Social Work / Maatskaplike Werk (E-Journal)
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INTEGRATION OF THEORY AND PRACTICE IN SOCIAL WORK: CHALLENGES AND TRIUMPHS
Get PDFTeaching (in any discipline) is rewarding when students show the required growth and development in terms of their knowledge, skills and attitude (within the social work context) (Kadushin & Harkness, 2002). So it is disappointing when, in completing various assessment tasks, some students do not achieve the learning objectives set for a given task. The most troubling within the UWC context was the challenges students experienced on the third year level in integrating their theoretical knowledge with their practice learning
AGAINST THE ODDS: STRENGTHS DISPLAYED BY ABUSED WOMEN
Get PDFAlthough legislation protecting women’s rights in South Africa is well developed, statistics indicate that violence against women has become the norm. There are no cultural, socio-economic, political, religious or educational boundaries to domestic violence. Despite this, some abused women display certain strengths. The strengths perspective is thus a suitable theoretical approach for this qualitative study exploring and describing the strengths of twenty abused women who formed the sample. Five strengths – namely hope, resilience, pride, healing and wholeness, and lastly personal qualities, traits and virtues – were identified. Some recommendations are made about the suitability of the strengths perspective for practice
PROMOTING NON-VIOLENT PARENTING AMONG REFUGEE MOTHERS IN DURBAN
Get PDFThis research began by examining the attitudes and behaviour of mothers from the Durban refugee community regarding the use of corporal punishment in bringing up children. Its use was found to be widespread and frequent among a sample of 50 mothers. A training course in non-violent parenting was designed and administered to 16 mothers. A very preliminary evaluation suggests that there were significant shifts of attitude among the participants in favour of non-violent parenting
A PROCESS EVALUATION OF A PROGRAMME FOR STREET PEOPLE
Get PDFThe plight of the homeless in South Africa has been graphically described by Cross and Seager (2010a:18) as “the proverbial skeletons at the feast, the excluded poorest who enter unobserved and stand by gaunt and starved, terrifying to the invited guests but deprived of any capacity to join the party.
EXPERIENCES OF SOCIAL EXCLUSION AMONG YOUNG DEAF ADULTS INFLUENCING THEIR BELIEFS AND PERCEPTIONS OF HIV/AIDS
Get PDFThis paper reports on a Master’s study whose aim was to capture the beliefs and perceptions of young deaf adults about HIV/AIDS in the Cape Metropole and surrounding areas. The study utilised the explorative, contextual and qualitative descriptive study design. Purposive sampling was implemented and data were collected through focus groups and in-depth interviews. Data were analysed using content analysis. Ethical considerations were adhered to. The main findings of the study indicate that numerous myths and misperceptions about HIV/AIDS prevail among deaf people. This paper advocates for policymakers to include deaf people, particularly sign language users, in HIV-prevention programmes
EARLY MOTHERHOOD IN SOWETO: THE NEXUS BETWEEN THE CHILD SUPPORT GRANT AND DEVELOPMENTAL SOCIAL WORK SERVICES
Get PDFIn this article we ask whether the child support grant can mitigate the vulnerability of early motherhood, and if so, in what ways and what are its limits. Using data from a study on CSGs in a poor urban area of Johannesburg, we report on the circumstances of young women recipients. We find that the grant has positive outcomes for the women, but these are limited in the face of the range of needs and support necessary to give the young women a chance to successfully negotiate both motherhood and their own transition to adulthood. We suggest areas where social workers can engage positively with these issue
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTION
Get PDFThe first public speech I made was a vote of thanks. That was in 1966 to Ruth Smalley, an American Professor of Social Work speaking at Stellenbosch University in honour of the centenary celebrations. The visitor was intended to be Florence Hollis, another academic in Social Work, but Professor Hollis was not available
EDITORIAL
Get PDFThe provision of comprehensive social services and programmes that empower vulnerable people in the fields of substance abuse, HIV and AIDS, as well as people with special needs such as migrants, remains a challenge to Social Work.In this edition, two articles look at complex phenomena such as migration and human trafficking: one presents a framework for understanding risk and protective factors relevant to migrants and offers guidelines for social work intervention; the other explores the role the social worker in human trafficking and the place of social work as a profession vis-à-vis this phenomeno
COMMUNITY BASED FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES FOR FAMILIES AT-RISK: SERVICES RENDERED BY CHILD AND FAMILY WELFARE ORGANISATIONS
Get PDFIn accordance with South African policy documents and legislation (Department of Social Development, 2004; Children’s Act 38 of 2005, Section 2(a)White Paper for Social Welfare, 1997) social work service delivery to families where child abuse and neglect occur, must be focused mainly on family preservation through rendering preventative and early intervention services thereby preventing statutory services. Preventative services are, as directed by the ISDM (Department of Social Development, 2006), the primary level of service delivery, by linking families to resources which can limit risky behaviour and to implement a developmental welfare policy. Strong focus is placed on the development of resources in communities to support families and to build capacity, before family crises could develop (Department of Social Development, 2006). Within this context the purpose of this article is to investigate the support (prevention) services available to at-risk families at family welfare organisations to prevent the removal of children and to enhance family preservation
AN ANALYSIS OF, AND DIFFERENT APPROACH TO, CHALLENGES IN FOSTER CARE PRACTICE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Get PDFFoster care is perceived to be the best and most widely applied form of alternative care for children besides their maternal home, because it most often occurs within the family context and is supposed to offer safety and protection to children. Despite the various advantages that foster care offers, it is known that foster care practice worldwide – including in South Africa – is suffering from serious deficiencies. Therefore it is questionable whether it serves the best interests of the child at all times and whether the principle of social justice is adhered to. As Bass, Shields and Behrman (2004:5) state:“For too many of these children, foster care is no safe haven. Instead, the children drift from foster home to foster home, lingering in care while awaiting a permanent, forever family.