Over the past few days, since the “defund the police” chant started, I have read a few articles or opinions, which ever you want to call it, discuss the Social Work profession. And the common theme is “Social Workers are not equipped, trained, and so many “not” other things to be the police”. Well first of all, if we wanted to be a police officer, then we would have studied criminal justice in undergrad or went to the academy. Secondly, in majority of our BSW curriculum's we learn more than just about “racial sensitivity and cultural competencies” as I read in one opinion. That is only a part of our studies. To me it seemed that these authors were only talking about the field of Child Protection Services (CPS) and the Foster-Care system. Well more research needs to be done. In many States, a Social Work (i.e. BSW/MSW) degree is not needed to obtain one of these positions, meaning majority of those staffed in these two fields are NOT “Social Workers”. Where I agree with the authors is when it was stated that some CPS and Foster-Care workers are not “trained” on a certain level. If they don’t have a Social Work degree, then they are probably not. In my educational journey at Benedict College, the undergraduate curriculum I encountered studied social problems, history, economics, human behavior in the social environment, policy, SW practice skills, psychology and how systems operate from the individual to the world. Not to mention the Field Practicum of 400 plus hours we must complete as a requirement for graduation. So we leave our undergraduate programs equipped with a holistic knowledge base to tackle many issues our communities face. For those of us who chose to continue our education, the Masters of Social Work programs can be even more in-depth about the above mentioned subjects. Then there’s the licensure exam to pass in order to work in certain fields of Social Work, such as Medical and School Social Work. Social Workers can and do work in many different fields. All this to say is that Social Workers DO NOT want to be police officers. However, we could definitely be a positive addition to the field.
As a Black Licensed Master Social Worker who have been practicing for at least 15 years in my local community, I am bothered by the uninformed “news” about my profession. I mention my ethnicity in order for the reader to try to understand why I am feeling the way I do. With COVID-19 turning the entire world around to the recent tragedies of my Black brothers and witnessing the overt racism by some, reading these articles has only added to the stress/frustration I’ve encounter the last 2 months.
However, I have to also acknowledge that it is not their fault alone. We as a profession have not done a good job of promoting ourselves; but there is a reason for that, majority of Social Workers do not get in the field for the “shine” or “congratulations”. Our goal is to advocate for and empower our clients; whether it is an individual, community or society as a whole. There is so much that is not known about Social Workers and how we practice in our prospective fields.
Finally, I do like the attention the Social Work profession is getting at this time. I just don’t like how the profession is being portrayed. I would recommend that the research is done to discuss the profession correctly.
Signed a bothered Social Worker,
Christina Cobb Freeman, LMSW- Columbia ABSW Chapter President