Social Work: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Wellbeing

This essay explores the intricate relationship between social work and Aboriginal communities in Australia, focusing on the challenges of inequality, discrimination, and historical injustices faced by Indigenous peoples. The student reflects on the role of social workers and community welfare workers in promoting the wellbeing and development of Aboriginal children and young people. The essay discusses current issues such as educational disparities, health challenges, and the impact of past policies. It highlights the importance of culturally sensitive practice, the need for increased Aboriginal social worker recruitment, and the application of human rights frameworks. The student reflects on their own values, skills, and the conceptual frameworks used in social work practice, emphasizing the need for improved communication, active listening, and critical thinking skills to effectively advocate for social justice and the rights of the Aboriginal community. The essay concludes by reiterating the significant role of social workers in addressing inequality and promoting positive outcomes for Aboriginal children and families.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

SOCIOLOGY 1
Introduction
The indigenous community of people in Australia have had a long and complicated terms
of history with the social workers and the social works. These community of people have been
the most discriminated and marginalized group of people in the nation with the increase in the
inequality gap among the aboriginal and the non-aboriginal people in Australia. According to
Turner (2017) the aboriginal and Torres strait islander children and the adults are five times more
discriminated and has been facing inequality in terms education, right to live and the health care
outcomes as compared to the non-aboriginal population. The reasons behind these are the lack of
the implementation of the policies properly and the legacy regarding the racialism and the
colonization. The essay highlights the context of the role of the social workers and the
community welfare workers towards making a difference regarding the protection and the
development of the children and the young people of the aboriginal and the Torres Strait islander
community (Bennett 2015). The essay illustrates my reflection as my own begging practice of
the framework and my capacity of mine as the human service worker. Throughout the essay I
have furthermore highlighted the skills and the knowledge that I need to develop for working ad
sustaining in the field of social work towards the development of the aboriginal children.
Discussion
Being in the field of the social work it is often asked whether the non-indigenous people
should be involved for the practice of the social work with the communities of the aboriginal and
the Torres Strait islander people (Gair et al. 2015). Though it is the factor to remember that the
collaborative practice regarding the social work is the key but more recruitment of the aboriginal

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and the Torres Strait islander social worker is required for the sustainable reality of the
collaborative work.
Social workers and the community development workers play a very essential role towards
making differences in the lives and the patterns of the live for the children and the young people
in aboriginal community.
Current scenario in Australia
According to Deeming (2016) the children and the young adults of the aboriginal and
Torres Strait islander community often are the victims of the inequality regarding the spread of
the knowledge and the education. At the schools and the other educational institutions, it has
often been noticed that the aboriginal and the Torres Strait islander community people are being
discriminated in the terms of the racism (Bennett, Zubrzycki and Bacon 2011). Furthermore in
the context of the health care outcomes, this community of people are the maximum victim of
the health challenges like childhood obesity due to inappropriate nutrients, increased rate of heart
and kidney disease among the adolescents and the young adults of the community (Gialamas et
al. 2016). Due to the lack of the proper employment options and the poverty within the
community, the children and the young people of the community often faces challenges towards
the medical benefits. The access to the health care options are also very limited to the aboriginal
and the Torres Strait islander community people due to the discrimination due to the racism. In
short there lies a huge gap of inequality among the aboriginal children and the non-aboriginal
children in Australia.
The context of the social world and the intervention experiences of the social world for
the aboriginal and the Torres strait islander people often ends to be judgmental, intrusive ,

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harmful and controlling in nature. According to the research by Cave et al. (2018) the
intergenerational damage like the scenario of the stolen generation has furthermore added
towards the reluctance of the community people towards opting for the care of the social work
(Calma and Priday 2011). According the statistics, the current high rate of the removal of the
aboriginal children furthermore impacts the reputation in the community.
There lies a profound relation among the social work and the human rights. According to
the Australian association of the social work, the pursuit and the maintenance of the well being
of the human is the essence of the social work (Möller et al. 2016). Furthermore drawing the
context of the legal structures, as per the United Nations Declaration On The Rights of The
Indigenous People, human rights is one of the powerful tools for the exposing of the inequality
together with the provision of the access to the international stage.
Reflection
My love and passion for the social justice and the human rights together with the rights of
the children towards their wellbeing and development are some of the major reasons for
following the path of the social work. I realized that as a social worker, I would definitely learn
some of the major skills that are necessary for advocating to the people who are under some of
the complex system like that aboriginals and the Torres Strait islander people. With the
undergoing of my professional practice framework and the relevant policies regarding the
wellbeing and the development and also the right of the indigenous population, I got aware
regarding my values and the culture and my purpose of living in the world to serve the
disadvantaged group of population in the world. The conceptual framework that I use while
delivering the social care to the children and the young adults of the aboriginal and Torres Strait

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islander community includes a major coherent sets of beliefs, concepts, values, assumptions,
propositions, hypothesis and the principles. These frameworks gives me the idea regarding the
outline of the culture and the values of the aboriginal and Torres strait islander people, the
challenges they face and factors that needs to be improved for the children and the youth
development within the community. Furthermore these frameworks help me since they have
utility with the organization of the beliefs, the information and the assumptions towards my
actions and decision making for some of the strategic action towards the community children.
Being from the aboriginal and Torres Strait islander community I wanted to do something for
myself and my community people. I want to the positive role model for all the children and the
young adults of the aboriginal people so that they can grow up to help the community develop
and fight for their rights of equality. Though I have gained relevant degree and knowledge
regarding the social work practices to the aboriginal population and the children and young
adults, I believe that some of the skills that I need to improve includes my communication skills,
my active listening habits, my organizational skills and critical thinking habit and finally my self
awareness and my persuasive speech and my patience.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that the aboriginal and Torres Strait islander children and the
adults are five times more discriminated and has been facing inequality in terms education, right
to live and the health care outcomes as compared to the non-aboriginal population. The reasons
behind these are the lack of the implementation of the policies properly and the legacy regarding
the racialism and the colonization. Social workers and the community development workers play
a very essential role towards making differences in the lives and the patterns of the live for the
children and the young people in aboriginal community. Throughout the essay I have

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furthermore highlighted the skills and the knowledge that I need to develop for working ad
sustaining in the field of social work towards the development of the aboriginal children. I
realized that as a social worker, I would definitely learn some of the major skills that are
necessary for advocating to the people who are under some of the complex system like that
aboriginals and the Torres Strait islander people.

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Reference
Bennett, B., 2015. “Stop deploying your white privilege on me!” Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander engagement with the Australian Association of Social Workers. Australian Social
Work, 68(1), pp.19-31.
Bennett, B., Zubrzycki, J. and Bacon, V., 2011. What do we know? The experiences of social
workers working alongside Aboriginal people. Australian social work, 64(1), pp.20-37.
Calma, T. and Priday, E., 2011. Putting Indigenous human rights into social work practice.
Cave, L., Shepherd, C., Cooper, M. and Zubrick, S., 2018. Prevalence of racial discrimination in
a cohort of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
Deeming, C., 2016. Rethinking social policy and society. Social Policy and Society, 15(2),
pp.159-175.
Gair, S., Miles, D., Savage, D. and Zuchowski, I., 2015. Racism unmasked: The experiences of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in social work field placements. Australian Social
Work, 68(1), pp.32-48.
Gialamas, A., Pilkington, R., Berry, J., Scalzi, D., Gibson, O., Brown, A. and Lynch, J., 2016.
Identification of Aboriginal children using linked administrative data: consequences for
measuring inequalities. Journal of paediatrics and child health, 52(5), pp.534-540.
Möller, H., Falster, K., Ivers, R., Falster, M., Randall, D., Clapham, K. and Jorm, L., 2016.
Inequalities in hospitalized unintentional injury between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children
in New South Wales, Australia. American journal of public health, 106(5), pp.899-905.

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Turner, F.J. ed., 2017. Social work treatment: Interlocking theoretical approaches. Oxford
University Press.