Social Service Work Administration Interview Report

Social Service Work Administration Interview Report

Introduction

Social services are about helping the oppressed and poor. The mission of social work and services is to offer the available options that can make a difference in the former lives of an individual. Around the world, there are numerous institutions for the social work and administration and with the support of government, the social work services have been implemented with effectiveness. Social services are considered as the partners of other government institutions in terms of nation building. In general, the social services and related works within the community plays a significant role and most of the agencies are providing social work through the strategies in microfinance for women empowerment and fighting the issue of poverty, administering the antisocial behavior of most youths, addressing mental health issues, and other services that can be very beneficial for the people. In the concentration of social work and services, the urban community is the usual spot where all of the advocacies of social service work is laid and be implemented.  

Meeting the Challenges

The present and future human services and social workers should meet the needs in both direct practice and policy. These are possible through addressing the specific challenges for urban social work: rising needs for specialized professional training and development. The most common example is to train the social workers in the field of work that with high demand (e.g. gerontologist and geriatric social work) and should be applied and equipped across the social work administration. There are programs like software and computer technology to identify the people in need from the national data. The demographic distribution will give the administration to jump into the conclusion and discuss the people’s specific needs. However, behind all of the promising work in the social services, the administration still finds difficulty not only for implementing their plan but because the social workers are slowly diminishing.

There are various reasons that might contribute to the decreasing rates of social service workers. One is the lack of funding and benefits for the social workers. The volunteers are not encouraged to go in the social work because of the failure of some in institutions to provide initiatives in supporting their people. The weak relationship between the government institutions and social service administration is also a contributing factor. In other countries with heavy political issues, the social work institutions and other related foundations are used as front liners in collecting donations then afterwards; use the funds for the political purpose of the politicians. This kind of strategy where identified which results in limiting the number of social works and foundations and in the long run, affects the mission of the social work in bringing the changes and improvement for the community. Despite of all the issues, it is still important to ensure that social work plays the role of advocate in seeking additional funding for new programs and restoring funding for previous successful programs to continue their livelihood and life supporting projects. In the continuous practice of the social work and services, there are successful programs that can be invested in the society.

The Future of Social Work

“The belief that social work managers needed to have their own professional organization committed to supporting them in their specific challenges, along with the development of their professional expertise, was the reason we founded the network” – Felice D. Perlmutter

The future of the social work should embody the following:

 

• advocacy;

• communication and interpersonal relationships;

• ethics;

• evaluation;

• financial development;

• financial management;

• governance;

• human resource management and development;

• information technology;

• leadership;

• planning;

• program development and organizational management;

• public/community relations and marketing; and

• public policy.

The social workers in the management of community are a tough decision and the one engaged with the practice should have both knowledge and idea on care. It is important the social workers and the members of administration serve as educator for the society in order to achieve the productive social movements and changes. According to Perlmutter, a social work advocate, social work is still one of the few professions that have as its life’s blood a commitment to being consumer-oriented, to working with disenfranchised populations, dealing with social problems, focusing on social policy, and promoting advocacy. The value of having someone with a social work degree in management is their orientation to the clients, services, and advocacy.

References:

Jones, L.K., (2007) The Future of Social Work Administration: An Interview With Felice D. Perlmutter, Social Work Today, 7(4): 22 [Online] Available at: http://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/julyaug2007p22.shtml [Accessed 27 November 2010].

Lun, MWA., (2010) Aging in Place and Urban Social Work: A Case Study of a NORC, Social Work–THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER Online–Magazine for Social Work Students and Recent Graduates [Online] Available at: http://www.socialworker.com/home/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=362 [Accessed 27 November 2010].

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