dis⋅crim⋅i⋅na⋅tion
1. an act or instance of discriminating.
2. treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit: racial and religious intolerance and discrimination.
3. the power of making fine distinctions; discriminating judgment: She chose the colors with great discrimination.
4. Archaic. something that serves to differentiate
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Discrimination and Human Development
So often in the field of social work we hear our clients, especially minority clients, stating that they are being treated unfairly due to race. Well, I know neither I or my fellow classmates have been accussed of such. However, we must ask whether or not these are valid accusations. Do we sometimes treat our clients based on the way they have handled their children, or based on the address that we see on an intake form, or even on their appearance or the appearance of their home. Here is the real question, Are our clients really being treated unfairly or are they simply "playing the race card?"
"As the life course perspective has continued to evolve, it has more clearly emphasized the links between the life events and transitions of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood (McLeod & Almazan, 2003; Shanahan, 2000). Studies indicate that childhood events sometimes shape people's lives 40 or 50 years later (George, 1996)."
The typical Department of Human Resources client based on geographical representation itself brings a boat load of biases and discriminators. Most clients harbor inner feelings that they are being criminally convicted when they are investigated by DHR. Consequently, they pull out all stops to prevent being the target of what they perceive is an indictment. Some clients attempt to play the hand that they perceive will set them free or minimize their impact. There are that select few who will come before you with prejudices stored in their pockets. That is just the way it is, but depending on your engagement skills you can work through those situation with relative ease. You have to remember, even when a child has a knot on the top of his or her head the size of light bulb, clients remain steadfast that it's just a growth abnormality. On the other hand, there are social workers that bring their own biases to case practice. It is probably being done more than I can imagine but I definitely have seen and heard people invoke their beliefs into what could have been a manageable situation just on the shear metrics of the case.
I believe much of the time, our clients have been treated so unfairly for so long that even if they do "play the race card", that may be the way they know how to get what they need. Michelle Obama talked about the deep-seated belief of African Americans that "they are not good enough." That is not something I can ever understand since I am a Caucasian person. But I can be empathetic and sensitive to that fact when working with my clients.
Discrimination in the field of social work and within the human development tends to be over children who are in foster care or within the DHR system who are prejudged, and has nothing to do with race. It seems that when looking for placements, whether a temporary home or a new home for children and adolescents criteria must be met when applying for a placement that meets the client’s need. It has been observed that society treats different populations different due to experience, a lack of experience, or where a person resides. For children and adolescents’ who are in foster care or has DHR involvement there is a stigma attached to being within the DHR system. Within the state of Alabama and close to five thousand employees, DHR is funded by each state and has funded clothing, adolescents’ college, and apartment transitioning. Yet children and adolescents more than likely feel the abandonment from either being left without a parent or the embarrassment from being removed from their home. As there are many different sensitive scenarios that result from DHR custody or DHR involvement. It is not the child’s fault as to what happens or what their parents do and many times children are put in a human development role long before their time. Much stigma and discrimination are linked to children who receive services from DHR and other placements and are unfair to the children of our future. There are committed social workers who make sure their clients are taken care of and keep an ongoing open communication with clients and follow up with the client and agency placement. However, when there is a high turn over rate within social service agencies or within DHR and clients tend to have multiple social workers that seems unfair to a client. Clients’ who have built a trusting relationship have already experienced much discrimination and refection from the stigma linked from the community or society as a whole, and changing social workers add to the complexities of the client mentally, emotionally, and stress level. Discrimination based on stigma is enough in and of itself, but when the whole picture is observed and understood and most of the time it is not with multiple wrap around services. Why? Due to the high turn over rates and that adds to an unfair stigma and discrimination that the client has already experienced which seems to be prevalent over race or a person’s color. All of which affects the course of one’s life within the human developmental stages of the life course perspective.
3 comments:
The typical Department of Human Resources client based on geographical representation itself brings a boat load of biases and discriminators. Most clients harbor inner feelings that they are being criminally convicted when they are investigated by DHR. Consequently, they pull out all stops to prevent being the target of what they perceive is an indictment. Some clients attempt to play the hand that they perceive will set them free or minimize their impact. There are that select few who will come before you with prejudices stored in their pockets. That is just the way it is, but depending on your engagement skills you can work through those situation with relative ease. You have to remember, even when a child has a knot on the top of his or her head the size of light bulb, clients remain steadfast that it's just a growth abnormality. On the other hand, there are social workers that bring their own biases to case practice. It is probably being done more than I can imagine but I definitely have seen and heard people invoke their beliefs into what could have been a manageable situation just on the shear metrics of the case.
I believe much of the time, our clients have been treated so unfairly for so long that even if they do "play the race card", that may be the way they know how to get what they need. Michelle Obama talked about the deep-seated belief of African Americans that "they are not good enough." That is not something I can ever understand since I am a Caucasian person. But I can be empathetic and sensitive to that fact when working with my clients.
Discrimination and Human Development
Discrimination in the field of social work and within the human development tends to be over children who are in foster care or within the DHR system who are prejudged, and has nothing to do with race. It seems that when looking for placements, whether a temporary home or a new home for children and adolescents criteria must be met when applying for a placement that meets the client’s need. It has been observed that society treats different populations different due to experience, a lack of experience, or where a person resides. For children and adolescents’ who are in foster care or has DHR involvement there is a stigma attached to being within the DHR system. Within the state of Alabama and close to five thousand employees, DHR is funded by each state and has funded clothing, adolescents’ college, and apartment transitioning. Yet children and adolescents more than likely feel the abandonment from either being left without a parent or the embarrassment from being removed from their home. As there are many different sensitive scenarios that result from DHR custody or DHR involvement. It is not the child’s fault as to what happens or what their parents do and many times children are put in a human development role long before their time. Much stigma and discrimination are linked to children who receive services from DHR and other placements and are unfair to the children of our future.
There are committed social workers who make sure their clients are taken care of and keep an ongoing open communication with clients and follow up with the client and agency placement. However, when there is a high turn over rate within social service agencies or within DHR and clients tend to have multiple social workers that seems unfair to a client. Clients’ who have built a trusting relationship have already experienced much discrimination and refection from the stigma linked from the community or society as a whole, and changing social workers add to the complexities of the client mentally, emotionally, and stress level.
Discrimination based on stigma is enough in and of itself, but when the whole picture is observed and understood and most of the time it is not with multiple wrap around services. Why? Due to the high turn over rates and that adds to an unfair stigma and discrimination that the client has already experienced which seems to be prevalent over race or a person’s color. All of which affects the course of one’s life within the human developmental stages of the life course perspective.
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