Department of Social Services

The national organization of caring for the values mostly given attention by the society today through voluntary services is that of the Department of Social Services. Likely, their existence in the society makes it easier for the entire human society within the communities that they serve to be able to garner the most basic commodities that they need for life. These commodities involve food and shelter as well as medication. Having them operate within the current tumultuous situations in the society makes the earth a more livable place.

It is through this particular organization that the needs of people are given fine attention by the government. The Objectives of the Organization As a major organization that handles the needs of the society, the American Department of Social Services sees to it that the major issues about human needs in the society is well attended to. The said needs are divided into several points of concentration that involves the different divisions of people needing support in the society. The divisions are as follows: • Child Foster Care Services • Child Abuse and Neglect Services

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• Family Support Services • Elderly Assistance Services • Health Care Services With these objectives in mind, the administration of the organization actually intends to make it certain that each division of the population in the society receives the attention that they need to be able to exist in the communities that they are living in. it is also the aim of this particular organization to handle the needs of immigrants transferring to the country who are usually in need of assistance with regards community familiarity as well as with their basic needs. The Mission

As noted earlier, the Department of Social Service particularly wants to extend help to special groups of people in the population of a certain society that they are involved in. With this mission in front of them, the organization constantly makes it certain that everything they have outlined to perform for their stakeholders, mainly the community, are seriously attended to at the appointed time as they themselves have scheduled. To attend to the needs of the target audience in the society is the main idea of the establishment of the said organization.

Being funded by the government and assisted by commercial organizations, the organization’s mission of providing the society with the finest service that they deserve is not that hard to complete. The Issues Living in such a tumultuous society, finding somebody to ease the stresses and the pains brought about by the world indeed helps so much especially when it comes to facing the challenges of life. This is the reason why the existence of social workers and Non-government Organizations aiming to help the whole human population to cope up with life is an important factor considered whenever voluntary work is being discussed.

With regards to social work, as the name of the job suggests itself, the main focus of NGO’s involved in social work is the social issues that are found in the human community. Because of this, they have continuously tried in alleviating the human systems of living through their assistance in the issues and problems that are mostly considered as the main reasons of stress and depression in the community. With issues on psychosocial difficulties emerging in the entire4 human community, the social workers have an important role when it comes to supporting the said people caught up in those situations hard to deal with as mentioned above.

It is more often than not that the nature of social worker’s job is closely related to mediating between agencies and the clients needing their services and yet does not have any means or power to do so. According to the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW), the main definition and role of social work in the society are as follows: “The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human

Relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well- being. Utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work. ” (The American Psychological Association) But although this is true of the main goals of social work, thee are still some certain important issues needed to be addressed within the systems of organization making up and bonding social workers together.

One of the said issues is the existence f racial discrimination. This issue actually affects the social work systems both in and out of the organizations of social workers. Internally, this is naturally because of the fact that social workers are usually made up of people from different countries, cultures and races. In this way, some conflicts are present because of the fact that each individual joining the social works are widely diverse and have different views on several points of concern within the social work.

Externally, this issue is usually developed when social workers tend to chose the people they opt to help. With regards to this issue, several social workers as well as society experts have conducted studies and tried to solve the problems brought about by the issue within the systems of the organization in the social working tasks. The following paragraphs shall introduce the vital informations collected by the researchers regarding the said issue. Racial Discrimination and Its Effects to the Society Megacities are plagued by even more serious problems.

Besides insufficient housing, overcrowded schools, and understaffed hospitals, psychological aspects are also involved. Dr. Paul Leyhausen, a leading German ethologist, claims that “a great number of neuroses and social maladjustments are, partially or totally, directly or indirectly, caused by overcrowding. ” (1999, 12). Megacities rob their citizens of a sense of community, turning the city into a faceless mass of numbers. In the midst of hundreds of neighbors, a city dweller can be lonely, yearning for friends and companions he can find nowhere.

The sense of alienation created by this situation becomes dangerous when it causes multinational populations to break up into racial or ethnic groups. Economic inequalities or acts of discrimination—real or imagined—can lead to disaster, as Los Angeles learned in 1992 when outbreaks of racial violence resulted in more than 50 deaths and 2,000 injuries (Leyhausen, 1999, 13). Indeed, racial discrimination is already considered as a social plague, affecting the whole world.

And Along with this, the fact that the whole society of man is naturally diverse, even people who aims to help the society with their problems regarding the issues of social diversity also face the same challenge of staying united amidst the changes they have against each other. Cities especially encounter the grave effects of the issues behind racial discrimination and according to the American Psychological Association, these dilemmas bring so much depression and stress to the population comprising the cities’ territories.

This is also the main reason why behind the wonderful goals of social workers around the globe, issues such as racial discrimination brings them so much hindrance in getting their goals done for the society. As mentioned earlier, several researchers already worked on this topic and thus got considerably fine results regarding their studies. Through the use of surveys and interviews, a lot of the results of the studies were taken into conclusion.

The following paragraphs shall discuss several ways in which racial discrimination has been proven as a part of the regular social work and yet had been continuously used by many social workers as an opportunity to bond together better than to simply get along with the flow of dispute brought about by the issue. In the Journal of Women and Social Work in an article entitled “What racial discrimination does to the social work society”, it has been mentioned that racial discrimination is indeed considered an organizational sickness especially when it comes to working ethics (Dinerman, 2005, 11).

Usually, this issue of diversity causes a lot of problems within the system of assistance that social workers give to their fellowmen. It has been mentioned too that racial discrimination also sets the workers apart and drives them to choose who among the needy people should they help basing upon the cultural or racial qualification of the person to be helped. On the other hand, the British Association of Social Workers say otherwise, to them “racial discrimination is an opportunity opened to the social workers in showing their unity and bond beyond the cultural differences they have from each other (1999, 14).

True, if the issue is carefully dealt with, racial discrimination could bring different people joined by an organization in a stronger bond. It may be considered an irony by many. However, because of the fact that the right ways of facing the dilemma had brought many social organizations more bonded together than separated by differences, it is really not impossible to make the issue of racial discrimination “a bridge to better opportunities of bonding with people from other cultures.

Seeing differences as a positive factor in the society which sets the uniqueness of each individual in the entire human community” (British Association of Social Work, 1999, 12) is indeed a key factor in making racial diversity a successful aspect of the social organizations. The Role of Social Work in Discrimination Issues Through the use of adequate studies done by social work experts as discussed in this paper, racial discrimination is referred both as an asset and weakness of a social organization designed to help the people in the communities.

It is more often than not though that the lack of effective ways in facing the challenges of racial discrimination to an organization, many social groups fail in controlling the dilemma of the issue. As Anne Rosegrant Alvarez mentioned in her Article “A look at cultural diversity” that proper handling of disputes regarding racial discrimination within social organizations bring considerably fine results for both the association and the individual performance of each member towards the fulfillment of their goals as a group (2006, 13).

The following are the six ways in which social workers are able to control if not completely eliminate the dreadful effects of racial discrimination to organizations aiming to serve the community. As these six practices are implied within the rules and regulations of the organization in dealing within the organization and with the people in the community, the goals of the organization is observed to have easier ways in achieving their goals as a group.

These practices are as follows: • Having oriented as social equalizers, the social workers become more capable of handling disputes and controlling both their fellow social workers and themselves in dealing with social discrimination. • Seeing everyone as a part of an important purpose in the society helps every social worker to work well with their colleagues as well as serve all people of all races amidst all the differences they have against others.

• Having the aim to give pure and undoubted service to everyone also allows the social worker to serve the people with purpose, disregarding the accent or the color of the skin of any person they ought to serve in the community. • Being considerate with what the person needs and not where the person cam from is also an important factor to be considered by the social workers. As repeatedly mentioned, the main focus of social groups is to be of service to others, and failing to do such an aim is a betrayal to the profession.

• Having fair views of everyone may not be that easy, especially if the person has significant cultural background that has a negative impact on the other. However, if both parties would be able to consider the fact that social work is bounded by love for one’s fellowmen, the hatred brought about by discrimination could as well be covered by concern for others welfare. • Making the best out of one’s time and neglecting unnecessary details about senseless things could as well help a social worker see the importance of doing “first things first.

These means that prioritizing social service above all could drown the ideas of racial discrimination completely. (Source: Gutierez, 2006, Pp 4, 5). Indeed, considering the six major practices of ethical social service given by an excellent social worker to his or her fellow workers and to the people, gives a promising successful result of hard work for a certain social group. As clearly seen, the researches have been able to put concrete and relevant details down into writing for the benefit of the social workers in enhancing their servicing skills.

These informations were taken into consideration since they are all sourced out from people who have actually put the principles of social work into practice in their own experiences of rendering services to other people. Having been able to see the importance of proper handling of racial disputes and racial discrimination in both internal and external setting of the relationship of the social workers to the community, it is also important to know how effective the practices mentioned above are when it comes to actual practice of social service operations.

How the Implementation of Rightful Practices on Racial Discrimination Affects Social Work As mentioned earlier, the six practices which are designed to at least control racial discrimination within and outside the social groups, have been already applied by many social workers and were proven effective as they have observed the effects of the practices both on them, their organization and the community. In the book “International Perspectives on Social Work in Health Care: Past, Present and Future”, Auslander mentioned that: “the social practices around the world have been exceptionally developing

during the past few years. The fact that many social workers are already able to successfully work within a highly culturally diverse group, the level of excellence of social services provided internationally are known to have been developing as well” (1997, 16). Yes, because of the fact that many social workers already recognize the importance of racial equality in aiming for the best results of social services, the relationship between the community and the Non Government Organizations have been strongly enhanced during the past years.

In this regard, it is simply rightful to say that as researchers of social work and racial discrimination have concluded, “the right handling of disputes give best results” (Feit, 2002, 3). Aside from this, it could also be said that in many cases, self-control and self-discipline helps a lot in the implication of equality within the activities of social work. The ability of a certain social crew to divert his thoughts of racial discrimination to a healthy thought of cultural respect of diversity naturally helps that worker to become fairer when it comes to his treatment towards his colleagues and the people of whom he serves.

As obviously seen, the studies performed by the researchers and social work experts helps us understand the deeper issues which social workers have to face in their profession. It has been clearly shown though their works that racial discrimination is an expected source of dispute between colleagues in the social work systems. However, although this is the case, many social organizations still manage to deal with the problem and thus get considerably fine results for their hard work.

It could also be added that in many ways, turning dispute into becoming a bridge towards a closer bond between the differences and uniqueness each person possesses compared to others helps a lot in making a peaceful and more concerned society to exist. (Hoefer, 2006, 18) Surely, the consequences of having been able to meet and survive the challenges of combating racial differences has a very great effect on how social groups deal with their communities.

This is the reason why it is most advised by the researchers that further studies on the matter should be generated in an aim of further increasing the capability and the credibility of social groups in providing social help. Conclusion and Recommendations Although a lot of studies regarding the matter of social work and racial discrimination have already been commenced and finished, it would still be helpful to continuously search for possible ways in which social groups could combat the negative effects of racial discrimination to the goals of the organizations.

In this way, it would also be advisable to look deeper on the reason why racial discrimination is present in the society. In this way, the roots of the issue could be traced and solved at the same time, making it possible for social workers to do their duties to the community without being hindered by discriminating ideas and cultural differences. True, as great as social work is when it comes to serving the community, so are the issues that are arising within the groups or organizations of such kind. Yes, issues on racial discrimination could be considered as a hindrance to the social worker’s fulfillment of their goals.

Yet, an effective and strategic way of facing the challenges placed by the dilemma could help in even developing the servicing skills of the social workers further as they are forced to discipline their thoughts as well as their acts when it comes to facing the issue of struggling through with social differences. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books: Ruth Crocker. (1992). Social Work and Social Order: The Settlement Movement in Two ndustrial Cities, 1889-1930. University of Illinois Press. Lena Robinson. (1995). Psychology for Social Workers. Routledge; 1 edition. Anna Metteri.

(2005). Social Work Visions From Around The Globe: Citizens, Methods, And Approaches (The Social Work in Health Care Series). Haworth Social Work. James G. Daley. (2006). Advances in Social Work: Special Issue on The Futures of Social Work. Trafford Publishing. Nancy Elizabeth Sullivan. (2002). Social Work With Groups: Social Justice Through Personal, Community, and Societal Change. Haworth Press. Richard Hugman. (1995). Ethical Issues in Social Work (Professional Ethics). Routledge; 1 edition. John S. Wodarski. (1996).

Cultural Diversity and Social Work Practice. C. C. Thomas; 2nd edition. Journal Articles: Miriam Dinerman. (2005). “What racial discrimination does to the social work society”. Journal of Women and Social Work. Yeshiva University. British Association of Social Workers. (September 1999). “Working beyond racial diversity”. British Journal of Social Work. Anne Rosegrant Alvarez. (Volume 14 Number 1 spring 2006). “A look at cultural diversity”. Journal of Community Practice. Lorraine Gutierez. (Volume 14 Number 2 spring 2006). “Making things work”. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity. University of Texas Arlington.

Marvin D. Feit. (Volume 15 Number 3 August 2002). “How the society behaves”. Journal of Human Behavior and Social Environment. University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Richard Hoefer. (Volume 5 Number 1 Spring 2006) “Effective Despite Differences” . Social Policy Journal. University of Texas, Arlington. Paul Leyhausen. (1999). “The big cities, the big differences”. Journal on Ethnology. University of Tennessee, Knoxville. American Psychological Association. (1990). “The cost of social work”. Psychology Journal. American Psychological Association.

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