Caseworkers in Congress

Casework in a congressional office refers to the response or services that Members of Congress provide to constituents who request assistance. Caseworkers across the country in both the private and public sectors are essentially the point of contact between clients seeking assistance and the agencies and professionals trained to provide it.

What Society Values

Social work has always been considered a "low paying profession". In the beginning, it wasn't a profession at all. Women with big hearts and tons of empathy reached out to help society's unfortunates, and that image of the social work profession has persisted to this day. With the Industrial Revolution, immigrants flowed into the U.S. and lived in dire poverty until they were assimilated into the economy of the 20th century. Cheek by jowl with wealthier neighbors, their poverty was uncomfortably visible in major American cities, and social work as a paid profession began to emerge. By the 1950s, social workers were required to be college level educated and finally, by the 1970s, required an advanced degree to rise to the top of their profession. Over the 20th century, social work had journeyed from well-meaning volunteers to highly educated professionals without society taking notice. As a result, proper pay has always lagged the professional status of social work giving social work the reputation of a comparatively "low paying profession".

Beyond Cliche

When we encounter a homeless person asking for a little help on the curb by a stoplight, most of us will offer a little financial assistance and drive on feeling we have done our part. We rarely give them a second thought. They usually fit the cliché we have fashioned of the damaged vet, or the mentally ill, or the alcoholic or drug addict who sleeps on a park bench or under a flat newspaper tent. A while back, however, I had an awakening. I parked near a young woman with 3 small children camped on the curb of a Whole Foods parking lot. She displayed a large handwritten sign asking for help but did not approach me or verbalize at all. She was obviously shy and appeared embarrassed by her circumstances. I couldn't just drop a dollar in the colorful basket she had set out and go about my business. She and her children did not neatly fit my homeless cliché. I was compelled to inquire.

Mindful in Michigan 

Technology in all its myriad forms has invaded and altered the very fabric that binds society. In the relatively short span of 50 years digital and cyber technologies have transformed how humanity learns, communicates, transacts, records, analyzes, and interacts on every level. The invention of the internet and the development of social media supercharged the otherwise prosaic everyday tribal activities of socializing, trading, raising the family, and falling in and out of love. Almost every daily activity is now conducted through cyber filters. Much like the introduction of electric lighting, internal combustion engines, telephones, and airplanes, computers and their offspring have altered the very foundations of human interaction. To varying degrees, but in a very real sense, technology has rendered us all "strangers" in our own lives.

Homeless Baby Boomers

Social workers have traditionally considered the homeless and the elderly separate constituents.  However, Dennis P. Culhane, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the country’s leading authorities on homelessness, predicts that in the next 10 years, the number of elderly people experiencing homelessness in the United States will nearly triple, as the final wave of baby boomers ages out.

Foster Care Social Worker 

The US foster care system serves more than 600,000 children annually, with a significant 54% of them under age 10. Child Protection Services usually initiates contact with children in danger and intervenes in dysfunctional family situations when children are in immediate harm.  When CPS finds it necessary to remove a child from its family of origin, the foster care social worker must find the child a safe haven.

Case Worker as Concierge

A vast landscape of social services provided by an army of government and private agencies offers the marginalized in the United States relief in almost every area of need. The federal government alone has more than 1000 programs that help on rent, housing, and food. The problem is not that help is not available but perhaps that there's so much aid from so many different sources calling for so many different qualifications. The needy are overwhelmed and tend to shy away rather than timidly navigate this overwhelming opportunity to get help when they need it. This is where the case worker steps in.

The Importance of Case Management Notes

In the complex and multifaceted world of case management, where social work, healthcare, and administrative duties intertwine, the practice of documenting case notes emerges as a fundamental task. This seemingly routine activity holds profound importance, forming the backbone of effective case management.

This blog explores the significance of case management notes, examining their diverse roles, best practices for their creation, and the subtle art involved in crafting thorough and effective documentation.

Immigrant and refugee rights have long been an issue of critical importance for social workers in the United States. Over 100 years ago, Jane Addams and Edith Abbott established social work as a noble profession while working in settlement houses that served as centers of residence and social services for migrants who had recently arrived in large numbers to work in America. Charitable organizations and religious and ethnic associations have long worked to facilitate the wellbeing and integration of migrants and displaced persons.

Social workers at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a one-time, online Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey (ABES), during January–June 2021 to assess behaviors and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic among high school students. An unexpected element of the survey's findings was that the pandemic had severe negative effects on adolescents’ mental health.