Social Work in the Canadian Society

 Social Work in the Canadian Society
Social work is a profession that deals with the assistance of persons, families, communities or groups in order to enhance their individual as well as collective well-being. The aim of social work is to ensure that people have the skills and abilities to use their own resources or those placed at their disposal by the community in order to deal with their day to day problems. Social work values include solving problems, human rights, social justice, empowerment, enhancement of well-being. It is, therefore, important to note that the work of a social worker is to shield vulnerable people, help in the development of relationships and helping families to be able to stay together. According to Hick (2010), social workers help support people with the aim of helping them live a happy life.
Social worker and child support and protection
It is the role of the social worker to ensure the protection of children. According to Hick (2010), child support can be provided through family support in order to maintain healthy families. The other way is through the protection of children who are at risk by ensuring that they are removed from their homes and provided with another form of care. Child placement also comes as the role of the social worker in making sure children withdrawn from their homes are provided with substitute care such as adoption as well as foster parenting. In particular, Hick (2010) argues that in Canada today, the number of aboriginal children in care has been on the rise. This makes the author argue that there is a need to deal with structural reasons as to why the Aboriginal children are taken into care. These problems include poverty, lack of employment and lack of education. Diversity is, therefore, one of the main things that have to be considered when dealing with children from different backgrounds as the Aboriginal people are the only ones who can be in a position to make a decision regarding their children. As a social worker, Hick (2010) argues that a social worker has to be aware of some of the challenges faced by children who need protection. These include neglect regarding deprivation of food, clothing, hygiene, shelter as well as other needs that might cause psychological harm. Physical abuse is the other form of child abuse, which includes physical assaults leading to physical injury. Sexual abuse also counts as one of the major issues faced by children. Emotional abuse can also cause psychological harm to a child if the parents do not take any interest in the child (Hick, 2010). As a social worker, one has to be able to report cases of abuse on children to the relevant authorities. This is followed by an assessment of the risk that faces the child as well as the extent of abuse the child faces. It is important to note that child welfare is one of the difficult areas of social work and involves working in various roles. I as a social worker has to be able to conduct an assessment of a child abuse and be able to assist in making a decision on the right course of action.
One of the many challenges that social workers have to deal with is the concept of diversity. As a social worker, it is important to recognize and respect the diversity that exists in the Canadian society. This is based on some of the differences that exist between individuals, families or communities. Canada is a largely diverse society that has many cultural differences. Cultural differences exist regarding the historical information in the sense that a certain community has a different history as compared to the other. The social structure is another concept that exists as a result of cultural differences. For example, the social structure and the social identity of the Aboriginal people are different from that of rest of the Canadian population. This means that as social worker ought to fully understand the concept of social structure and social identity in order to be able to work fully in harmony with the community in question. Gender roles also manifest themselves differently in every society. This means that I as a social worker has to make sure that I fully equip myself with the cultures of the target community to avoid offending them in one way or another.
The importance of assessment to intervention in social work cannot be underestimated. The first thing in social work assessment is to start by defining the problem before planning the intervention. For example, if one is working in a children protection facility, one has to be able to conduct organizational assessment in order to be able to establish organizational goals and be able to analyze when a child is supposed to be taken away from his or her parents in case of abuse.
Social work and health
There has been a major role played by social workers in medical social work practice. The hospital is one of the areas where social workers are mostly relevant. For example, they are found in emergency services, surgery, in