I am currently based within the Statutory Unit as a Field and Intake
worker. I render a variety of services to the community in which I am based.
The work that I do requires me to provide services to vulnerable groups such as
children, abused women, people living in poverty, older people, people with disability,
etc.
 
Although I work with all the vulnerable groups, I work largely with
children who are in need of care and protection under a broad wing of child
protection. Particularly, I manage a caseload of new foster care applications.
 
I investigate the cases of foster care application and make
recommendations, accompanied by the motivations to place children who are in
need of care and protection in foster care. In doing so, I promote the
fundamental premise that underpins the developmental social work practice,
which is family preservation. According to the family preservation model,
social work should aim at restoring family units instead of breaking them down.
Foster care, therefore, serves as a vehicle to afford a child a stable home
environment or a family.
 
Even though we often strive to keep families intact, there are
circumstances which often compel us to remove children from their families and
place them in the institutions for their safety and wellbeing. This happens in
cases where children are abused, neglected, abandoned or displaying
uncontrollable behaviour. In cases whereby I have to remove a child from
his/her family, I often work with the child’s family in order to improve home circumstances
which led to the removal of the child in the first place. The ultimate goal in the
process of removing children from their homes and temporarily placing them in institutions
is to re-unify them with their family, which also compliments family preservation.
 
In addition to working with individual children and families, I also
work with a group of individuals who share similar problems and interests. An
example of such groups would be a group of bullied teenagers who meet once a
week to share their experiences and strategies on how to defend themselves
against bullying. I also work with the community at large in implementing
educational and awareness programs such as Foster Care Awareness, Active Aging,
Elderly Abuse Prevention, Prevention and Early Intervention Programmes.