Profession child welfare worker
Child welfare workers provide early intervention and support to children and their families in order to improve their social and psychological functioning. They aim to maximise the family well-being and protect children from abuse and neglect. They advocate for children so that their rights are respected within and outside the family. They may assist single parents or find foster homes for abandoned or abused children.
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Personality Type
Knowledge
- Social justice
The development and principles of human rights and social justice and the way they should be applied on a case by case basis.
- Adolescent psychological development
Understand the developments and the development needs of children and young persons, observing the behaviour and the attachment relationships in order to detect developmental delay.
- Customer service
Processes and principles related to the customer, client, service user and to personal services; these may include procedures to evaluate customer's or service user's satisfaction.
- Company policies
The set of rules that govern the activity of a company.
- Legal requirements in the social sector
The prescribed legislative and regulatory requirements in the social sector.
- Social sciences
The development and characteristics of sociological, anthropological, psychological, political, and social policy theories.
- Child protection
Framework of legislation and practice meant to prevent and protect children from abuse and harm
Skills
- Adhere to organisational guidelines
Adhere to organisational or department specific standards and guidelines. Understand the motives of the organisation and the common agreements and act accordingly.
- Communicate with social service users
Use verbal, non-verbal, written, and electronic communication. Pay attention to the specific social service users' needs, characteristics, abilities, preferences, age, developmental stage, and culture.
- Involve service users and carers in care planning
Evaluate the needs of individuals in relation to their care, involve families or carers in supporting the development and implementation of support plans. Ensure review and monitoring of these plans.
- Communicate with youth
Use verbal and non-verbal communication and communicate through writing, electronic means, or drawing. Adapt your communication to children and young people`s age, needs, characteristics, abilities, preferences, and culture.
- Apply problem solving in social service
Systematically apply a step-by-step problem-solving process in providing social services.
- Support service users to use technological aids
Work with individuals to identify appropriate aids, supporting them to use specific technological aids and review their effectiveness.
- Support service users in developing skills
Encourage and support social service users in sociocultural activities in the organisation or in the community, supporting the development of leisure and work skills.
- Manage children's problems
Promote the prevention, early detection, and management of children`s problems, focusing on developmental delays and disorders, behavioural problems, functional disabilities, social stresses, mental disorders including depression, and anxiety disorders.
- Contribute to protecting individuals from harm
Use established processes and procedures to challenge and report dangerous, abusive, discriminatory or exploitative behaviour and practice, bringing any such behaviour to the attention of the employer or the appropriate authority.
- Undertake risk assessment of clients
Follow risk assessment policies and procedures to assess the risk of a client harming him or herself or others, taking the appropriate steps to minimise the risk.
- Maintain records of work with service users
Maintain accurate, concise, up-to-date and timely records of the work with service users while complying with legislation and policies related to privacy and security.
- Apply quality standards in social services
Apply quality stardards in social services while upholding social work values and principles.
- Assess social service users' situation
Assess the social situation of service users situation balancing curiosity and respect in the dialogue, considering their families, organisations and communities and the associated risks and identifying the needs and resources, in order to meet physical, emotional and social needs.
- Follow health and safety precautions in social care practices
Ensure hygienic work practice, respecting the safety of the environment at day care, residential care settings and care at home.
- Apply person-centred care
Treat individuals as partners in planning, developing and assessing care, to make sure it is appropriate for their needs. Put them and their caregivers at the heart of all decisions.
- Deliver social services in diverse cultural communities
Deliver services which are mindful of different cultural and language traditions, showing respect and validation for communities and being consistent with policies regarding human rights and equality and diversity.
- Apply organisational techniques
Employ a set of organisational techniques and procedures which facilitate the achievement of the goals set. Use these resources efficiently and sustainably, and show flexibility when required.
- Apply socially just working principles
Work in accordance with management and organisational principles and values focusing on human rights and social justice.
- Support children who have experienced trauma
Support children who have experienced trauma, identifying their needs and working in ways that promote their rights, inclusion and well being.
- Work within communities
Establish social projects aimed at community development and active citizen participation.
- Contribute to the safeguarding of children
Understand, apply and follow safeguarding principles, engage professionally with children and work within the boundaries of personal responsibilities.
- Build helping relationship with social service users
Develop a collaborative helping relationship, addressing any ruptures or strains in the relationship, fostering bonding and gaining service users` trust and cooperation through empathic listening, caring, warmth and authenticity.
- Promote social change
Promote changes in relationships between individuals, families, groups, organisations and communities by taking into consideration and coping with unpredictable changes, at the micro, macro and mezzo level.
- Apply decision making within social work
Take decisions when called for, staying within the limits of granted authority and considering the input from the service user and other caregivers.
- Support children's wellbeing
Provide an environment that supports and values children and helps them to manage their own feelings and relationships with others.
- Prevent social problems
Develop, define and implement actions that can prevent social problems, striving for the enhancement of the quality of life for all citizens.
- Maintain the trust of service users
Establish and maintain the trust and confidence of the client, communicating in an appropriate, open, accurate and straightforward way and being honest and reliable.
- Apply holistic approach within social services
Consider the social service user in any situation, recognising the connections between micro-dimension, meso-dimension, and macro-dimension of social problems, social development and social policies.
- Support social service users' positiveness
Work with individuals to identify difficulties associated with their self esteem and sense of identity and support them to implement strategies like to develop more positive self images.
- Relate empathetically
Recognise, understand and share emotions and insights experienced by another.
- Manage stress in organisation
Cope with sources of stress and cross-pressure in one's own professional life, such as occupational, managerial, institutional and personal stress, and help others do the same so as to promote the well-being of your colleagues and avoid burn-out.
- Support harmed social service users
Take action where there are concerns that individuals are at risk of harm or abuse and support those who make a disclosure.
- Protect vulnerable social service users
Intervene to provide physical, moral and psychological support to people in dangerous or difficult situations and to remove to a place of safety where appropriate.
- Provide social counselling
Assist and guide social service users to resolve personal, social or psychological problems and difficulties.
- Promote the safeguarding of young people
Understand safeguarding and what should be done in cases of actual or potential harm or abuse.
- Report on social development
Report results and conclusions on society's social development in an intelligible way, presenting these orally and in written form to a range of audiences from non-experts to experts.
- Support the positiveness of youths
Help children and young people to assess their social, emotional and identity needs and to develop a positive self image, enhance their self esteem and improve their self reliance.
- Maintain privacy of service users
Respect and maintain the dignity and privacy of the client, protecting his or her confidential information and clearly explaining policies about confidentiality to the client and other parties involved.
- Tolerate stress
Maintain a temperate mental state and effective performance under pressure or adverse circumstances.
- Assist social service users with physical disabilities
Help service users with mobility problems and other physical disabilities such as incontinence, assisting in the use and care of aids and personal equipment.
- Delegate activities
Delegate activities and tasks to others according to the ability, level of preparation, competence and legal scope of practice. Make sure that people understand what they should do and when they should do it.
- Conduct interview in social service
Induce clients, colleagues, executives, or public officials to talk fully, freely, and truthfully, so as to explore the interviewee`s experiences, attitudes, and opinions.
- Work in a multicultural environment in health care
Interact, relate and communicate with individuals from a variety of different cultures, when working in a healthcare environment.
- Comply with legislation in social services
Act according to policy and legal requirements in providing social services.
- Monitor service users' health
Perform routine monitoring of client's health, such as taking temperature and pulse rate.
- Promote service users' rights
Supporting client`s rights to control his or her life, making informed choices about the services they receive, respecting and, where appropriate, promoting the individual views and wishes of both the client and his or her caregivers.
- Promote inclusion
Promote inclusion in health care and social services and respect diversity of beliefs, culture, values and preferences, keeping in mind the importance of equality and diversity issues.
- Assist social service users in formulating complaints
Help social services users and caregivers file complaints, taking the complaints seriously and responding to them or passing them to the appropriate person.
- Assist disabled individuals to participate in community activities
Facilitate disabled individuals` inclusion in the community and support them to establish and maintain relationships through access to community activities, venues and services.
- Encourage social service users to preserve their independence in their daily activities
Encourage and support the service user to preserve independence in performing his/her daily activities and personal care, assisting the service user with eating, mobility, personal care, making beds, doing laundry, preparing meals, dressing, transporting the client to doctor`s appointments, and helping with medications or running errands.
- Undertake continuous professional development in social work
Undertake continuous professional development (CPD) to continuously update and develop knowledge, skills and competences within one`s scope of practice in social work.
- Communicate professionally with colleagues in other fields
Communicate professionally and cooperate with members of the other professions in the health and social services sector.
- Determine child placement
Evaluate whether the child needs to be taken out of his home situation and assess child`s placement in foster care.
- Meet standards of practice in social services
Practice social care and social work in a lawful, safe and effective way according to standards.
- Support social service users with specific communication needs
Identify individuals who have specific communication preferences and needs, supporting them to interact with other people and monitoring communication to identify changing needs.
- Accept own accountability
Accept accountability for one`s own professional activities and recognise the limits of one`s own scope of practice and competencies.
- Handle conflicts
Mediate in conflicts and tense situations by acting between parties, such as service users, important others like families, and institutions, striving to effect an agreement, reconciliate, and resolve problems.
- Support social service users in skills management
Provide support to individuals in determining the skills they need in they everyday lives and help them in their skills development.
- Refer service users to community resources
Refer clients to community resources for services such as job or debt counselling, legal aid, housing, medical treatment, or financial assistance, providing concrete information, such as where to go and how to apply.
- Assess the development of youth
Evaluate the different aspects of development needs of children and young people.
- Listen actively
Give attention to what other people say, patiently understand points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times; able to listen carefully the needs of customers, clients, passengers, service users or others, and provide solutions accordingly.
- Review social service plan
Review social service plans, taking service users' views and preferences into account. Follow up on the plan, assessing the quantity and quality of services provided.
- Manage social crisis
Identify, respond and motivate individuals in social crisis situations, in a timely manner, making use of all resources.
- Demonstrate leadership in social service cases
Take the lead in the practical handling of social work cases and activities.
- Perform child welfare investigations
Make home visits to assess allegations of child abuse or neglect and to evaluate the ability of the parents to take care of the child in appropriate conditions.
- Advocate for social service users
Speak for and on behalf of service users, using communicative skills and knowledge of relevant fields to assist those less advantaged.
Source: Sisyphus ODB