Core Competency 8

Engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and to deliver effective social work services.

Social work practitioners understand that policy affects service delivery, and they actively engage in policy practice. Social workers know the history and current structures of social policies and services; the role of policy in service delivery; and the role of practice in policy development. Social workers

As a social worker it is important to understand how policies affect your client and to be able to advocate for your client. It is important to understand the history of social welfare policies and programs and their affects on the nation and on your client. Being a social worker requires more than just understanding the personal and individual problems of your client, social workers also have to understand the systems and policies affecting your client.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

Practice behavior one: analyze, formulate, and advocate for policies that advance social well-being; and

In my junior year at Western New England University I took a class around social welfare policy, where I learned a great deal of information about Medicare, Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and other welfare policies. One of the assignments of this class was to analyze TANF. In this analysis I discussed the regulation of time-limits as well as the incorrect assumptions made by society about recipients on TANF partly due to a lack of knowledge of the past. Lastly in this paper I discussed how to change this regulation by both empowering the recipients on TANF as well as creating a lobby sheet to be able to create a reasonable and seamless argument to legislators.

Also during my junior year, I wrote a paper about completely rebuilding the society and “fixing” all of the issues within America. The main focus of this paper was to deconstruct and reconstruct the community of downtown Springfield, which can be translated to every community around the United States. I discussed many aspects of the society that had to change to create an “ideal society” such as, changing education, child care, transportation, shelter, police, health care, treatment on demand, government for the people, no corporations, housing, criminalization, Prison Industrial Complex (PIC), and most importantly the deconstruction of capitalism. Lastly, within this paper I took a look at who would be needed to make these changes. I gave myself a three for this practice behavior because most of the work I have done as a social work student has been based around micro work.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

SW 303: Building A Healthy Community.doc

SW 313: TANF.doc

SW 313: NCLB.doc

Practice behavior two: collaborate with colleagues and clients for effective policy action.

The spring semester of my junior year I interned at Out Now, and my main duty at my internship was to work together with the staff to appropriately spread the word about LGBTQ support in Springfield. I did this by planning a fundraiser where I sold Out Now memorabilia and concluded the fundraiser with a free film to spread the word about LGBTQ youth. Also that semester I worked closely with two peers on lobbying about solitary confinement. In fact, we got to discuss our feelings around solitary confinement and was able to present the legislator with a copy. Within this lobby sheet we discussed many pressing topics such as the mental health effects of solitary confinement on prisoners and the cost of solitary confinement. I gave myself a four for this practice behavior because I have been involved in two different projects that I have collaborated with colleagues for effective policy action.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 4

Out Now: Learning Log 9.doc

SW 303: Lobby Sheet.doc