The conflict between social work values and agency policies will continue to be a glaring dilemma that cannot be explicitly mentioned, hence “the elephant in the room. Understandably, social workers remain hesitant to discuss these issues directly with agency management due to uncertain consequences. This leads social workers to feel inadequate, incapable and unfulfilled, which can in turn lead to high burnout and turnover rates. Agency policies hinder social work practices and undermine a social worker’s credibility creating challenges for consumers to trust or connect with social workers. The client is living with her parents, who are retired and live in a small, rural town near Yuma, Arizona. Instead, consumers view social workers as “supporters” who are unable to effectively help. Agency policies are put into place to support social and economic justice, to promote non-discriminatory rules so that everyone can be seen and treated for their problem without bias. Consumers then begin to form a negative opinion of social workers as individuals who do not perform their intended duty, which is to help. As a result, social workers may feel conflicted between prioritizing agency policies or supporting the consumer.ĭue to agency policy restrictions, social workers are often unable to perform their responsibilities following the basic principles of the profession. It appears that many agency policies are designed to protect against liability issues.
Yet, every social worker must adjust their personal values to uphold agency policy practices that are seemingly focused on particular agency agendas, rather than the needs of the people they service.
AGENCY POLICIES IMPACT CLIENT SERVICES FULL
Arguably, the goal of social work is to provide services to support and empower consumers to live up to their full potential. Social work is a profession that is rooted in passion, dedication and commitment to the well-being of people. By Lissell Cabrera, Johanna Flores, Dorian Guerrero, and Jonathan Suh
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