Reflecting on the learning experience:
Social Work and the Law often work hand in hand. The Law has several important roles in Social Work. Our legal system is a vital part of a client's social environment. Social workers need to know the law to Advocate for Policy. Social Workers are involved in legal systems, such as child protection, criminal justice, or mental health, work with agencies, interface with other organizations (J. Duvall, 2014). Social Work and law refer to the interface between the practice of social work and legal system, including statutory law, legal institutions such as courts or prisons and legal professionals such as judges and attorneys. Law plays a number of important roles in the practice of social work. Firstly, from ecological perspectives, the legal system is vital part of a client's social environment. Many social work clients are involved in legal systems, such as child protection, criminal justice and many more. Social workers need to be aware of the laws that regulate each system in order to help clients navigate their way through these systems more effectively, and to be able to advocate for law reform to improve the goodness of fit between clients and their socio-legal environments (A.E. Barsky, 2011).
The relationship between social work and law remains strongly contested. The law can be problematic in terms of its purposes and outcomes. The law can be used for social engineering, the promotion of particular of power structures. Louis Blom-Cooper declared that the law was social work's defining mandate (Beckford Report, 1985). Olive Stevenson (1988) countered by arguing for an ethical duty of care as social work's mandate, of which the law is only one component. Both positions in fact simplify a relationship of considerable complexity (Braye and Preston-Shoot, 1990) wherein practitioners and managers must determine in each situation the account to be taken of both polarities. Social workers experience stress when in contact with the law (I. Jones et al., 1991) and believe that they are perceived as having limited credibility or standing in that arena (DoH, 1994; Foster and Preston-Shoot, 1995). Practice teachers often do not feel competent to provide students with the necessary learning opportunities to develop competence in social work law.
Supporting evidence:
In this Sub-Standard the supporting evidence can be found in the community report on page 5 and 6 highlighted in purple. It can also be found in the link below.
CONSULTED REFERENCES
A.E. Barsky, 2011. Social Work and Law.
J. Duvall, 2014.
Social Work and Law (S. Braye and M. Preston-Shoot, 1998, pp.55-66).