Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Short rant about social work

Do social work programs have a class on how to treat each person who walks through the door as though they are doing you a huge favour that you somehow are not deserving of? I didn't see it in the curriculum, but maybe I missed that day.

I came to expect it while at the welfare office unfortunately, but was not expecting that same attitude while trying to find out how to get my son tested for autism. The fact that I cannot come up with $2000 for private testing does not make me a bad parent. Nor does it make my son any less deserving of help than his middle-class peers.

I do know some amazing and caring social workers, so I am not meaning to insult anyone in the profession. The institutional processes that are in place within many of these programs create an atmosphere that makes the power dynamic between the social worker and the client readily visible to those of us who are attempting to access services.

1 comment:

  1. Most social workers seem rude because they are asked to preform miracles while working with a shoe-string budget.

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