Happy Social Work Month!

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The Social Work Month 2011 theme promotes the role of social worker as positive change agent. There are 640,000 professional social workers in the United States who have dedicated their careers to either helping people transform their lives, or improving environments that make such progress possible.

# Social Workers champion access, equality and fairness.
# Social Workers improve the fabric of society by being advocates for people who need help addressing serious life challenges and exploring their options.
# The Social Work profession was established more than 100 years ago to provide as many people as possible with the tools and support they need to overcome adversity (poverty, illness, addiction, abuse, discrimination, etc.) and reach their full potential.
# The Social Work profession also works to change systems and customs that limit the ability of vulnerable individuals and groups to lead fulfilling and productive lives...

http://www.naswdc.org/pressroom/swMonth/2011/default.asp


Thank a social worker today!

[bobbolink]

1. If social workers would concentrate on changing destrucive societal forces, and stop trying to

manipulate people, we would have a much more productive system.

[LiberalLoner]

2. Amen to that! Not saying social workers ought to have that as their job, but SOMEONE

SOMEWHERE needs to stop the vile evil that seems to be taking over. I feel like none of us can stay sane when the whole system is so frigging insane.

[bobbolink]

7. "I feel like none of us can stay sane when the whole system is so frigging insane. "

That pretty much says it all!

Being bent on remaking people and keeping the whole system as it is... insane.... cannnot possibly end well.

Very well put!

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9. I think 99.9% of social workers would agree with you.

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3. What are you talking about? How have social workers manipulated people?

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5. The majority of the time when I hear something like that people are referring to caseworkers from...

Children's division. Although some social workers do case work even fewer work for DFS. They are more often therapists and counselors.

[w8liftinglady]

4. I feel for the social workers I work with... they have to create something from nothing

get meds and equipment for patients with no funding.
Find a patient a ride home
help a family place a member in Skilled nursing care centers...


all for patients/families with no resources,toeing the line.
They are miracle workers,and I tip my hat to them daily.

[demmiblue]

21. A nice tribute, w8liftinglady. n/t

[WolverineDG]

6. I'm sure you're a good social worker

but, sorry, I've got to laugh at them being champions of "access, equality, & fairness." I've caught too many CPS workers lying their asses off & coming up with bizarre reasons to not reunify families, even when the parents have jumped through all the impossibly high hoops imposed by said "champions."

dg

[bobbolink]

8. Sadly, that is one aspect of the profession, and the people who become the victims have NO POWER

whatsoever, and have to swallow the injustice, no matter how it wrecks their lives.

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

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11. How many social workers fight that unjust application of power on a daily basis?

[bobbolink]

12. I can see that you are taking all of this personally, and I don't wish to get into that fight.

Just understand that many of us know what it is like to be hurt by social workers, and it is pain that one doesn't get over.

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13. I would be willing to bet that the person or people who you had that experience with were not...

social workers. Caseworker and social worker are not the same thing.

[bobbolink]

16. You know, I tried to drop it peacefully, and you are insisting on pushing it.

I understand that my pain and the pain of others isn't something you want to hear about, or deal with.

So, I ask again... please drop it.

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17. Did you accuse me of taking it personally?

[bobbolink]

18. Um, look... I said it looked like you were taking it personally. That is NOT an "accusation".

I also asked you to drop it twice now... you want to build this into a fight, keep going.

Twice I have said that I and others have been hurt, and yet that matters not to you, which is part of the whole problem that I see with the profession.

Keep going, and it WILL be a fight.

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19. I will talk as much as I like thank you and you did not say it "looked like" I was doing so...

You said: "I can see that you are taking all of this personally." Neither is it accurate to state that suggesting that the person who you report mistreated you may not have been in this profession = not caring about hurting others. A statement like that hurts no one, though a drastic misinterpretation of it certainly may.

[bobbolink]

20. Alrighty, then, I also will say as much as I want, and I can guarantee you won't like it.

This combative attitude is part of what people don't like about social workers, so thank you for illustrating it.

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22. Who is being combative?

What was aggressive about pointing out the possibility that the caseworker you have known may not have been a licensed social worker?

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23. I post ... Happy social worker day, you state that they need to "stop trying to manipulate people"

Again who was being combative?

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10. How many of those CPS workers are social workers? Not very many I would guess.

[WolverineDG]

14. I believe you have to be a social worker to be a CPS caseworker

the ones I've locked horns with have been. I've met some really good ones, but not enough to overcome my initial :rofl: at the whole "champions of justice" thing.

Like the cow last week who had "concerns" about returning a child to her father because when he showed up for visitation the very first time (while he still had supervised visits), he didn't bring the child anything to drink. (never mind the fact that he'd seen her unsupervised for almost a year & there were no complaints that the child was hungry or thirsty after visiting with dad). That was such patent BS the judge called her on it.

dg

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15. No, they hire anyone with a bachelors degree in a social service field and they do not have to be

licensed social workers, which is the only person, due to state title protection laws, that can hold that title.

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. I am a retired licensed and certified Social Worker, have a BA & a Master's Degree in Social Work.

Which made me, when I worked, a LCSW.
Without the license, I had to sign off as an MSW.
( takes a few years of actual work and supervision to earn the right to apply for a license)

So, for the record...

People DO tend to not understand the difference between Caseworkers, Social Workers, Therapists and Counselors.
The terms of Caseworker and Counselor especially are used very loosely.
In fact, it was not until insurance companies got involved in payment that licensed or license-eligible people
were required for some service payments.

Plus requirements of the same job vary among states.
BA level and even AA level education in psychology was often accepted as requirement to be a caseworker in some places.
No "social work" training at all, in other words.
Doing Therapy, vs. counseling, vs. casework are different things, in different types of agencies, with different
groups of clients. Depends on a lot of factors, and is changing all the time.
( Social Workers also do Community Organizing, Program Development, Administration-I have done all of that over time)

So unless you know for a fact the person has a degree and/or license in Social Work, they are not Social Workers.
Hint: the license should be displayed in the office and you always have a right to ask what credentials they have if you see none.

And, btw, in some states, Social Work jobs required us to join the Service Employees International Union.

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25. +1