Interest in Social Work: Personal Statement on Ethics & Motivations

This essay presents a student's personal statement expressing their deep interest and motivations for pursuing a career in social work. Rooted in childhood experiences, such as witnessing animal care and elder neglect, the author's compassion and ethical values are highlighted. The statement explores the six core principles of social work, discusses challenging ethical dilemmas like unethical NGOs, and reflects on personal strengths and limitations. The author articulates a desire to contribute to society, specifically mentioning a career goal to join the Mississippi Urban Forest Council after graduating from Jackson State University. The essay also touches upon the NASW Code of Ethics, emphasizing the dignity and worth of each individual, and suggests strategies for identifying unethical behaviors in social workers. Desklib offers a platform to explore similar essays and solved assignments.

Running head: PERSONAL STATEMENT ON INTEREST IN SOCIAL WORK
PERSONAL STATEMENT ON INTEREST IN SOCIAL WORK
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1PERSONAL STATEMENT ON INTEREST IN SOCIAL WORK
Social work may be defined as the work that one does voluntarily for the betterment of
the society as a whole. It comes in different forms like planting trees, getting involved in animal
healthcare, taking care of underprivileged children as well as helping in orphanages and old age
homes. It has always fascinated me since my childhood days.
My motivation:
I have always been an animal lover since my childhood. My father is a veterinary doctor
by profession and since my childhood, I have come across instances wherein people would bring
sick animals to my father for checkups. He would always insist me to develop compassion for
animals. He always said that there is no better deed in life than serving and loving animals. That
thought seemed to deeply move me within. Another incidence, wherein an old man was forced to
relocate to an old age home because his son refused to look after him. The inhuman treatment by
the son towards his father shook all of us in the locality, especially me. These incidences urged
me to take social work as a major subject in college, which would further help me in taking it as
a profession as well.
Since my childhood, I have always been a very compassionate person. I still have early
memories of my childhood having helped a blind man cross the road. I carried such principles
with myself throughout my childhood. Even today, I get upset seeing animal abuse, acts of mass
destruction, loss of humanity throughout the world. It makes me feel that the world needs more
of social workers today. My own perception of what I am capable of doing for the society makes
me believe that I can be an ideal social worker. I am compassionate; I feel the need of helping
and loving animals, I felt the need of planting trees. I often find these qualities absent in others. I
had similar values and perception needed in order to be a social worker. I hear of undue
advantages taken by social workers, which are against my own values and principles. I always

2PERSONAL STATEMENT ON INTEREST IN SOCIAL WORK
saw myself as an honest and dedicated social worker, solely thinking for the welfare of the
society without any intensions of personal benefits or interests (Schwartz, 2013). This kind of a
cultures imbibed by my father motivates me to be a social worker in the future.
The six principles of Social work can be summarized below as:
1. Establishing the most important values on which the profession of social work is based.
2. To come up with specific and important ethical standards that should be able to guide the
practices of social work and also reflect the important core values.
3. To help social work professionals navigate the different professional considerations and
the obligations on occasions of ethical uncertainties.
4. Providing important ethical standards to which social work as a profession can be
accounted.
5. To introduce new workers to the core mission, ethical principles as well as values and
standards of social work.
6. To create new standards to identify any unethical conduct by any social worker. Social
workers have to take vows before taking up the responsibility of serving the society and
they are aware of the consequences of dishonesty or misconduct of any kind.
The are six core values of social work. They are:
1. Service
2. Justice for the society.
3. The individual’s worth and the dignity.
4. Importance of human relationships an d their centrality.
5. Integrity
6. Competence

3PERSONAL STATEMENT ON INTEREST IN SOCIAL WORK
Difficult client to work with:
There is an ethically answerable NGO called “Kids wish network” which raises lot of money
every year claiming it to be used for dying children and their family welfare, but it has been
found that not even 3 cent is spent for each kid. Most of the money goes to the operators of the
NGO.
I find this kind of an organization extremely unethical and against my own principles. I
personally find this place extremely unprofessional to work in. Additionally, due to the bad
image name that the company carries, it will be difficult to prove my way of working here. My
intention of helping the children with honesty will not be accepted and respected here (Attfield,
2015).
In order to overcome the dilemmas I will always be thinking: how our company look? Which
aspect of the company is the most visible? Who are looking at our company’s brand? Perhaps in
this way, I will be able to take better decisions as a social worker (O'Connor, 2015).
Personal Strengths:
- Highly motivated: I am extremely motivated in learning new practices and doing
any undertaking any social responsibilities.
- Innovative: I can come up with new strategies to benefit the society in multiple
aspects.
- Honest and ethical: I am honest and extremely ethical in whatever social activity
I undertake.
My limitations and weaknesses:
- Extremely sentimental: It indirectly affects my decision-making capability and
makes me mentally weak and upset.

4PERSONAL STATEMENT ON INTEREST IN SOCIAL WORK
- Unable to maintain work-life balance: I find it difficult to distinguish work
from personal life, especially when I am playing the role of a social worker.
In order to overcome my weakness and limitations I have started practicing yoga and reading
different self-help books by renowned authors to understand the art of maintain work-life
balance.
Career goals after graduation:
After graduating from Jackson State University, I would like to join the Mississippi
Urban Forest Council. It is a non-profit organization based in Mississippi, which aims at
improving the state of the forests there, thereby, taking care of animals and their habitats as well.
I have done enough study on Mississippi Urban Forest Council and I find it a good place to chase
my dreams and shape a career out of it (Miller, Hauer & Werner, 2015).
Personal experiences that will help me in being a social worker:
I have spent my childhood with children of other religions. I have had friends in my
locality who belong to other castes and races. I understand their sentiments, their feelings. In my
free time, I also read books on human psychology and I have developed a habit of observing and
analyzing people’s personalities. I also read articles and books on financial management and
economics, which further help me improve my knowledge about the countries socio-economic
condition.
NASW Code of Ethics:
Code: The NASW code of ethics has four main sections – The preamble that highlights
the main function of the code, the ethical principles based on the core values and finally the
ethical standards defining the code (Congress, 2017).

5PERSONAL STATEMENT ON INTEREST IN SOCIAL WORK
One of the ethical principles is to come up with new strategies to identify unethical
behaviors of the social workers. I would like to suggest an idea of forming a governing body
expert in human psychology, which can study the different traits of the social workers employed.
In this way, the organization wherever I will be working will be able to ensure that I along with
the other workers are doing an ethical job.
Dignity and worth of each individual:
This is one of the most important principles of the NASW code of ethics. If a social
worker is not worthy of doing social work or if he is not a dignified individual himself, he is not
fit to do service to the society (Reamer, 2013). I have a keen interest in serving the poor and
underprivileged children since my own childhood. I often visit orphanages and old age homes to
spend time some with the people there and I do all that not because of any personal interests but
simply because I love doing so. I had identified that my purpose of existence is social work and
it brings me happiness. Additionally, I have the required self-esteem to confront people who
often come in my way to mock me for the social work I do. They try to demotivate me. I am
dignified enough to let them know that I am doing something that they are not even capable of
even thinking. Social work is not something anyone and everyone can do and I take pride in
doing such a noble work. That makes me believe I am even more dignified than others are.

6PERSONAL STATEMENT ON INTEREST IN SOCIAL WORK
References:
Attfield, R. (2015). Ethics of the global environment. Edinburgh University Press.
Congress, E. P. (2017). What social workers should know about ethics: Understanding and
resolving practice dilemmas. Social Work Ethics, 1909.
Miller, R. W., Hauer, R. J., & Werner, L. P. (2015). Urban forestry: planning and managing
urban greenspaces. Waveland press.
O'Connor, M. K. (2015). Social work constructivist research. Routledge.
Reamer, F. G. (2013). Social work values and ethics. Columbia University Press.
Schwartz, M. S. (2013). Developing and sustaining an ethical corporate culture: The core
elements. Business Horizons, 56(1), 39-50.