Name of Social worker and agency where employed:
What is the name of your agency and your name and title of social worker?
The agency interviewed is Elizabeth Johnson, who works at an agency called. Elizabeth is a licensed social worker and a licensed childcare administrator. Both her qualifications allow her to run a shelter effectively.
What is your educational and practice background?
Elizabeth has an associate degree in Arts from the University of Hawaii. She also has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from. She has also acquired a Masters of Science and social work from. Her main reason for studying in Hawaii was because her husband was relocated there. Since Elizabeth’s dream was to do CPS, she could not find a course in Hawaii university that offered CPS, hence had to shift to the degree in psychology. While studying, Elizabeth also worked part-time at child protective services. Through working, she admired the people that provided social work and opted to get her masters in social work.
What is your degree and license category?
Currently, she has two degrees and one Masters. Based on her education and experience, she is licensed to be a professional social worker and a childcare administrator.
What brought the individual into social work?
Elizabeth’s interest in social work derives from her family experience. At some point, her nephew was physically abused and became blind from the event. Throughout the process of finding justice, Elizabeth has been following up, which developed her interest in providing childcare protective services. Besides, Elizabeth has met people, who shared different perspectives about social work, which derived her interest in the career.
What type of clients do you serve and what services do you provide?
As a CPS worker, Elizabeth conducted investigations on children in foster care, since she was a children specialist. She also served as an education specialist, hence would attend educational meetings to help improve the learning experience of children. Based on her services offered in foster care, Elizabeth ensured that children taken and returned from foster care were well attended to. She would also check the welfare of children to ensure they do not suffer from mental or health issues. Besides, Elizabeth managed a shelter that focused on minor children in foster care, and later provided advocacy services.
Contact information (Work phone number and email)
Values:
What values are necessary to work as a social worker in this agency?
An essential value that Elizabeth considers in social work is competency, which entails the willingness to learn from other people, and desire change in society. Besides, understanding boundaries and being open-minded is necessary in social work, since it promotes the ability to gauge one’s connection with others and distinguish things that are professional from those that are not.
What value conflicts arise in the performance of this job?
As a CPS worker, self-determination is critical in ensuring that the work set to be done is executed on time, hence promoting professionalism. In most cases, conflicts arise due to lack of boundaries among individuals, where people engage in misconduct.
When do conflicts arise often?
In CPS, conflicts arise mostly with families, where a child is taken from foster care with the intention of saving the child, whereas the families do not view that action from that angle, hence resulting into conflict. Besides, some cases may result in disagreeing with the policies of the agency, which derives conflict with the management.
Knowledge:
What knowledge is necessary to work as a social worker in this agency?
As a social worker, it is critical to consider the stages of human development, which involves thinking from the perspective of a child and an adult. Since social workers interact with people from different levels, it is critical to reason with a person from their age, hence deriving sense.
Is college education enough knowledge to work in this job or other knowledge needed?
Besides the knowledge gained from education, a social worker needs more gained from practice and interaction. Education knowledge provides the foundation of understanding what the job is like, and how to become a professional social worker. However, there are other facets involved in social work, which include interpersonal relationships, identifying problems from silent individuals, and understanding the perspectives of individuals. Such knowledge can be gained from practice and interaction with colleagues and people in society.
Would you say a college education or being in the filed helped you more with your job? And did college prepare you enough for your job?
College education contributed a major part in Elizabeth’s job. Besides the fieldwork experience, Elizabeth gives more credit to the education she acquired in Universities, which provided her with the foundation of understanding what her job looks like and its dynamics. College prepared her enough for her job, but she had to embrace the mentality of becoming a lifelong learner, hence improving her knowledge.
Skills:
What skills are necessary to work as a social worker in this job?
Since social work is an involving job, the most important skill is engagement. A social worker needs to learn how to talk to people and derive conversations with them. In society, people are introverted and need the motivation to speak. Besides, engagement involves the ability to listen to other people and understand their needs. Also, social work requires the ability to write and document events happening on the ground. Since a lot happens in society, a social worker needs to have the ability to write what is happening without omitting critical information.
What tasks does the social worker perform on a daily or weekly basis?
The three main tasks conducted by were documenting, talking to people, and double-checking information for verification.
What kinds of paperwork are necessary in this job?
In social work, paperwork is critical and essential. Since what happens in the field occurs in real-time, the social worker needs to be attentive to document the information gathered from fieldwork. With that, much paperwork is done to ensure data is recorded for future reference.
Did education prepare you for this particular job?
Yes, education prepared Elizabeth for her job by providing her with the basics of understanding what needs to be done at work and how to execute her work professionally.
How often is the NASW Code of Ethics utilized on a daily basis?
First, NASW is important during decision-making to assist in having decisions that adhere to the company’s policy. Since decision-making is not often conducted, the NASW code of ethics are not often applied. However, based on an individual level, the NASW applies when conducting fieldwork services.
How important is continuing education, and how do you achieve your hours?
Education is an important facet for all individuals, since it adds knowledge to preexisting experience. Elizabeth considers education as critical in her career, and she agrees to further her education. Elizabeth says she does two types of education, which are formal and informal. Informal education involves personal training and reading, which takes about 30 hours in two years. She also considers formal education to add more knowledge.
Positive and Negatives about Social Work:
What keeps the social worker in the profession?
Elizabeth’s major motivating factor is internally derived, which involves her ability to see the reward for what she is doing internally. Despite the income, recognition, and fame gained throughout her career, self-derivation of satisfaction is what keeps her in the profession.
What things would the social worker like to change about the job or the profession?
According to Elizabeth, child protective services needs to be less punitive for children and families. The profession needs to be aligned majorly on corrective measures, which eliminates the feeling of punishment on children when removing them from foster care.
What are the pros and cons of working in an agency setting?
Working in the agency is beneficial, since it includes an environment of like-minded people, hence sharing mutual ideas. Besides, providing childcare promotes social growth in society through promoting the welfare of children and the families they live with. One major challenge of working in the agency is that one meets with people from different disciplines, who do not think in the same perspective as social workers.
What is your favorite thing about this job?
Elizabeth considers childcare as an important facet, and it gives her happiness to see a child move from a broken family to a nourished family.
What is your least favorite thing about this job?
Sometimes, a social worker needs to be alone, but the job does not guarantee that.
What advice does the social worker give for beginning social workers?
For beginners in social worker, Elizabeth reminds them that documentation is critical, and they should keep an open mind.