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MA Social Work law, policy and practice

 `Assessment 

There is 1 assessment for this module – a case study assignment – and you must get a mark of 50% or above to pass this module. The word limit is 5000 words.

Case Study Assignment

This assignment requires you to respond to a case study. The case study is provided below. You are required to think about how a social worker might work with the following people from in the case study:

• Ionie
• Kenise
• Aleesha, Daryl & Ruby

In your responses you need to consider:

1. Law, Policy and Guidance

• What specific law, policy and guidance the social worker might use when working with this person. You will need to provide evidence to justify your decision referring to the law/policy itself and referring to appropriate relevant research and literature.
• It may not always be clear which law/policy/guidance (or section of law/policy/guidance) is most applicable – there may be different options that could be used. If this is the case you will need to explore the different options, drawing on appropriate relevant research and literature to analyse the different option.
• When drafting your answer please remember to consider law AND policy AND guidance and consider what is appropriate. In some cases all three may be relevant, in other cases only one.
• Please remember that law includes both legislation and case law. In some cases both may apply, in other cases only one of these may apply.

2. The Role and Responsibilities of the Social Worker

• What is the role and responsibilities of the social worker AS DEFINED BY LAW/POLCIY/GUIDANCE AND PROFESSIONAL REGULATION in relation to this specific service user.
• This is NOT asking you to provide a care plan for the service user (eg “the social worker should provide a carer”) and it is NOT asking you for an in-depth exploration of the approach a social worker might take (eg. a person-centred approach) – though if you want to briefly mention an approach which might fit with the social worker’s role/responsibilities this is fine.
• Please consider the social worker’s role/responsibilities critically, drawing on evidence from relevant research and literature
• Please remember that the professional regulator is Social Work England (SWE) not HCPC/GSCC/any other body. Many (but not all) social workers are members of BASW (British Association of Social Work) and those who are would be expected to follow BASW’s code of ethics. The NASW is not applicable as this is an American organisation.

3. The Rights of Those Involved

• Critically consider the rights of the service user(s) as defined by law and whether these provide any tensions with the law/policy/guidance the social worker might use.
• Consider how the social worker might use their role to uphold the service user’s rights
• You will be expected to be able to cite specific rights as set out in legislation. This may include Human Rights Legislation as well as rights within other legislation.
• You may find it useful to draw on relevant research and literature to consider how rights can be upheld, whilst the social worker also carried out their statutory responsibilities.

4. Values and Ethics

• Think critically about how law/policy/guidance may cause tensions with social work ethics, and how any such tensions could be resolved. In doing so you will be expected to draw upon specific codes of ethics and relevant research/literature.
• Identify the relevant values and ethics (as defined by codes of ethics) that a social worker may draw upon when carrying out their roles and responsibilities.

In your responses you will also be expected to pay attention to:

5. Structure, Writing, Presentation and Grammar

• Check your work carefully paying particular attention to spelling, punctuation and grammar.
• Plan your work carefully. Make sure that your work flows in a logical order building clear arguments
• Think carefully how you structure your work. I would advise that you separate your work out into three sections – one for each person/people you are required to consider. However this is only a recommendation and if you would rather structure your work in a different way this is up to you.
• Do not split your work into different sub-headings related to the grading criteria (above). This is likely to result in a disjointed response which lacks the necessary depth.
• Do not use abbreviations unless they are well-established abbreviations used in (for example) peer reviewed journal articles. Eg. Please do not use “SW” for social work/social worker, “MH” for mental health, etc If you do use any well-established acronyms/abbreviations (eg “LAC”) please make sure that you explain the abbreviation/acronym in full the first time you use it (eg. “Looked After Children (LAC)”)

6. Use and Application of Evidence

• You are required to use relevant policy, law and guidance to build your arguments, and also to draw on appropriate research and literature to support the arguments that you build.
• Take a critical approach to the research and literature you use, demonstrating that you can consider and evaluate different perspectives.
• Think carefully before using quotations (from research/literature) as this rarely demonstrates a critical approach. (This does not apply to quotations from law/policy/guidance)
• Make sure that any research and literature that you draw upon is relevant. This usually means peer-reviewed journal articles; text-books and internet sources are rarely appropriate at this level. Please also make sure they are up to date – this is particularly important when considering law/policy/guidance (eg. research from 2005 on how the law fails a specific group of people is unlikely to be useful if the law then changed in 2010) and that they relate to the UK context.
• Ensure you draw on a range of sources and consider a range of perspectives.

7. Referencing

• Make sure that you use APA 6^th (Harvard) referencing – not any other form of referencing.
• Make sure that any claims you make are supported by an appropriate citation.
• It may seem very picky but please check that your in-text citations and your reference list (not a bibliography) are formatted and structured completely accurately. In particular make sure you check and adhere to the different ways of referencing different types of text (eg. a journal article, legislation, policy, case law)
• If you struggle with referencing it may be worth using a referencing manager (which will do the referencing for you) or to seek some guidance from Skills For Learning who have specific resources to help with referencing)

Case Study: The Campbell Family

The Campbell family are a black British family of Jamaican heritage living in Salford. Ionie Campbell is 55 years old and lives in a 2 bedroom terraced house. She was widowed in her 20s and raised her two daughters as a single parent and they are both now adults. Three years ago Ionie’s oldest daughter, Kenise (who is now 32), moved back in to live with Ionie, along with her own children –Aleesha (who is now 15), Daryl (who is now 8) and Ruby (who is now 5). Aleesha attends Higher Brook High School, and Daryl and Ruby attend Springfield Primary School.

Kenise Campbell has suffered from mental health issues throughout her adult life and often goes through periods where she struggles to get out of bed, to manage basic household tasks or to appropriately supervise the children. It was because of these issues that she moved back in with her mother 3 years ago. Since this time her mental health has continued to deteriorate and Ionie undertakes the majority of the household tasks and care for the children.

Aleesha’s father is unknown, but Daryl and Ruby’s father is Jason –a 35 year old white British man who lives locally. He is named on Daryl and Ruby’s birth certificates. Jason lives locally with his wife and their baby. He sees Daryl and Ruby every weekend but does not have them overnight.

Recently Ionie has been diagnosed with cancer. She spent two weeks in hospital –during which time her younger daughter (Angelique) came to stay at the family home so she could visit her mother, and she stayed for an extra week to help around the home. However Angelique returned to her job in Spain a month ago. Ionie is suffering from extreme tiredness because of her treatment, and has episodes of dizziness, nausea and confusion. She also has to attend hospital appointments every few days. As a result she is struggling to undertake the housework, to make meals and to supervise the children. She is also missing socialising with her friends at their weekly bingo sessions. Ionie has a Macmillian nurse who visits fortnightly to offer support to Ionie with her treatment.

Ionie’s diagnosis has had a further impact on Kenise’s mental health and she now rarely leaves her bedroom during the day. At night times she often leaves the house and the family do not know where she goes. At Ionie’s insistence, Kenise has reluctantly spoken to the GP about how she is feeling. She has told him that she feels low all the time and self-medicates using sleeping tablets, and occasionally other drugs that she gets from a friend to help her sleep during the day. When she wakes in the evening she sometimes hears voices that tell her to go for a walk, which she does, but she often cannot remember where she has been or recall much information about her walks.

Springfield Primary School have noticed that Daryl and Ruby have seemed increasingly tired and withdrawn in school over the past month. They often attend in dirty clothes and often forget their packed lunch. Their attendance has also dropped over the past month and they are often late for school. Aleesha often brings them to school now, and they often walk home alone. Often the children say they are hungry and have not had breakfast.

Daryl has severe asthma and the school nurse has raised concerns that he has not been attending the asthma clinic and his medication has not be renewed. This meant that in the last week when he had an asthma attack in school, he had no inhaler and had to use another child’s inhaler. When the school rang Ionie after the asthma attack she seemed confused and said she did not know he had asthma, even though she has previously taken him to all his appointments. Springfield Primary School liaised with Higher Brook High School who told them that Aleesha’s school attendance had dropped from 100% to almost non-existent over the past month. Friends of Aleesha’s who attend the school have been round to the house to visit her and have told teachers that the house is now dirty and untidy and that Aleesha often asks her friends if they can bring some food round. She has told her friends that she is often going with her grandma to her hospital appointments and is scared to leave her grandma at home with just her mum.

Springfield Primary School have referred Aleesha, Darryl and Ruby to the statutory Children and Families Team.

Ionie’s Macmillan nurse has referred Ionie to the Adult Social Care Team.

Kenise’s GP has referred her to the Mental Health Team.