Do you have an ethical obligation to address this issue?
Social work goes hand in hand with advocacy and social services. Being a social worker, I am held by social and advocacy ethics to address matters of advocacy. Many people seek social work services. When social services cases observe a common vein, advocacy comes in to find changes in the system. System changes address social needs on a deeper level, covering common issues for the entire community. Advocacy gives voice to the society’s needs, bringing them to the attention of relevant authorities, who then put policies in place to address the raised issue (Dalrymple et al., 2013). It is, therefore, the moral and ethical duty of a social worker to address advocacy issues on the society they serve.. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Elaborate on the difference between providing service and advocacy.
Providing service involves directly or indirectly addressing a need that a client has to ensure its resolution to the client’s satisfaction. Service provision is focused on a client at a time. Even though many clients may come with different versions of the same issue, service provision does not go to the extent of changing a system to address a problem for all concerned. Advocacy voices the need for a system change that resolves a necessity for all involved. Unlike service provision, advocacy gives a voice for or against a particular solution (Dalrymple et al., 2013). An advocate may not personally provide the service needed, but their voice promotes the resolution of a need for all who suffer it.
What is some action steps you might take that would be volunteer work or providing a service versus action steps you might take that would be considered advocacy?
To offer a service, I would speak to children who go through bullying in school, advising them on how to deal with a bully and how to handle the negative emotions. I would discuss ways that they can report bullying without suffering for it. I would also provide tokens like ‘energy bracelets’ and ‘bully repellent pendants’ that would encourage them to overcome their fear of bullies. Advocacy measures would include organizing anti-bullying talks for the whole school that tackle the effects of bullying and challenge a system change of how to handle and reduce cases of bullying in the entire school.
Reference
Dalrymple, J., Boylan, J., Wharton, K., & Scott, W. (2013). Effective advocacy in social work. London [England : SAGE, 2013.