Reflective Journal on Social Work: Single Mothers and Policies

This reflective journal entry analyzes an article concerning welfare-to-work policies and the experiences of employed single mothers in Australia. The student reflects on the key messages, including the need for income support and the challenges faced by single mothers in balancing work and childcare. The author discusses their initial reactions, highlighting the importance of independence and self-sufficiency for single mothers. The entry explores the article's strengths and weaknesses, particularly the perception of single mothers as unemployed and the need for supportive policies. The journal entry reinforces the student's values regarding providing opportunities for single mothers and questions the balance between autonomy and well-being, and dependence and interdependence. The student concludes by clarifying their understanding of social work, emphasizing the significance of self-esteem and relational autonomy in supporting single mothers through policy changes.

Running head: SOCIAL WORK
Social Work
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIAL WORK
Personal reflection on journal entry
This article has been written by Teresa Grahame and Greg Marston. It was published in
the year 2012 (Grahame & Marston, 2012). This article had been published to identify the
policies that would be needed for single parents in Australia who are employed. I saw that this
reading is very much important for those single parents in Australia. I have found all those
interviews with 21 Brisbane based single mothers very much useful. I have gained the
knowledge that single mothers should be given independence and self-sufficiency to manage
both their work and children.
After going through this article, my first reaction is that single mothers must be provided
with income support. This is the most crucial fact for thriving of those single mothers within the
society. The propositions made in this article for payment to single mothers for 15 hours per
week are a very important fact indeed (Duncan & Edwards, 2013). The allowance for two week
break during Christmas and New Year break is also an appreciable fact for the benefits of those
single mothers.
There are some issues in the article that was very hard for me to understand. I have found
in this article that single mothers are seen as unemployed and this is something that should not
be. Therefore, organizations must bring in new policies that will support single mothers for
overall scenario. I do not think that it is acceptable to view these single mothers as unemployed
as they are giving their best efforts for the company along with managing their children. The
unemployment benefits should also be given to single mothers in the form of Newstart
Allowance (NSA) (Cook, 2012). The women who were interviewed in this paper almost had no
experience of anything. I suppose that welfare-to-work reforms would surely be appreciable for
all single mothers in Australia.

2SOCIAL WORK
I have realized that reinforcement of my values are concerned with single mothers getting
their opportunities for the proper work and being included in payment programs of the
government. I read that many single mothers have faced the challenges of the stigma that they
have experienced due to punishing workfare programs within the country. The relational
autonomy has been used as an influential theoretical framework since participation of single
mothers is a very crucial program indeed (Cook & Noblet, 2012).
There are some serious issues that concern me during the course of this reading. These
are the differences of ideas between autonomy and well-being. I am also concerned about the
views between the relationship between dependence and interdependence. I feel organizations
should provide more freedom to these single mother employees that would be based upon the
relational understanding of autonomy (Grahame & Marston, 2012). The question that haunts me
is how single mothers can achieve the social recognition i.e. highly needed for them?
My understanding about the social work has been clarified through this article. I have
understood that self-esteem and recognition of autonomy are very much crucial aspects for
understanding this issue of single mothers. The welfare-to-work changes are important to
understand how relational autonomy should be connected with the benefits given to those single
mothers in the society.

3SOCIAL WORK
Reference List
Cook, K. E. (2012). Single parents' subjective wellbeing over the welfare to work
transition. Social Policy and Society, 11(2), 143-155.
Cook, K., & Noblet, A. (2012). Job satisfaction and ‘welfare‐to‐work ‘: is any job a good job for
Australian single mothers?. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 47(2), 203-219.
Duncan, S., & Edwards, R. (2013). Single mothers in international context: Mothers or
workers?. Routledge.
Grahame, T., & Marston, G. (2012). Welfare-to-work policies and the experience of employed
single mothers on income support in Australia: where are the benefits?. Australian Social
Work, 65(1), 73-86.