Enabling clients to make choices
Enabling clients to make choices
In this essay I will explain and provide case studies and evidence to show how, as a senior officer working in residential care for the elderly, I can enable clients to make choices about the care they receive. Most of the client group I work with have a variety of disabilities such as Dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Diabetes, or are stroke victims and as such are extremely vulnerable. As a senior officer working with this client group I am in a position of power with a duty to provide them with a fair and ethical environment of care. As defined by the British Association of Social Workers “The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work (2001).” http://www.basw.co.uk/articles.php?articleId=2&page=2 November 3rd 2006
But what exactly are the values of social care and how does a social worker in charge of any vulnerable client group make the right choices for each individual person as “…social work practice contains a terrible potential for the misuse of power” (Payne and Littlechild, 2000)?
At the heart of answering this question are the core values of social care that include ethics, principles, codes of practice and policies and procedures. They are an important starting point for anyone who is providing care for another and need to be looked at carefully and fully understood. Every human being has intrinsic value. All persons have a right to well being, self-fulfillment and to as much control over their own lives as is consistent with the rights of others.
Balancing the need to respect these core values along with the day to day running of a large residential home can be quite a
In this essay I will explain and provide case studies and evidence to show how, as a senior officer working in residential care for the elderly, I can enable clients to make choices about the care they receive. Most of the client group I work with have a variety of disabilities such as Dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Diabetes, or are stroke victims and as such are extremely vulnerable. As a senior officer working with this client group I am in a position of power with a duty to provide them with a fair and ethical environment of care. As defined by the British Association of Social Workers “The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work (2001).” http://www.basw.co.uk/articles.php?articleId=2&page=2 November 3rd 2006
But what exactly are the values of social care and how does a social worker in charge of any vulnerable client group make the right choices for each individual person as “…social work practice contains a terrible potential for the misuse of power” (Payne and Littlechild, 2000)?
At the heart of answering this question are the core values of social care that include ethics, principles, codes of practice and policies and procedures. They are an important starting point for anyone who is providing care for another and need to be looked at carefully and fully understood. Every human being has intrinsic value. All persons have a right to well being, self-fulfillment and to as much control over their own lives as is consistent with the rights of others.
Balancing the need to respect these core values along with the day to day running of a large residential home can be quite a