Social Work Theory and Practice: Individual and Families

SOCIAL WORK THEORY
AND PRACTICE-
INDIVIDUAL AND
FAMILIES

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART A...........................................................................................................................................3
Summary......................................................................................................................................3
Values, assumptions and ethical considerations..........................................................................3
Challenges and concerns..............................................................................................................4
Theoretical frameworks for developing care plan.......................................................................4
PART B...........................................................................................................................................6
Additional information................................................................................................................6
Personal Experience.....................................................................................................................7
Power relationship between individual and family members......................................................7
Prospective of Family practice....................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

PART A
Summary
RuralVille is a community of people that are experiencing severe drought and due to this the
local economy as well as the morale of the local people has crashed. Due to this property values
in the village have also crashed and there are number of newcomers from metropolitans who
seek affordable housing along with beautiful scenery and this has affected the behaviour of local
people towards the new comers categorising them as the contributors of bringing town down.
The case is about the parents of Tom and Anna who have recently moved to RuralVille and their
parents are point of concern, the mother, Mary, claims that she is aboriginal and father, George,
is Greek but both are unemployed. They don’t want their children to engage in any aboriginal
activities and additionally the children did no always have all the necessities and said their mom
had hurt herself or she was sick etc. When the class parent representative visited the house,
mother was found to be uncooperative, father was heard shouting in the back and the house and
yard was a complete mess. All this has raised concerns of the HSLO and they do not fund the
behaviour of the parents as healthy or normal. This has led to them along with the class parent
representative take the case of Anna and Tom in front of the Child, Adolescent and Family
Health Service so that the problem within the family can be identified and then appropriate care
plan can be developed by them. The RuralVille community also plays a huge role in shaping up
the lives of the newcomers and therefore this can be a huge aspect to be focused upon for George
and Mary. Social work basically comprises helping individuals, families and communities in
resolving the issues that they are facing so that a better lifestyle can be adopted that can enhance
their well- being (Gould and Taylor, 2017). In the current report, the case of George and Mary
will be discussed and the theoretical models related to social work will be identified so that a
proper care plan can be developed for their family along with a reflective writing from the social
worker’s point of view where personal experiences and knowledge related to the case will be
discussed on a first hand basis.
Values, assumptions and ethical considerations
In the identified case, the major aspects that can be illustrated are:
Values: The values highlighted in this case are that people from different backgrounds are living
together and despite the draught hit economy that has led to unemployment, the newcomers are
still able to find a home (Adams and et.al., 2017).
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Assumptions: The locals have developed a mentality that the new comers are always dope
lodgers who are here to further weaken their economy. Additionally, in case of George and Mary
as well it is assumed that they are not giving proper care because their yard is messy and Mary is
not very comfortable. This is not a solid base or ground.
Ethical Considerations: The ethical considerations include the fact that despite Mary being an
aboriginal George is not allowing their children to engage in aboriginal activities that puts the
teachers in an ethical dilemma (Slavin, 2019). Also, the lack of cooperation or interest towards
the children’s education and towards society is a bit troublesome to account for.
Challenges and concerns
The major challenge that has been identified s a social health care worker in this case is:
 Whether George and Mary are suitable to provide a comprehensive care and environment to
their two children or not.
 Whether the two will cooperate towards the overall development of the society or as it is
suspected by the majority, they too are just hoarders for cheaper accommodation.
Theoretical frameworks for developing care plan
In order to develop a proper plan to work with this family, the following concepts and theories
can be used:
Anti- Oppressive practice in healthcare: Through this anti oppressive model, the social worker
tends to develop proper relationships between the different identities and this is the usually done
between the biological relations by a social care worker (Agosto, White and Valcarlos, 2019).
This is done to ultimately develop non- oppressive relationships promoting equality between the
different parties of relationship. In the context of the current case study as well, the three
different barriers associated with implementation of anti- oppressive practice can be classified as
follows:
 Personal Oppression: Under this, personal beliefs of an individual affect their way of
dealing with the other person. In the current case as well, it can be fairly estimated that
George has previously been working successfully in Melbourne but the inability to find
employment here in RuralVille has left him frustrated thus making him dominant also,
Mary is completely dependent on the earnings of George because she has not worked
after giving birth to her children and she is both physically and mentally not strong
enough to take decisions herself (Coady and Lehmann, 2016). This puts the upbringing of
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