Social Workers' Call to Action - Essay Example

Policymaking and practice are mostly regarded as work for social work and profession values. At the same time policymaking is assumed to be a political job which is based on social benefits. Social welfare policies are meant to bring positive changes to individuals, communities and social settings (Colby, et al., 2012 p. 12).

The possibility of a person being involved in the policy-making process and implementation depends on one's individual interests and profession. Social welfare policy is based on social justice and fairness which is a pillar of social work profession. Social workers have a duty to serve people in fairness and promote social justice. One may think that they are bound to be involved in social welfare policy-making process. However, many lack the time and zeal to promote sound social policies. Policies can result in social injustice, therefore is need to seek consultations from social work professionals to promote social justice and fairness.

Social work professionals should protect social political and economic welfare of all people. This can be achieved through promoting justice to all people despite gender, race or a social setting (NASW Delegate Assembly, 2017). Social workers should be significantly involved in making social welfare policies since they put the interests of others first. The social workers are the best professionals to make justice based policies. Through their ethics code of conduct, they are bound to make justice based decisions. Mostly their course of action is to protect interests of the weak and the oppressed. It is in the best interest that they are involved in policy-making and implementation process to protect the vulnerable in the society. Sometimes policymakers consider personal interests which are not fair to the society. Therefore a social worker must ensure people and the community at large are protected from such selfish policymakers. At the same time, social welfare policies require organized ideas, agreements, and evidence from a social work profession. They are also responsible for offering alternatives that are favorable to any person in the society.

Mostly apathy plays a big role in social workers involved in policy making, implementation, and evaluation in the communities. Most of the social workers don't care on what happens to the people. Many have become more money oriented which has led them to suppress their feelings for humanity. Most don't want to be involved in policy-making due to their tight schedules. However, they later blame the system for not taking people's interests at heart. Many social workers have neglected the code of conduct which ensures that they protect the interests of all people. Apathy is the lack of interest, which has led to the making of pool social welfare policies. Social welfare policies can result in social injustices, hence the need to seek professional opinion to avoid uncertainty while executing policies. Social workers should always advocate for the development and growth of a social setting. Therefore they are supposed to promote policies which support the welfare of the people. However they have lost interest and left the policy-making and practice at the mercy of politicians (Colby, et al., 2012 p. 9). They have lost interest and feelings on social justice and fairness. At the same time, social workers have laid their guard on ethics code of conduct which makes time lose interest in social welfare policy-making process.

References

Colby, I. C., Dulmus, C. N., & Sowers, K. M. (2012). Social work and social policy: Advancing the principles of economic and social justice. John Wiley & Sons.

NASW Delegate Assembly (2017) Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers