The FAMCare Blog

The social work community must put the political debate aside and confront the moral and ethical questions that illegal immigration imposes on the profession.

The Situation

“It is not our job or responsibility to determine how to control our borders,” one experienced social worker said. “The fact is that millions of immigrants have gotten into our country without legal status and have brought little children with them. They may not be U.S. citizens and are not entitled to citizen’s benefits, but they are human beings and are entitled to humane treatment and that is where social work comes in. Social workers have sworn to protect and support the vulnerable and at the same time uphold and defend the laws of the United States.  It’s easy to see how well-meaning social workers might struggle with the moral and ethical dilemma presented by illegal immigrants.”

Women are used to putting their own needs on the back burner. They attend to infants, young children, and teenagers, all the while telling themselves that there will be time enough for themselves when their kids are grown. But what happens when an adult child turns out to have mental health concerns, substance abuse disorder, or financial or employment issues? Social workers who work with the elderly tell us that many older mothers are sinking under the weight of troubled adult children. It’s hardly a discovery that mothers sacrifice their own needs for the sake of their children. What is news is how this sacrifice continues to affect the lives of older mothers.

The country’s psyche has put the pandemic aside. Even with the virus still circulating Americans have put away their masks and come out to play. This ability to quickly recover from even the most devastating traumas marks the American character. We’re always ready to move on to new business.

In the beginning, pioneering social workers responded to the most critical and immediate needs of the destitute, the homeless, and orphans. But as the 20th century wore on social services recognized a more nuanced and complex catalogue of vulnerabilities. Social workers, aid organizations, government agencies, and communities began to support people presenting a complexity of needs like poverty brought on by addiction and child abuse resulting from mental illness or homeless juvenile offenders fighting to escape the drug culture they were raised in.

In a recent study, 81% of teenagers between the ages of thirteen and seventeen reported experiencing more severe stress. Schools are working harder than ever to support their students by integrating social-emotional learning (SEL) into curricula, expanding the availability of mental health services, and enabling teachers to identify the signs of a student's emotional distress and collaborate with social workers or counselors to promptly resolve particular cases.

Let's take a look at how you can support the students' complete social and mental well-being. 

The word hospice derives from the Latin, hospitum, meaning hospitality or place of rest and protection for the ill and weary. When people think about hospice care, they usually think of services being delivered in a patient's home or a freestanding hospice facility. Many are surprised to learn that the Hospice Medicare Benefit, a primary payer of hospice services, allows for hospice care in assisted living facilities (ALFs) and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), the latter of which are commonly referred to as nursing homes.

We recently interviewed a retired social worker who spent her entire 30-year career working with addicts and alcoholics in residential treatment centers. We were seeking insight into the drug and alcohol abuse epidemic that seems to be getting worse every year. The insights she shared rang with understanding, empathy, and a double dose of common sense.

Immigration is again a polarizing political debate with forgotten human beings caught in the middle. It doesn't matter which side of the debate you're on, the fact remains there are approximately 2 million undocumented immigrants younger than 24 existing in limbo in the United States. This largely innocent population is made more vulnerable by a divisive debate that intensifies the risk of deportation and reduces access to resources and support. Social workers consider it their principled responsibility to support the vulnerable at all levels in society, so parties on either side of the so-called “open borders” debate leave it to social workers to do what they can to help the people caught in the middle.

Addiction is a disease, not a crime. The American Society of Addiction Medicine recognizes addiction as “a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences.”

Case notes are an essential component of case management. Indeed, social work is heavily reliant on record keeping, which includes case notes.
They assist in making decisions and planning by helping to make sense of the details in a case. This is why most social workers are trained and strive to keep high-quality case notes in order to better assist their clients.
Furthermore, modern case management software for social workers assists caseworkers in creating better case notes.