The Key in Strengthening Families
Social work is key in the strengthening of families. However, the families have been engaged in activities that make them undecided on whether to seek the services of social workers. The rapid rise in divorce and foster children facilities have shown the need to build up resiliency among the family members. As a result, the families need to understand and appreciate the role of social workers and maintain a good relationship with them for the growth of the community at large. The research employed interviews and existing literature to identify whether the families that have been involved in strengthening activities provided by social workers have shown successful outcomes.
Social workers are critical people in supporting and empowering families to address the daily challenges they face (Bae et al., 2020). As such, social workers assist families to cope up with situations such as illness, death, or divorce. The social worker’s approach to family problems is guided by identifying the root cause and coming up with solutions and goals to prevent the problem from recurring (Lave & Strier, 2018). As a result, the social workers have been applying strengthening programs to increase family strengths and resilience by improving parenting skills, family relationships, and social skills. The social workers apply the protective factors framework by considering the five factors; parental resilience, social connections, concrete support in times of need, knowledge of parenting and child development, and social and emotional competence of children. Approximately 30 states have shifted their focus to policing, funding, and training to implement the strengthening families approach.
The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) has been at the forefront of coordinated programs that foster family strengthening alongside other organizations such as Child Welfare Information Gateway, FRIENDS National Resource Center, The Finance Project, and Parents Teachers (Center for the Study of Social Policy, 2021). However, the interactions between the social workers and members drawn from various families have been controversial. As a result, families end up reconsidering either using the services of social workers or coping with their problems (Simmons et al., 2021).