Becoming A Social Worker | Assessment

Running head: BECOMING A SOCIAL WORKER
Becoming a Social worker
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors note

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BECOMING A SOCIAL WORKER
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

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BECOMING A SOCIAL WORKER
Table of Contents
History and current context Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people....................3
Key Issues......................................................................................................................4
Major theories underpinning Work in this Field of Practice..........................................6
Overview of Current Policy and Practices.....................................................................7
Impact of Current policies..............................................................................................9

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BECOMING A SOCIAL WORKER
History and current context Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Social workers are the voice to the silent and weak portion of the society and code of
ethics are the base of their work process. They have the responsibility to enhance well-being
of an individual or a community. In this study, we will discuss about the Aboriginals of
Australia and what are the aspects of working for them from social work context.
The “Australian Association of Social Workers” has acknowledged the Torres Strait
and Aboriginal people as first inhabitants of Australia. The history of Torres and Aboriginal
people are long drawn and they have come through a long journey to get their present
position in society. The Torres Strait people have their origin in the tip of Papua New Guinea
and Cape York. Some of Torres people live in mainland of Australia. The term indigenous in
Australia defined for both the Torres Strait and Aboriginal people (Bennett, 2013). The
history says that social works have influenced the life of these indigenous people immensely.
Right from the colonial era to the 20th century, these were people have to suffer more than
non-indigenous people in Australia. These Aboriginal people have always tried to save their
culture and identity that is quite different form non-Aboriginal people. Despite of all their
attempts collective resistance and deep resilience, Aboriginals and Torres people were
disadvantaged and marginalised.
The government policies of assimilation were imposed harshly on the Aboriginal
people. They were forced to adopt the non-indigenous culture to get along with other parts of
society. Children were been separated from their parents and they were placed in foster
homes and while institutions. This law of Australian government has given birth to the
“Stolen generation” and some members of this generation are still not been able to reunite
with their families. These children were away from their home and were physically, mentally
and sexually abused (Bennett, 2013). They lost their self-confidence and self-esteem. Cultural