Week 9
Week 9: Political Strategy in Policy Advocacy
Political strategies evolve as a result of a sequence of actions and verbal exchanges with policy makers and stakeholders. A social worker and policy advocate may find himself or herself in the role of political activist as well.
This week you examine how to use power resources to create and put into action a political strategy that has been designed to increase the chances that a policy proposal will be successfully enacted to change and improve the lives of people. You develop a series of political strategies to address one aspect of the situations and/or problems facing family members in the families you are introduced to through case studies presented in the readings and the media of this week. You also write a proposal for a policy practice or social advocacy that will seek to change a social/organization/legislative policy or advocate for the amelioration of a social problem.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Analyze political strategies related to social work
- Analyze policy alternatives
- Analyze issues related to policy alternatives
Learning Resources
Required Readings
SOCW 6361 Webliography
These websites will be required throughout the semester. Become familiar with these websites, especially when doing research for your assignments.
Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an effective policy advocate: From policy practice to social justice (8th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Series.
Chapter 11, “Developing Political Strategy and Putting It into Action in the Policy-Enacting Task” (pp. 372-419)
Plummer, S.-B, Makris, S., Brocksen S. (Eds.). (2014). Social work case studies: Concentration year.Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
“Social Work Policy: Children and Adolescents. The Case of Susanna” (pp. 57–60)
“Social Policy and Advocacy: Violence Prevention” (pp. 53–55)
Required Media
Laureate Education. (Producer). (2013). Bradley (Episode 7 of 42) [Video file]. In Sessions. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 2 minutes.
Discussion: Developing Political Strategies
In this week’s resources, you explore the stories of Susana and the Bradley family. They are all in situations that need social work intervention and advocacy. What political strategies would you use to enact policies developed to assist these individuals?
In this Discussion, you develop political strategies to address one aspect of the situation(s) and problem(s) facing Susana and members of the Bradley family.
To Prepare: Read and review Chapter 11 in your text. Read “Social Work Policy: Children and Adolescents” and “Social Policy and Advocacy: Violence Prevention”. View the Bradley Episode 7 in the media for this week.
By Day 3
Post an explanation of the political strategies you would use to address one aspect of the situations/problems facing Susana and members of the Bradley family. Explain why you selected that strategy.
Be sure to support your post with specific references to this week’s resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to provide full APA-formatted citations for your references.
Waynnesha Wedlow RE: Discussion – Week 9COLLAPSE
Both Susana and Tiffani are minors, although their situations are different, they are each being impacted by laws set to protect them. Susana is a 15-year-old who is continuously truant from school (Plummer, Makris, & Brocksen, 2014). By laws her parents are to be held accountable for her missing school although they encourage her to go. When a social worker becomes involved due to ongoing truancies the social worker learns Susana has a good relationship with her parents, has few friends, stays home all the time, and is very attached to her mother. The social worker referred Susana to be assessed at a community mental health center. However, the judge over the case ruled for Susana to be removed for the custody of her parents and placed in an institutional setting. This ruling is not beneficial for Susana because she is not a delinquent as truancy is a dependent act.
In the case of Tiffani, a 16-year-old who has been involved with sex trafficking, a law has been put in place for her protection. The law identifies Tiffani as the victim as she is a minor (Laureate Education, 2013). With this law Tiffani is now able to receive treatment for the trauma she has experienced and also vocational services to learn skills she can use when she returns to society (Plummer, Makris, & Brocksen, 2014). Recently, Tiffani learned her former pimp has been busted and is afraid of retaliation. The law that has been enacted does not include safety precautions such as a protection program to keep the victims safe when they return to society.
Organizing a team to further develop the two polices discussed here is an efficient strategy to address areas overlooked by the current polices. A group must have someone in a leadership position to that delegates tasks to members of the team (Jansson, 2018). Tasks the team can work on are (1) how the current policy is working (2) research (3) policy proposal. Developing a team for the case of Susana would consist of developing alternatives to the current policy which holds the parents accountable. The team developed would need to research reasons why children would intentionally be truant from school that have supportive families and healthy family relationships. Community resources should be identified to determine alternatives to keep the youth out of the justice system that do not present with delinquent behaviors. As Plummer, Makris, & Brocksen (2014) stated, you do not want to mix delinquent youth with non-delinquent youth. I selected this strategy, because research is needed to understand the needs of youth like Susana. Understanding the needs of the population will ensure the policy adequately addresses those needs. This strategy can be used for Tiffani as well. There is a lot of research available on sex trafficking of youth, which can be reviewed. Youth are an extremely vulnerable population and need to be protected. Organizing a team to identify resources that can be used to protect these youth from revictimization is important. The team can focus on (1) research on the issue (2) resources (3) outcomes of current policy. By obtaining all this information the team should be able to understand what is going on and develop an adequate policy to protect sex trafficked youth once they return to society.
References
Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an effective policy advocate: From policy practice to social justice. (8th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Series.
Laureate Education. (Producer). (2013). Bradley (Episode 7 of 42) [Video file]. In Sessions. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014a). Sessions: case histories. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
Plummer, S.-B, Makris, S., Brocksen S. (Eds.). (2014). Social work case studies: Concentration year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
By Day 5
Respond to a colleague who chose a different political strategy than you. Offer a supportive insight based on your own experience as a social worker and/or policy advocate.
Project: Part 4: Identification of a Policy Alternative
As an astute social worker and professional policy advocate, once you have selected and identified a social problem, you begin the process of creating and implementing a policy that addresses that social problem. One of the first things you do in the implementation process is an analysis of the social policy you identified. There is always the possibility that the policy created and implemented to address the social problem you identified is not viable for a variety of reasons. In this case, you must explore a policy alternative.
In Part 4 of your ongoing Social Change Project assignment, you identify a policy alternative to the social problem you identified.
By Day 7
Complete Part 4 of your Social Change Project.
Address the following items within a 3-4 page paper:
- What is the policy alternative?
- What, if any, change(s) in the policy alternative are necessary and where will they need to occur (local, state, national, and international)?
- Is this policy alternative congruent with social work values? Explain.
- What is the feasibility of the alternative policy (political, economic, and administrative)?
- Does the policy alternative meet the policy goals (e.g., social equality, redistribution of resources, social work values, and ethics)?
- What are the forces that are for/against the policy?
- What policy advocacy skills can be used to support the policy alternative?
- How does the current policy affect clinical social work practice with clients?
- What changes could be made in the policy to support the needs of clients seeking clinical services?
- Provide an update on the advocacy activities your proposed in the Week 6 Assignment.
Make sure that your assertions are supported by appropriate research and reputable resources.
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