Respond to at least two colleagues who chose a case different from yours and address the following:
- What makes a social problem a social work problem?
- How can social work practice skills be applied to advocacy and policy that promote change?
1-tas-
Post a short description of the social problem from the Policy Advocacy Challenge you selected from the Jansson text.
I chose Policy Advocacy Challenge 7.6 in the Jansson (2018) text Designing Services for Homeless Children in Step 1.
Who is defining the problem?
Anne Milder, MSW student at the University of Southern California School of Social Work, as a first-year student would participate in fundamental policy analysis and advocacy by advocating for a specific homeless population in Los Angeles or Orange counties; she chose to focus on homeless children under the age of five, it’s commonly overlooked. (Jansson, 2018)
What values are reflected in this definition of the problem?
Policy advocates must establish goals, identify theories supporting the cause, and explain why specific persons or populations develop a specific social problem. Several social work values are reflected in social justice to pursue social change, service above self-interest, and the importance of human relationships. Utilizing the McKinney-Vento Act while advocating with the Department of Mental Health and the Los Angeles County McKinney-Vento Coordinator to add a question on school intake forms that ask about student siblings to represent the children ages birth to five who are also homeless. Thus identifying two vulnerable populations. Anne Milder also advocated that the identified population be included as a separate category in the homeless count and that a broader definition of homelessness, substituting the McKinney-Vento Act definition for the HUD definition.
What is being omitted in this definition?
Children are not often thought of as homeless people, and there is a lack of understanding of what homelessness can look like, which means that children living with relatives or friends are essentially homeless (Jansson, 2018), additionally from a broader perspective. One consideration is the prevalence of children who are experiencing homelessness as a whole and the identification of children who are not attending school at all and may have siblings younger than five.
2-brit-
Post a short description of the social problem from the Policy Advocacy Challenge you selected from the Jansson text. Then address the following:
Policy Advocacy Challenge 11.5
The Governor of Virginia, George Allen planned to reduce the size of state government targeting the Virginia Department for Aging Jansson, B. S. (2018) (pg. 378). His goal was to transfer the (VDA) into the Department of Medical Assistance Services (Medicaid) claiming this would be more efficient and eliminate duplicate courses. However, the Chairman of the (VDA) did not agree with this Jansson, B. S. (2018) (pg. 378). He believed the (VDA) would lose its freestanding status, its commissioner would be reduced to an assistant director, the advisory board would be gone, control of the budget would shift to the Medicaid commissioner, and decision making on behalf of the aging would be buried deeper in the state bureaucracy Jansson, B. S. (2018) (pg. 378).
- Who is defining the problem?
I believe the Chairman is defining the problem in this text. It appears he valued having autonomy, and being able to make decisions in the best interest of the elderly and for his organization which Governor George Allen was trying to change Jansson, B. S. (2018) (pg. 378). The (VDA) decided they would first, call on two very experienced veterans of state politics and human services administration to ask for advice. They met with them the following week, and from this meeting, they decided to delay the decision by insisting that some public comment period be allowed for citizen input. Public feedback is a very crucial process Jansson, B. S. (2018) (pg. 378).To delay the proposal for public comment they began other tactics Jansson, B. S. (2018) (pg. 378). They contacted the JCHC and asked them to explain the consequences of the governor’s proposals. They wrote out their concerns and sent it everyone Jansson, B. S. (2018) (pg. 378). They also outlined the issues, the potential effects of the new proposal, and some action steps that individual could take Jansson, B. S. (2018) (pg. 378).
- What values are reflected in this definition of the problem?
The values that I believe are being reflected in this policy advocacy challenge is service. The transfer of agency from one into the next would have been detrimental to the elder community as many services would have been cut hindering resources for many of the elderly that they so desperately need as a marginalized population. Social workers’ primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems (socialworkers.org).
- What is being omitted in this definition?
In the text there was no clarity on which services the lieutenant governor spoke on regarding the aging. Other pertinent information that would have been helpful to know was Robert Schneider concerns that were sent out to everyone and what where the issues he outlined about the potential effects of the new proposal, and some action steps that individual could take Jansson, B. S. (2018) (pg. 378).
