2021

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Fostering system at risk of reaching ‘breaking point’, warns Ofsted

Community Care

England’s care system needs an “urgent boost to the number of foster carers” to avoid reaching “breaking point”. That was the warning from Ofsted as it released its annual fostering statistics last week , which showed there were 88,180 approved fostering places, 55,990 of which were filled, and 45,370 approved fostering households, as of 31 March 2021.

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When Your Partner Sits Around Playing Video Games and You’re Carrying the Family

Gary Direnfeld

Remember that movie from 2006, “Failure to Launch?” They finally get the guy in his thirties out of his parent’s house long enough to meet a gal. The movie was based on a social trend of men who never left home. Some had sporadic jobs but otherwise lived in their bedroom or the basement mostly playing video games. Since then, I am seeing another social trend; women who married those men now seeking to separate from them.

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Remembering The Connection Between Physical and Mental Wellness

My Brains Not Broken

As someone who celebrates Christmas, this past week was a busy one. The holiday season can take its toll on us in many ways, and while I tend to shine a spotlight on mental wellness during the holidays, there are other areas of wellness that are important to remember. Sometimes I forget about the connection between my physical health and my mental health, but when I forget to take care of my wellness, my body reminds me in a major way.

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How you can use the self better in social work (no hacks required)

Save the Social Worker

Introduction. After 2 years in social work, I admit. I haven’t used the self that well in social work. It came as a surprise, really. As pompous as this might sound, I thought I wasn’t that bad a social worker. After all, a first-class honours degree should have been a stamp of guarantee that I was good, right? I don’t say this to boast. But I share this because I want you to know that 2 years of life on the frontlines, led me to see how little university had taught me about social work.

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5 Must Haves for Case Management

Thousands of nonprofits rely on case management software to help collect data, manage programs, coordinate with agencies, and provide life-changing health and human services. Adopting a cloud-based case management platform is essential for nonprofits and government agencies to operate more efficiently and make better use of their funding and budget.

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Alone Together

What a Shrink Thinks

We need each other and we harm each other. We serve each other and threaten to devour each other. We yearn to rely on each other, and we profoundly disappoint each other. We can’t live with each other and we can’t live without each other. Psychoanalytic models struggle with these conflicting demands.

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Navigating The Festive Juggle: When School Activities Add More “Stuff”

Blurt It Out

As the festive season approaches, diary dates stack up, another “please could you bring/remember/note…” message seems to come through daily, and it’s never long before we feel the festive frazzle. We’re eternally thankful to all those who work so hard to put smiles on our children’s faces and create wonderful memories. But navigating it without.

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Holding fast to collectivist values in a health emergency

Reimagining Social Work

Aotearoa New Zealand is currently grappling with an outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19. Since a recent returnee from Australia tested positive for Delta in mid-August 2021, we have been under public health emergency measures, with T?maki Makaurau, our largest city, in Level 3 and 4 lockdowns for 88 days (at 13 November). The … Continue reading Holding fast to collectivist values in a health emergency.

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7 Powerful Morning Routine Starters for Social Workers

The New Social Worker

Do you have a morning routine? Your morning routine doesn’t have to be elaborate. It’s more important to just begin. Here are 7 ideas to get your day started. Give your best self to your clients and manage your stress before your stress manages you.

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Mental Illness Can Prevent Daily Hygiene

Nnatasha Tracy

Mental illness can prevent daily hygiene. I've been a victim of this and so have so many other people. Some people have come to me in confidence and said that they can't brush their teeth and it's causing major dental problems. Other people have said, in hushed tones, that they can't do their laundry so they don't leave their houses. These kinds of hygiene tasks are just too hard for some people disabled with serious mental illnesses.

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Get Connected: Using Social Media for Social Work Success

Speaker: Gary Direnfeld, MSW, RSW.

You may have the clinical skills to manage a private practice, but your success could actually hinge on marketing skills. For a thriving practice, you need to differentiate yourself from others and present yourself in a way that attracts referrals. These days, much of that happens online, including on social media. In this webinar, Gary Direnfeld will discuss how social media marketing can help you build your private practice and grow your client base.

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Time all voices were heard

Social Care

Personalised social care reform must consider every person's "experience, history, culture, beliefs and needs." [Image created by freepik.com ]. I believe social care exists to support people to live healthy, meaningful lives. This requires government commitment for the long term and sustained investment in the future we are wanting to build. The current social care system is not set up in a way which provides equity of access and does not do enough to support fairness or the desired outcome of

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Zahawi: take children into care when ‘any inkling of harm’

Community Care

Children should be removed from their families if there is “any inkling” of harm to them, the education secretary has said. Nadhim Zahawi made the comment in response to a question from fellow Conservative MP Bob Blackman following his statement on the government’s response to the Arthur Labinjo-Hughes case yesterday. Blackman had said that what Arthur’s case had in common with those of Peter Connolly (2007), Victoria Climbié (2000) and Jasmine Beckford (1984) was that &

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The Perfect Child, Also Unwell.

Gary Direnfeld

The call was about the one child who was continually acting out, skipping school, getting into trouble. The other child was described as perfect, a perfectionist actually. That child had great grades and only concentrated on school work. The child was seemingly obsessed with that and as such, didn’t have time for trouble. That child was considered fine.

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Teenagers and Mental Health: A Q&A with Tilly’s Life Center

My Brains Not Broken

Mental health is important for everyone, but it’s especially important to spotlight teenagers and mental health. For today’s post, I was able to talk with Monica Utley, the Executive Director of Tilly’s Life Center. Located in Irvine, California, Tilly’s Life Center teaches life skills to teenagers that build confidence, inspire compassion, and encourages adolescents to pursue their dreams.

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What Do You Know About Disability Cultural Competence?

Swhelper

Elspeth Slayter. Recently, I had the opportunity to give a webinar on disability cultural competence to social service workers, but was met with many blank stares. As a disabled social worker myself, I often notice that the disability community is not recognized as a cultural group. Disability is also not considered as a social identity in diversity […].

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Saturday Dream Workshop

What a Shrink Thinks

This is an educational/experiential workshop designed to support therapists and counselors, artists and creatives, meditators and those engaged in spiritual practices and anyone who wants to learn to work with their dreams in service of healing, creative or contemplative processes.

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World Social Work Day 2022

The International Association Of Schools Of Social

The next World Social Work Day takes place on the 15th March 2022. The theme: ´Co-building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind´ coincides with the theme of the people´s summit that will take place on the 29th June to the 2 nd July. The theme presents a vision and action plan to create new global values, policies and practices that develop trust, security and confidence for all people and the sustainability of the planet.

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Lorraine Gutiérrez Appointed the Edith A. Lewis Collegiate Professor of Social Work

Michigan Social Work

Lorraine Gutiérrez has been appointed the Edith A. Lewis Collegiate Professor of Social Work. Gutiérrez is an internationally renowned scholar in empowerment theory and anti-oppressive practice. Her teaching and scholarship focus on multicultural praxis in communities, organizations and higher education. Her current projects include identifying strategies for multicultural community-based research and practice, multicultural education for social work practice, and identifying effective methods

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A Pennsylvania case illustrates again why, for children, “best interests of the child” is among the most dangerous phrases in the “child welfare” lexicon

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

Consider a recent case involving the family policing system in a county in Pennsylvania. Everything I am about to recount is true except for one detail: Two young children are taken from their mother. Their father is eager to take them in, but at the time of the removal he’s in the hospital. That’s because after he was hit by a drunk driver and confined to a wheelchair it led to medical complications that sometimes require hospitalization.

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Self-Care A-Z: Self-Care Can Be Needed Most When You Least Expect It

The New Social Worker

We’re inherently worthy of self-care. Thank you for your service, values, commitment to the social work profession, and for taking care of YOU. Corinna shares her self-care story.

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Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and its intersections with the youth justice system

Reimagining Social Work

Anita Gibbs (Associate Professor, University of Otago) is a longstanding social worker, teacher, researcher and advocate for young people with FASD and their families. In 2020 she received the Universities New Zealand ‘Critic and Conscience of Society’ award for her outstanding work in this area. Anita is currently undertaking research with caregivers and stakeholders on the … Continue reading Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and its intersections with the youth justice

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“12 Truths”·Anne Lamott·TED2017

Sober Courage

Anne Lamott is an American novelist and non-fiction writer. She is also a progressive political activist, public speaker, and writing teacher and a person in long term recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Her nonfiction works are largely autobiographical. Wikipedia In 2017 Anne Lamott recorded a Ted Talk about the 12 Truths that she knows … Continue reading “12 Truths”·Anne Lamott·TED2017.

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Children adopted from care falls to lowest in 21 years, government figures show

Community Care

The number of children adopted from care fell to its lowest level in 21 years in 2020-21, Department for Education (DfE) figures show. Their number fell by 18% on the year to 2,870, the lowest total since 1999-2000. Delays in family court proceedings during Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the latest annual decline in adoptions, but the number has fallen each year since a peak of 5,360 in 2014-15.

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Why Are You Doing The Work of The Other Parent When Separated?

Gary Direnfeld

It’s not uncommon for one to really want to do what’s right for the kids while the other seems to work against their interests. In wanting to do what’s right, some believe that they should make life appear as much as it did after the separation as before. With that, the other parent is invited in for special occasions. That parent may even be chased, so to speak, to continue to see the kids.

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The Holidays Aren’t Easy for Everyone

My Brains Not Broken

As I’ve written before, I tend to get sad during the wintertime. At this point, it’s become something to expect and prepare for more than anything else, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating when it happens. But it’s not just the wintertime – it’s the holidays, too. Last year, I wrote that it’s okay not to be okay during this festive period , and while the sentiment remains true for this year, I also wanted to issue a gentle reminder that many pe

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How Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Schools Prepares Young People to Thrive in a Multiracial Society

Swhelper

Linda R. Tropp. Debates about the value and meaning of public education are not just about report cards and standardized test scores. The hope is that public education will equip youth with what they need to reach their full potential and flourish as the next generation of citizens. To achieve this goal, most people realize that public schools […].

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A Very Thoughtful Gift Guide: 2021

Blurt It Out

Just like that, the festive season is upon us again, and our feeds are filling up with picture-perfect families in unrealistically tidy spaces. For some, it really is “the most wonderful time of the year”, but it can also be overwhelming, emotional, and stressful. With that in mind, we’ve created this years’ thoughtful gift guide. The post A Very Thoughtful Gift Guide: 2021 appeared first on The Blurt Foundation.

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IASSW Announces The Release Of Social Dialogue Magazine # 25

The International Association Of Schools Of Social

IASSW Announces The Release Of Social Dialogue Magazine # 25. Dear Friends, International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW) is ready with an excellent volume of Social Dialogue. on the theme “The Pandemic that Shook Social Work Education It is a collaborative effort from academics, students, practice teachers and service users from across the globe exploring social work’s educational response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, focusing specifically on how they have responded to the ma

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Trigger Warnings Don’t Work — Don’t Use Trigger Warnings

Nnatasha Tracy

Trigger warnings don't work. I know that's a controversial statement as trigger warnings have crept into seemingly all aspects of media. But trigger warnings did this without anyone studying the effects of including a trigger warning. People started including them with good intentions, but that doesn't mean including them actually produces positive responses.

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Preparing for Liberty Protection Safeguards

Social Care

While the processes relating to an authorisation of a deprivation of liberty will change, the sector skills, knowledge and experience gained under the Care Act framework means there is already a solid foundation for expected practice under LPS. Positive developments. As a qualified social worker, I welcome the changes which Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) intends to bring to the sector.

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Vulnerable children in UK face their ‘most dangerous Christmas yet’

The Guardian

Charity says ‘toxic cocktail’ of financial pressure, disrupted festive plans and strained relationships create unsafe environment for youngsters Many children are facing their “most dangerous Christmas yet” as uncertainty over Covid and the cumulative pressures of the pandemic heighten internal family tensions, the NSPCC has warned. The charity’s chief executive, Peter Wanless, said a “toxic cocktail” of accumulating financial pressures, disrupted festive plans and strained relationships threate

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NASW on amicus brief before U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn Texas abortion law

Social Work Blog

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) on Oct. 27, 2021 and 10 other civil rights organizations joined in an amicus brief led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in the Whole Women’s Health v. Jackson case filed in the U.S. Supreme Court. This case involves Texas’s Senate Bill 8 (SB 8), banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and allowing private citizens to enforce the law by suing anyone who performed, aided, or abetted an abortion in violation of the ba

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A Socially Just Child Protection System?

Reimagining Social Work

We are often told that the confluence of poverty, inequality and entry into the child protection system is not something that child welfare services can address. Child protection focuses on the risk of harm to children and the circumstances of their families. Structural inequality, if it is acknowledged at all, is regarded as a problem … Continue reading A Socially Just Child Protection System?