Social Welfare Policy

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The ethical responsibility of social workers includes being actively engaged in advocacy initiatives that greatly influence policies surrounding social welfare that have a significant impact on the rights and safety of vulnerable populations. Growing up, I witnessed firsthand how policy decisions could dramatically impact vulnerable families like my own. My mother struggled immensely as a single parent in Cleveland to provide for me and my eight siblings. Advocacy efforts are essential for giving a voice to those like my mother who feel powerless in influencing the policies that govern their lives. By speaking out on community issues affecting a client or their community, social workers can influence policymakers, which makes them more likely …show more content…
These policies fund programs and services to meet basic needs. In my childhood, social welfare policies and programs were crucial. My mother relied heavily on SNAP benefits to feed her large family. As Blau and Abramovitz note, SNAP aims "to alleviate hunger and malnutrition" (2014, p.50). Without it, there would have been many nights I went to bed hungry as a child. This experience, as a young child, shaped my understanding of just how important these programs are. I am also not oblivious to the stigma associated with accepting "welfare" benefits. Many people feel that to eat, you should be working to afford your groceries. We need to remember that not everyone makes more than minimum wage, and even if both parents work, they still need to pay for the expenses to maintain the home, which can be costly. Nevertheless, I strongly believe that these types of programs exist because everyone should be able to eat despite being unable to afford groceries. Furthermore, children do not make the choice to be born poor and we as a human society should make sure no child is forced to go hungry. It is easier to be against programs like SNAP if you have never needed to go hungry because you could not afford …show more content…
In the NASW Code of Ethics, "Social workers promote social justice and social change with and on behalf of clients (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2008)." This line summarizes the importance of advocacy. I have not had any experience with engaging in advocacy, but I do intend to in the future. One advocacy goal I have is to advocate for trauma-informed training among law enforcement. Law enforcement officers witness traumatic situations on the job regularly, which may have a devastating impact on their mental health. Unfortunately, because they must remain professional, they can not begin the processing of their feelings about what they see every day. I believe that the officers' unresolved traumas contribute to the rising rates of burnout in the profession. If this issue among law enforcement continues to go unacknowledged, it increases the desensitization to trauma that crime victims have experienced, and this undoubtedly leads to poor results for crime victims, survivors, and their families. By advocating for trauma-informed training, I hope to promote support for the mental health of law enforcement, while also improving their ability to serve their community effectively and
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