Caseworker (social work)

In social work, a caseworker is a type of social worker who is employed by a government agency, non-profit organization, or other group to take on the cases of individuals and provide them with advocacy, information or other services.

Social case work

Social Case work is the method employed by social workers to help individuals find solution to problems of social adjustment which they are unable to handle in a satisfactory way by their own efforts (Florence Hollis, 1954).

Social Casework, is a primary approach of social work, concerned with the adjustment and development of the individual towards more satisfying human relations. In Social case work relationship is the medium through which changes are brought in the behaviour and personality of the client. The social casework relationship is the dynamic interaction of attitudes and emotions between the social caseworker and the client with the purpose of satisfying the clients psychosocial needs to achieve a better intrapersonal(interactions and transactions) adjustment by the client within the respective environment.^[1] Psychosocial assessment is a key tool used in casework, it is the initial assessment of client’s current, relevant past and possible future modes of adaptation to stressful situations and normal living situations. Problem solving is the intend behind every social casework process', the caseworker doesn't solve the problem for the client, but helps the person in the situation to be equipped in solving or facing the problem adequately within the individual's weaknesses and strengths to the end of overall development. ^[2]

Principles in Social Casework

1. Every individual has inherent worth and dignity.
2. Every individual has the right to self-determination.
3. Every individual is the primary concern of society, has potential for and the right to growth.
4. Every individual, in turn, has to contribute to the society’s development by assuming his social responsibility.
5. The individual and society in which one lives are interdependent.
6. Basic human needs have to be met by services which are not dependent upon in accord either to moral behaviour or to race, nationality, caste ...etc.

Stages in Social Casework process

• Intake and Rapport building
• Clinical exploration of the problem
• Assessment
• Intervention/ Treatment
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Follow-up and Termination

Multicultural prevalence and acceptability

Caseworkers are employed by a large number of organizations in Britain, especially in the voluntary and public sectors. In the United States, most government agencies that provide social services to children in poor or troubled families have a staff of caseworkers, each of whom is assigned a proportion of the cases under review at any given time. In Australia, caseworkers may be assigned to work in child protection, drug and alcohol services or community health organizations. As of 2004, there were approximately 876,000 child welfare caseworkers in the United States. Seventy-two percent are women, and the mean salary for all caseworkers was $64,590.^[3][4]

References

1. Virginia Robinson, A Changing Psychology in Social Case Work, 1939
2. Helen Harris Perlman, Social Casework: A Problem-Solving Process, 1957
3. The Unsolved Challenge of System Reform p. 41
4. Foster Care: Voices from the Inside

Further Reading

• Friedlander, W.A. (1958), Concept and Methods of Social Work; Prentice Hall, MC, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
• Hamilton, Gorden (1956), Theory and Practice of Social Case Work; Columbia University Press, New York.
• Richmond, Mary (1922), What is Social Case Work, The Russell Sage Foundation, New York.
• Sheafor, B.W. (1997), Techniques and Guidelines for Social Work Practice, Allyn and Bacon, London.

See also

• Social group work
• Mary Richmond
• Clare Winnicott
• Otto Rank