Answer

Following the scenarios and Jenny’s condition, there are several questions that I would ask relating to the client. The sources of this information are Jenny, residential care home and Jenny’s mother. One of the most essential questions I would ask is what exactly does Jenny wants? For example, does she want to perfect her study life and improve her family relations or continue with the drug abuse habit? To understand and help Jenny, this must be done in an open, collaborative and holistic approach. Through attachment theory, I will review Jenny’s habit while at the residential home care to understand if she truly long to change her life or continue abusing drugs. Knowing what Jenny wants must be done ethically. Therefore, the communication must be timely, well-intentioned, empathetic, caring and with good value. Upon reviewing the client’s behavior at the residential home care, it is also important to question is what the residential home care did not do to correct Jenny’s situation? Since Jenny had difficulty in controlling her emotions for the past two years, did the organization play an essential role in correcting the situation? These questions are aimed at building positive confidence in the client while developing child-initiated and teacher-directed learning experiences (Winsor and McLean, 2016). Besides, questioning the client’s experiences is a better way of gaining problem-solving skills. To establish Jenny’s experiences and the role played by the residential home care in correcting the client’s mental situation, I must ask these questions with respect, good intentions while respecting the client’s values and beliefs. This also requires proper and effective listening skills.

I will also ask more questions relating to the legal context of the practice.  The source of legal questions is the Child Protection Act and residential child care policies. For example, what are the major binding principles outlined by the Child Protection Act of 1999? Concerning these principles, did workers at the residential home care respond to Jenny’s problems effectively? What wrongs did the workers commit during detention? Asking these legal questions will enable me to understand how to mindfully and perfectly adhere to child protection legislation. The ethical standards behind asking legal context questions to ensure that every step taken is within the boundaries of the Child Protection Act of 1999. Based on the relationship context, I will ask what Jenny feels about maintaining a healthy relationship with her siblings? What is the mother’s parental capacity? Is she able to take care of Jenny and the other three children? These questions help in understanding the parental capacity of Jenny’s mother and the roles of parenting in child development and protection. The relationship context questions must be asked with respect and good values while respecting the views of the participants.

I will also ask for professional and institutional questions. The sources of professional and institutional answers are organizational policy and Codes of ethics of 2010. For example, as a social worker, is my organization and I working according to set ethical standards. Does the residential home care follows the set ethical standards as outlined in the Code of Ethics of 2010? What are the organization’s ethical policies and does it perfectly follow the policies? Further, as a social worker, how does their work affect them? What about the impact of the personal and emotional decision on their social work practice? While asking institutional-based questions, I will apply behavioral, system and structures theories. This will enable me to develop assessment-based knowledge, communication skills, and self-care standards and follow fair processes. The ethical standards behind asking professional and institutional questions involve understanding knowledge, theories and values, perspectives and working through personal-professional boundaries (Tilbury et al, 2015). Lastly, I will also ask the macro context question and the answers will be the Queensland Government policy for child protection and NSW policy for Child protection. For example, how will a social worker present Jenny’s situation in a group in a legal and ethical manner? These questions are essential since they help in understanding whether a social worker is working according to the law and set ethical standards such as respect and values.

As a social worker, I have developed key strategies that can help me deal with challenges and complex problems affecting people like Jenny. For Jenny, strategies such as being open, holistic approach, person-centered approach and collaborative approach made my work easier in understanding Jenny’s complexities. I used a holistic approach to understand the role of the family in child development, weakness and strength of Jenny’s families and how the family has impacted her behavior. On the other hand, the person-centered approach aided me in analyzing and understanding the behavior and experiences of Jenny. Being open-minded enabled me to gather adequate information about the client’s problems. This also helped in building a good working relationship and confidence of the client, family, and other respondents (Deveau, R., & Leitch, S. 2014). According to Roberts et al (2015), social workers must adopt effective communication methods, stay warm, be empathetic and build good relationships with their clients. Effective communication was an essential tool used for gathering information and communicating decisions that addressed the need of the client. Further, a collaborative approach enabled me to develop a proper working relationship and understanding for the client. Other strategies that aided the process include professionalism and law abiding. As a child safety officer, all my actions were guided by ethics, law, and professionalism (Winsor, & McLean, 2016). Although I developed effective approaches, various theories such as attachment theory, system theory, and behavioral theories enabled me to provide an effective solution to Jenny.

For so long, ethical dilemmas have been a big challenge for social workers. However, as a child safety officer, working within the boundaries of ethical standards is one an effective way of achieving a proper outcome. Throughout the inquiry process, I worked within the frameworks of codes of ethics to develop my professionalism. Codes of ethics outline proper ways through which individuals can work children and other vulnerable populations. Without following underlined policies and code of ethics, it is possible that everything can run into a mess. Although many social workers are often faced with dilemmas working with Jenny has enabled me to understand the role of codes of ethics in practice. Ethics enabled me to choose one decision over the other. For example, knowing what is right or wrong. Good professionalism calls for being law abiding and ethical. Therefore, understanding Jenny requires me to control my emotions and develop a strong working relationship with the client. This will be achieved by obeying the professional standards of social work. Furthermore, the law requires all individuals to obey the rights and freedom of others. I will obey every right of Jenny and all the decisions aimed at correcting her condition will be made and communicated in a rightfully. Throughout the inquiry process, I learned the role of moral obligations and professional competence. While respecting Jenny’s right, it is also important to make her understand the legal implications behind the abuse. Notably, the strategies must be accompanied with the right characteristics. Dealing with emotionally disturbed is not easy. This requires developing a positive attitude and the right trait. For example, there is a need to develop mutual, collaboration and empathy while correcting Jenny’s problems. There is need to reflect on my personal values throughout the entire process. It is also important obey the client’s values and beliefs without imposing unnecessary attitude and pressure. 

Fig1.0: Summary of strategies for the inquiry process.

In conclusion, Jenny’s situations has impacted a lot in me as a child safety officer. Regardless of different opinions and thoughts, being responsive begins with understanding individual’s problem, analyzing the situation and making rightful decision. Although situations like Jenny’s involve a lot of ethical dilemma, providing essential decision begins with respecting the rights and freedom of the client. Besides, social workers must use the ethical and legal tools available to screen between options and decide on what suite the clients. Finally, social worker must develop right attitude and adopt proper methods of communication while dealing complex situations.