Social work professionalism in self-help organizations

This article provides suggestions for supporting the marriages of couples who adopt children from the child welfare system. These suggestions emerged from qualitative data obtained from 22 spouses in 4 focus groups. Data reveal that couples want professionals to address the impact of adoption on the marital relationship prior to placement of children, to facilitate contact among adoptive couples that focuses on couple relationships in addition to parenting issues after children have been placed, and to actively support the marital relationship in postplacement/ postadoption services even when children's behaviors or needs constitute the presenting problem. Taken together, results indicate that it is appropriate for a broad range of professionals to address the couple relationship throughout the adoption process. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE• Professionals can address the impact of adoption on the marital relationship In preplacement and postplacement phases of adoption.• Professionals can encourage adoptive couples to form social support networks that include other adoptive couples.A lthough researchers have generated valuable knowledge about adoption and about marital relationships in a family context, these bodies of literature are not often integrated. Therefore, despite deep concern for vulnerable children and families among child welfare practitioners and administrators, as well as related professionals, research that is applicable to practice is often fragmented and difficult to synthesize. Moreover, available research often reports and packages findings in ways that render the essence of client experience inaccessible to caring professionals, and offers few practical and specific suggestions to guide transactions between professionals and parents in the context of child welfare practice.This article represents an effort to aid professionals working in adoption services, family court, child welfare, clinical family social work, couple and family therapy, pastoral counseling, pédiatrie medicine, and related fields. It centers on the value of supporting the marriages of couples who adopt children from the child welfare system, which is an important, but often overlooked aspect of adoption from child welfare. To give direct voice to a sample of these couples, their experience and suggestions are presented in their own words, and implications for professional practice throughout the adoption process are summarized.

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“…Across the social services, this tension has historically polarized attitudes and actions (Leung, 2010).…”

Section: Practice Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What Couples who Adopt Children from Child Welfare Want Professionals to Know about Supporting Their Marriages

Mooradian

Hock

Jackson

et al. 2011

Families in Society

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“…Similarly, post-modern and structural social work models have emerged (Weinberg, 2008) both of which acknowledge clients to be facing an intersection of social and institutional struggles unique to them. And rather than viewing social workers as keepers of the 'legitimate' knowledge on struggles clients face, in these models social workers are positioned as resources to be used by clients who hold the legitimate knowledge of their own experiences (George, Coleman, & Barnoff, 2007;Leung, 2010).…”

Section: Social Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, social work has been subject to changes in recent years where the relationship-building (historically considered essential by workers) is sidelined in favor of paperwork, improved capacity and financial considerations (Gorman, 2000) by political and administrative sectors. The development of social work as a profession is relatively recent (Austin, 1997;Collier, 2006;Jennissen & Lundy, 2011;Leung, 2010) and has in Canada since the mid-1950s become tied to the development of institutional accreditation such as university degrees and membership in professional organizations (Jennissen & Lundy, 2011). Before this, social work had been comprised of all types of workers who had acquired their skills from a variety of areas.…”

Section: Professionalism In Social Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The references in this research to 'professionalism' refer to the prioritization of institutional knowledge over the other important aspects of both education and practice of social work. This viewpoint, which characterizes formal scientific knowledge, empiricism and detached reason as superior aspects of social work (Leung, 2010), can lead to pressures on the field to value only certain parts of social work knowledge and abilities.…”

Section: Professionalism In Social Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There can be pressure in social service work to behave in an objective, detached and 'professional' manner (Leung, 2010). Due to this, social workers may look for "reliable and legitimate procedures and guidance" (Gorman, 2000, p.11) to be sure their behaviour is meeting the expected standard.…”

Section: Professionalism In Social Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Individuality in approaches to emotionally demanding work and coping among experienced British Columbia social workers

Fraser¹

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Many social workers experience high levels of emotional exhaustion (Kim, Ji, & Kao, 2011), directly contributing to poor professional retention, with numbers of social workers leaving the field between 20 and 40% annually in some sectors (Font, 2012). Additionally, social work is a highly gendered field (Sloan, 2012), and expectations of social workers' emotional labour as well as their prospects for influence and advancement reflect this (Lane & Flowers, 2015). Rather than examining the struggles social workers face (the subject of numerous studies already), this qualitative study examines the experiences of six female social workers, who selfidentified as being emotionally healthy, thriving in their job, and who intended to continue as social workers. Each participant had a minimum of five years' experience following completion of their BSW or MSW. The participants' perceptions of social work, experience of emotional demands in the field, and knowledge of emotional supports for social workers were examined. Additionally, participants' self-assessments of their personality and qualities of personal hardiness or resilience were examined, based on the literature review findings that suggested relationships between these factors and emotional coping. The research was informed by critical theory on structural social work, and a thematic analysis was performed on the qualitative interviews to draw out shared thematic elements. Successful social work is a complex accomplishment: professionalism intersects with informal client-focused work, and emotionally demanding labour intersects gendered stereotypes on appropriate emotional expression. This research found that successful social workers considered their personality and approach to be instrumental in their success. Though individual interpretations differed, participants shared beliefs that they were personally suited for social work. In other words, the people who thrive as social workers are as complex, nuanced and interesting as the work itself.

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The management quest for authentic relationships in voluntary social care

Cour

2018

Journal of Civil Society

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Social work professionalism in self-help organizations

Cited by 9 publications

References 24 publications

What Couples who Adopt Children from Child Welfare Want Professionals to Know about Supporting Their Marriages

What Couples who Adopt Children from Child Welfare Want Professionals to Know about Supporting Their Marriages

Individuality in approaches to emotionally demanding work and coping among experienced British Columbia social workers

The management quest for authentic relationships in voluntary social care

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