vol. 39, no. 5, 1994, p. 515+. Academic OneFile,

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go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE

%7CA16083769&it=r. Accessed 13 Apr. 2017.

Conroy, Linda. "10 Things Every New Social Worker Needs To Know." The New Social Worker.

Copyright 2017 White Hat Communications, 2017. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.

Fanning, Julie. "Understanding the Role of a Social Worker." MSWOnline Programs.

MSWOnlinePrograms.org, n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2017.

Miller, Ashley. "The Job Description of a Child Welfare Social Worker." Chron. Hearst

Newspapers Copyright 2017 Hearst Newspapers, LLC, 2017. Web. 8 Apr. 2017.