Social Work is a professional and academic discipline committed to the pursuit of social welfare, social change and social justice. The field works towards research and practice to improve the quality of life and to the development of the potential of each individual, group and community of a society. Social workers perform interventions through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice and teaching. Research is often focused on areas such as human development, social policy, public administration, program evaluation and international and community development. Social workers are organized into local, national, continental and international professional bodies. Social work, an interdisciplinary field, includes theories from economics, education, sociology, medicine, philosophy, politics, psychology.

History

Contemporary professional development

The International Federation of Social Workers states, of social work today, that

"social work bases its methodology on a systematic body of evidence-based knowledge derived from research and practice evaluation, including local and indigenous knowledge specific to its context. It recognizes the complexity of interactions between human beings and their environment, and the capacity of people both to be affected by and to alter the multiple influences upon them including bio-psychosocial factors. The social work profession draws on theories of human development, social theory and social systems to analyse complex situations and to facilitate individual, organizational, social and cultural changes."

A hopeful development for bridging this gap is the compilation of collections of "best practices" which attempt to distill research findings and the experience of respected social work practitioners, educators and researchers into effective interventions. Another important contemporary development in the profession is overcoming suspicion of technology and taking advantage of the potential of information technology.

Qualifications

Professional social workers are generally considered those who hold a degree. Often these practitioners must also obtain a license or be professionally registered.

The education of social workers begins with a Bachelor's degree (BA, BSc, BSSW, BSW, etc.) or diploma in Social Work. Some countries offer Postgraduate degrees in Social Work like Master's (such as MSW , MA, MSc, MRes, MPhil etc.) or PhD (doctoral studies). More and more graduates of social work continue to post-doctoral studies. It has been argued that social work education is supposed to be a lifelong process.

In a number of countries and jurisdictions, registration or licensure of people working as social workers is required and there are mandated qualifications. In other places, a professional association sets academic and experiential requirements for admission to membership. The success of these professional bodies' efforts is demonstrated in the fact that these same requirements are recognized by employers as necessary for employment.

Professional associations

Role of the professional

The main tasks of professional social workers can include a variety of services such as case management (linking users/clients with agencies and programs that will meet their psychosocial needs - mainly common in US and UK), '''Social work#Role of the professional [[counseling & psychotherapy, human services management, social [[Social welfare function">welfare policy analysis, policy and practice development, community organizing, international, social and community development, advocacy, teaching (in schools of social work), and social and political research.

See also

References

Further reading

* Category:Mental health professionals Category:Health sciences Category:Psychiatry-related fields Category:Welfare Category:Welfare agencies Category:Social security Category:Psychotherapy Category:Welfare and service organizations

Edolphus "Ed" Towns (born July 21, 1934) is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1983, and the former Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

The district is based in Brooklyn and includes the communities of Fort Greene, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Mill Basin, Cypress Hills, East New York and Canarsie.

Early life, education and career

Towns worked as an administrator at Beth Israel Medical Center, a professor at New York's Medgar Evers College and Fordham University and a public school teacher, teaching orientation and mobility to blind students. He is also a veteran of the United States Army and an ordained Baptist minister.

House of Representatives

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Towns also serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee and is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. On January 7, 2009, Towns' proposed legislation to require information on Presidential donors kicked off the new session of the 111th Congress.

Towns' past accomplishments include, co-sponsoring or enacting several pieces of federal legislation, including the Student Right To Know Act, which mandated the reporting of the rate of graduation among student athletes, creating the Telecommunications Development Fund, which provides capital for minority business initiatives, and the development of a federal program for poison control centers.

He has put particular emphasis on arguing in behalf of underserved Brooklyn communities, and has won recognition from several organizations for his efforts. The National Audubon Society has honored him for his efforts in fighting to secure federal funds for the restoration of Prospect Park. Towns fought to have Environmental Protection Agency testing in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, including neighborhoods outside of the borough of Manhattan.

Towns delayed the investigation into Countrywide Financial's VIP loan program when he was the House oversight panel's chairman by refusing to issue a subpeona for Bank of America records. After ''The Wall Street Journal'' reported that public loan documents indicated Towns had received two mortgages from the VIP program, he issued the subpeona and his office denied wrongdoing.

In December 2010 Towns announced that he would not seek the position of Ranking Minority Member of the Oversight Committee in the next Congress, even though his seniority and service as Chair would typically result in him filling this post. Reportedly, Towns withdrew because of a lack of support from Nancy Pelosi who feared that he would not be a sufficiently aggressive leader of Democrats in an anticipated struggle with incoming committee chair Republican Darrell Issa. Reportedly, the White House also wanted Towns to be replaced.

Towns' successor will be Elijah Cummings who defeated Carolyn Maloney in a vote of the House Democratic Caucus. Currently Cummings is the 3rd ranking Democrat on the committee behind Towns and Maloney.

Controversies

In 1992, Towns was named in the House banking scandal, having written 408 checks on an overdrawn bank account.

Political campaigns

In 2006, Towns faced Democratic primary challenges from Charles Barron — a controversial member of the New York City Council and staunch ally of Al Sharpton — and Roger Green, a former member of the New York State Assembly, who had been convicted of stealing $3,000 in taxpayer dollars. He went on to defeat both candidates by a plurality margin in the Democratic primary. As in past elections, Towns easily defeated his Republican and Conservative Party opponents in the 2006 general election, receiving 92% of the vote.

Kevin Powell, a hip hop activist, writer, and former cast member on the MTV Reality TV show ''The Real World'', opted out of challenging Towns for the 2006 Democratic nomination challenging him in 2008 instead. Powell criticized Towns for supporting Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primaries, with some constituents saying that "he is out of touch". Towns defeated Powell in the September 9 primary election.

Personal life

References

External links

{{U.S. Representative box | state=New York | district=11 | district_ord=11th | before=James H. Scheuer| after=Major Owens| years=1983–1993 }} {{U.S. Representative box | state=New York | district=10 | district_ord=10th | before=Charles Schumer| after=Incumbent| years=1993– }}

Category:1934 births Category:Living people Category:People from Chadbourn, North Carolina Category:Baptists from the United States Category:African American politicians Category:New York Democrats Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York Category:African American members of the United States House of Representatives Category:North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University alumni Category:Adelphi University alumni Category:People from Brooklyn Category:United States Army personnel