Social Work with Children and Youth
The process of growing up is an emotional challenge. Your life's mindset and worry's range from figuring out who you are, how you want others to perceive you, determining who your real friends are, just trying to make it through school and all the awkward stages of your youth leading up to your adult life. That was what my childhood was like, with my family and friends to help me through all the ruff patches, encouraging me to become the strong hard working person I am today. There's an infinite number of youth who do not have that kind of support system, helping them through their life; helping them discover who they are. “According to the Canadian Medical Association, thirty-two percent of Canadians have experienced physical abuse, sexual abuse, and exposure to intimate partner violence or a combination of these while they were young”(Boesveld, 1). When these situations arise in a family dynamic that is when someone needs to step in and call social services. Social workers can help your child or young adult have the childhood/life they deserve and need to become a strong independent adult, to focus on themselves and not their family difficulties. Through this essay I will focus on social work with children and youth; what a social worker is and how they can help children and youth, how social work has changed, oppressive factors that affect the life of a child, what factors social workers had to overcome to be where they are today, and finally two journal articles on how social workers can help your child’s life.
There are numerous fields available in the profession of social work in Canada; a few include social work with elderly, social work with aboriginals and social work with the disabled. Although there are several different fields available, the focus of this assessment is on social work with children and youth and the effect social workers have on...