Welfare Environment: Social Worker

Take Home Questions
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date
Take-Home Question One:
How as a social worker, can you influence social policy and more broadly the development of equitable social welfare efforts?
Introduction
The welfare environment at present is basically a delicate balance between equity and fairness. Social workers bridge this gap by working with families and setting up support systems that would safeguard these vulnerable individuals during difficult times. In addition to this, they work with professionals in the other fields such as health, security as well as social care. An integral aspect of their skills is the ability to teach and develop coping mechanisms for these individuals, so that they can be well placed to handle the challenges that life offers. Social workers however, also have the noble goal of influencing and even change social policy in the development of equitable social welfare efforts.
Agenda Setting
If there are enough resources, this should be the most important step towards effecting policy change in the development of equitable social welfare efforts. Once there is sway in the media about a given policy, there is bound to be a buzz around it, with various quarters trying to conceptualize and brainstorm over it (McCombs, 2013). This is essentially why there is need to have such an approach in the process.
(1).Do high quality research;
The process of influencing policy often starts with looking at the specific aspects of the current or prevailing policy, then weighing the same against any new ideas about the same. A high quality research looks at both sides of each; the advantages and disadvantages of the current policy and the impending one. It should also be conclusive enough to have solutions to any issues that might arise in case the new policy is implemented. A high quality research is also a procedure that can play an important role in ensuring enough information is at hand when it comes to dealing with both.
(2).Make The research relevant and readable;
The bottom-line here is to communicate. As a social worker, the effort to effect policy change is hinged upon garnering support from people, especially the stakeholders. This support can only be gained through effective communication of the changes suggested (McKenzie & Wharf, 2016). Effective communication embraces the aspects of pathos, ethos and logos, thereby geared towards appealing to the target audience in every facet. For example, by focusing on the development of equitable social welfare efforts, appealing to mainly children and women would go a long way in gaining traction for the proposed policy. A social worker therefore needs to masterfully work around such lines.
(3) Understand policy processes;
It is crucial that the social worker understands the policy processes, so as to have a clear perspective of how to go about causing influence or change to it. The policy process is basically one that describes how to go about in drafting a policy, implementing and finally assessing it (Birkland, 2019). It aims at providing a skeleton of the larger process through looking at the distinct nature of the policy, and how it would evolve later. A social worker therefore needs to have these aspects at their fingertips, so as to know how to go about in matters welfare (McKenzie & Wharf, 2016). Equitable social welfare is an important part of the general wellbeing of families and groups. It comes along with various policies geared towards ensuring that these groups are protected. For a social worker to influence any of such policies, going through the respective processes of these policies is key.
(4) Regular engagement with policymakers
This is the practical step towards effecting change. By going out there to meet these individuals, it becomes quite clear that ideas can be shared and new suggestions passed across (McKenzie & Wharf, 2016). As a social worker, the need is to look at who, when and how to influence. It is important to communicate with these policymakers in ways that are indeed quite useful, and establish a feedback loop that will feed into the proposed policy, in order to help come up with a more finished idea of the same (Gerston, 2014). It is also important to build linkages with policymakers who share in the same policy interests. This exercise is more like doing business, where one advertises their goods to people, seeking interest from a few and then selling to them. Policymakers can also be quite integral in providing insights as to whether...