Sunday, January 26, 2020

Field Of Practice With Vulnerable Families And Children Social Work Essay

Field Of Practice With Vulnerable Families And Children Social Work Essay It is acknowledged that the family is the basic unit of the society. With this, many efforts have been extended in order to protect families, especially the children. However, despite the evident efforts and measures practiced, it has been assumed that in some areas, many families and children are still vulnerable and with this comes the practice and influence of critical social work practice in order to identify and execute the solutions which are deemed to be effective and necessary. All children within the context of the family are vulnerable by definition primarily because their rights are mediated by others and because of their relatively young age, their voices are often not heard and their opinions are disregarded in the society. The vulnerability of children also depends on a number of different factors such as the general condition of the family and community and the economic situation of the nation. In line with the vulnerabilities of these children, various groups, aside from the immediate family, are geared towards the protection of the rights of the children and assurance that they are functional parts of the entire community. Some of these groups include schools, businesses, governments, and groups of concerned individuals who advocate for childrens rights to be practiced and protected as well. Some of the risk factors which were identified making children more vulnerable include: poverty, substance abuse, mental and physical illness, homelessness, ph ysical and emotional abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, and unequal access to education and other basic services which are essential for the growth of a child (Stratton et al, 2006). FIELD OF PRACTICE AND THEORIES To be able to generate a set of sustainable solutions to protect vulnerable families and children, different practices were identified in the field of critical social work. One of the areas in which attention is given towards showing acre for the vulnerable families is through social protection. This includes all the basic services extended to help improve the living condition of the vulnerable families. In this paper, the focus of the study will be the social protection which was extended in the community to help alleviate the effect of the discussed vulnerabilities. In the aspect of the practice of social protection, the essential services which are extended include education, healthcare, and the availability of social workers. Perhaps, the most important in this sense is education. There is a need to extend the necessary and adequate knowledge, including the essential information, to the members of the community and reiterate to them what are the causes and effects of vulnerability. With this, a more informed community will emerge and there will be a greater realization of the problem which will potentially lead into having better solutions for such (OFlaherty, 2007). Social workers must be able to properly educate the general public about vulnerabilities which exist within the family. First and foremost, the need for informing the community about why such vulnerabilities exist and how it can be laid the proper solutions is essential in approaching the issue. There should initially be an understanding on what the issue is generally all about before further critical practices could manifest its effects. With this, it is assumed that school intervention is necessary in social work practice to address the issue. Children spend most of their time in schools that is why the role of these educational institutions will be indispensable and essential. In the school intervention, social workers address the problem associated with vulnerabilities in an ecological approach, which means that focus is waived towards both the person and the environment. Practices in order to address the problem could focus on changing the person, the environment, or both if necessary. It is also important to note that school-based intervention is essential in the issue because it enables an interdisciplinary team approach. This theory is especially helpful but it will require good communication skills from the participants in order to understand the existing vulnerabilities within the family and as experienced by children. The authors also emphasized that these kinds of social services should not be viewed as an isolated case but should be considered as a vital part of the general education process (Maluccio et al, 2002). One important theory in school-based intervention as a mechanism for social protection is that educating the parents of the children will be helpful in the problem. There is a need for social workers to educate the parents and make them aware of certain circumstances which might possibly make their families vulnerable. This practice will be able to help parents have an idea on how they are supposed to cope with stressful situations and how they can understand better the needs of their children (Maluccio et al, 2002) Aside from has been mentioned, another significant point which is significant in understanding the vulnerabilities of families and children is the need for family resilience. The family resilience framework assumes that this is a significant characteristic which should be present in all families as it will give them the abilities to withstand and rebound from adversity. Especially to families were cases of vulnerability are very evident, it is important for them to be resilient at tough times in order to overcome the occurrence of various challenges that they might face. According to Walsh, (2006), a social work practice geared towards shifting the family from being vulnerable to being resilient must not give up especially when the family is at troubled times, bring out the best in the whole family and not just focus on a single element or an individual, help families to cope and adapt, must be focused on the solutions and should have the necessary strength needed, and should stop pu tting an emphasis on how the family has been a failure, rather it should focus on how the family will succeed. The approach to establishing a resilient family should allow everyone to not view families as being damaged but rather a group of individuals which can be repaired despite the vulnerabilities and can have the opportunity to grow. The framework for family resilience shows a great potential to solve the crisis associated with vulnerable families and children. Through resilience, it is assumed that there is a great potential and possibility of veering away from veracity. Furthermore, it should also be noted that the establishment of a resilient family takes more than just having the capacity to manage and control stressful situations, shouldering a burden, or surviving. A resilient family framework involves a stronger relationship within the very basic unit of the society and having a shared effort. In the discussion of the framework for family resilience, it is also important to consider that the theory assumes that no single model fits all families. The framework and practices to be executed will depend largely on the living condition of the family at case and will vary differently depending on how vulnerable the family is. The best ways in order to establish a resilient family would be having team work, share d leadership, and mutual understanding when facing the problems and other predicaments which are confronting the family. The field of practice which was identified, social protection through education, can be assumed as an effective one. It is effective primarily because it involves not only critical social work but also school intervention. This aspect is very important since most of a childs time is spent at school. A good academic framework must be able to incorporate discussions regarding how to take an active part in establishing a sound and dynamic family which is improbable from the risks of vulnerabilities. However, for such framework and practices to take effect, there is a need for the proper tools and instruments which will be necessary such as an efficient social work with an effective framework on how such goals will be achieved. In the context of approaching the issue on the vulnerabilities of families and children, it is essential for the social worker to note the fact that there is a great and significant need to understand the problem and put put himself in the context of the family co ncerned in the situation. An effective social worker must be able to properly reflect on their own families and understand such because it is essential to be more effective when understanding the situation and the needs of other families in the community. As a recommendation to better address the issue of vulnerabilities of children and families, there is a need to approach the problem on each level. The first level would most probably be the individual. Education again is primary to this approach. The individual himself must be able to understand what vulnerability is all about and what the risks which are associated with such are. The next level is the family. The role of the family as a whole, especially the guidance of the parents is essential to be bale to veer away from the risks of vulnerability. A bigger group, after the family, is the entire community. This is a great concern for social workers. The community must also be properly educated regarding the social protection for vulnerable families so that its members will be aware on what practices are necessary to be executed and what measures are necessary to be observed. One more recommendation to address the issue more effectively to make everyone acknowledge the existence of the issue and do not deny its presence. An acceptance of the fact that there are vulnerabilities within families will be a first step to trigger further initiatives. It is also recommended that social workers who work in this practice should first examine and understand their own families so that they could understand better others. Although many studies and researches have already been completed regarding this issue, it is evident that being vulnerable is still one of the greatest threats confronting the global family and community nowadays. For such to be effective, the role of critical social work is very significant as well as the efforts which were anticipated to be carried out by social workers. For such measures to prove themselves effective, there is a need for proper execution of the practice and should be grounded on a strong framework based on socially acceptable theories on families. With the right plan and action, the problem with vulnerabilities on family and children can be alleviated at least.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Black Beauty Book Report Essay

Some say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. This cliche holds appropriately true for Black Beauty, a novel written and popularized by the crippled writer Anna Sewell (1877). The book tells about the life story of a horse. It answers a person’s curiosity about how a horse feels while surviving the cruelty of men. A heart-wrenching, beautiful, and enlightening tale and animal autobiography, the book gives life and voice to Black Beauty, a majestic horse. Quite believable and unsentimental yet a great read book depicts the life cycle of a horse which, just like any other being that God created, deserves and expects proper treatment from people whom horses regard with respect and unconditional affection. The book revolves around the life of the main character, a very wise horse named Black Beauty. The sufferings and misfortunes of Black Beauty made him rebel against the cruel humans. Some characters of the book include Duchness, the mother of Black Beauty; Ginger a very independent horse; and Merrylegs, the good friend of Black Beauty who has a big love for humans. For the rest of his life, Black Beauty has been put into care of various owners who subjected him to different jobs—from being a riding horse on a country estate to a cab horse in the community. Although he always suffers from the harsh treatment of humans, the strength, gentle mood, and fine inherent aptitude of Black Beauty made him survive. Black Beauty is a true-to-life animal story book that is told from the eyes of the horse, not from a reader’s perspective. Sewell’s (1877) book is an unusual narrative presentation which uses a horse as the first-person narrator as if the horse was the one who actually wrote the book. Black Beauty was considered to be the first book that employed the genre of animal autobiography which was previously seen in a limited fashion. The manner of displaying the literal substance of an animal as an animal itself rather than being presented based from human traits was adapted by other books with related story plots (Napierkowski, 1998). In writing the book, Sewell (1877) aimed at advocating the humane and suitable treatment of horses. Hence, Black Beauty was recognized as the only writing in the literary history with the greatest impact or influence on the treatment of animals. As a result, the book has created and paved the way for a legislation that promotes the welfare of horses. It further altered public orientation about animal pain as well as the conventional and popular activities perceived as the ones that induce suffering for horses (Napierkowski, 1998). A story told using the language and means of communication of a horse, the book tells how Black Beauty was treated with affection and respect when he was a young and healthy horse. It also illustrates how the horse fell into sickness and despair as he was passed from different careless owners. He received a lot of healthy pieces of advice from his mother during his youth. These lectures by his mother laid down the heart of the book and were used by Black Beauty as his life plan as he was passed down from one master to another, all of whom possess different, contrasting personalities—good, cruel and foolish. This first ever full-length book narrated from a horse’s perspective and emotions is a sorrowful story of both the malicious and accidental cruelties that animals receive from the hands of their masters or owners. It is also a book of aesthetic literary work that can bring the reader from the wonders and beauty of an ordinary night in a country community to the power-laced world of Victorian London in the nineteenth century. With its captivating but realistic presentation of the life of an extraordinary horse, the book was able to capture not just the hearts of the young readers but of adults as well. This is because the book generally portrays some similarity to the lives that people and horses experience—that both beings suffer cruelties and happiness. This book helped to the end human cruelty to horses and other animals. It signaled the formation of various animal-rights movements and forced more humane and justified treatment of human cabbies in London and the rest of the world. References Napierkowski, M. R. (1998). Black Beauty: Introduction. Novels for Students, 0. Retrieved February 21, 2008, from eNotes database. Sewell, A. (1877). Black Beauty. Norwich, England: Jarrolds & Sons.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Compare and Contrast Sainte-Foy and the Chartres Essay

Both the Chartres cathedral and the Saint-Foy have many things in common and also many things that differentiate them from one another. Firstly they are both Christian churches, so they were made to worship Jesus Christ as the lord and savior. They are both located in northern Europe ; the Chartres in Chartres, France as it is named after the town, and then the Saint-Foy in Conques, France. Both of them were undertakings in which they were paid for by the leaders of the cities they reside in. They both are very much a part of the towns they are in, whereas there are building and houses right next to the churches. They were both built in the cross as most Christian churches are built to symbolize the cross of Jesus, their savior. They were both made of stone which proved to have a lot to do with the architecture of the structures. For the most part those are the major similarities. The differences outweigh the similarities though. The construction and architecture of the buildings (outside of the cross shaped naive) would probably be the main differences. The roofs of the structures are built with different support systems. The Sainte-Foy has a rounded arch on the ceiling. While the Chartres has a triangular arch system that use ribs as the main support structure to keep the building up rather than a sturdy rounded arch. The Chartres cathedral was built mostly of rib like beams that connected at the ceilings so that they could make room for the stained glass windows that are to prevalent on the walls. The stained glass allowed for a more holy feeling to the church, in a sense where you stepped into a piece of heaven when inside, as the light reflected off the pieces of glass as they told stories of the life of Jesus and other Christian stories. Sainte-Foy didn’t have that much glass; it was a lot more structurally sound with its walls being made up mostly by stone. The walls of the churches are built differently where the Chartres cathedral has to have flying buttresses on the outsides of them so that there is more support on the building due to the fact that the infrastructure is made up lots of glass. The Chartres cathedral was very much built with a more vertical feel to it than did Sainte-Foy. At almost every instant there is something in the Chartres that is almost pulling your attention upward towards the heavens whether you were inside or outside of the church.