What attributes does a competent social worker have?

Answer 1

A competent social worker needs to have an understanding of the principles of psychology, have a working knowledge of community organization, have a desire to advocate for the underprivileged, be compassionate with those struggling with dysfunctions, and the ability to work for meager pay compensation.

Answer 2

Quite a few of the social workers I've seen lack empthy, common sense, or any ability to work with people, are arrogant and abusive in their interactions, and don't understand why they can't seem to be able to connect with their clients or the general public ...

The problem lies in the education of potential social workers in the first place. A HEALTHY Dose of Common Sense goes a long way -- if something sounds too outrageous to be true -- it usually is. They need to be able to step outside of the 'activism' and realize that life is not perfect, and sometimes people need a bit of help in their lives, and social workers should ACTUALLY WANT to provide help -- instead of having the attitude "I know everything, and this is what YOU must do to satisfy what I say" ... How many of them have actually had to deal with problem ex-es ... raise disabled/out of control children on their own, survived abuse and had to deal with the SAFETY issues on a daily basis? How many have stood by and let Teenagers beat, abuse, batter, and steal from the parents, while the social worker turns around and then tells the court that the parent is the cause of the problems (when the teens are the real cause)? How many have a complete and total lack of conscience for their actions -- causing irreparable harm to the family in their 'crusade' for what they 'think' is the way to go? How many have no empathy for the families that they have to work with? How many say to the press "Gee if they only asked ... we could have ..." when the clients voluntarily come in ... ASK for the HELP .. and are told "We have NO Funding for that ... NO programs available ... NOTHING we can do to help ..." (And I've seen them do this in the forum of the local paper -- AFTER the teen caused severe harm on an adult, and then the social workers had the audacity to 'claim' "we had help available ...." after turning down the adult multiple times when they came voluntarily to ASK for a bit of respite care funding ... or to take the child and help with the costs of bootcamp (for instance)) How many hoops do innocents have to jump through because someone decided it was funny to torment a caring parent for their teenager who is REFUSING to take their meds/cooperate with the treatment plans for their mental illnesses?

Answer 3

Social Workers have probably one of the most thankless tasks on the planet.

Working with the disadvantaged, dysfunctional and often downright ungrateful for not much in return.

Attributes : Empathy of a saint. Insight of a guru. Skin like a elephant.

Answer 4

knowledge of local available social services, thoughtful consideration of ethics and confidentiality, genuine eagerness to help community

Answer 5

They need to have knowledge of the job they are doing, they need to be ethical, unbiased, honest, empathetic and they need to do the job because they love it, not because they have to.