Introduction
The social changes in the lives of children and young people often play a role in determining the most plausible ways that practitioners can explore to provide the necessary support. The aspects of time are the temporal, generational, and lifetime aspects of people, thus giving unique determinants to the possible ways of undertaking service. Children and young people may have different circumstances based on their privilege level and family or community aspects, all contributing to other support systems. Practitioners will therefore require empathy, sensitivity and a knowledge base about the circumstances of the children to be used in providing the necessary support. Thus, the central theme of this article is to determine the set of values, knowledge, and skills which the practitioners will require in dealing with children and young people.
Knowledge
First, the practitioners must be knowledgeable about the sociological realities surrounding a child, as this may explain the underlying challenges’ genesis. Some children often find themselves in disadvantaged positions in society influenced by systems of racism, patriarchy, abuse and disempowerment, compromising them from meeting the basic human needs for survival (The Open University, 2023b). The understanding of the diversity of these children will then impact how one maneuvers to account for the needs of each. A good example is provided by the interview by Shona Brown, who, after working with the children and families, found that getting to know and understand the circumstances of each child is more important in knowing how the community or the family parameters are having on the issues of the child (The Open University, 2023a). This knowledge base makes it possible to delineate the most plausible approaches or support to accord the child.
The other knowledge important for the practitioners would be understanding the relationships between the lives of young people and the family or society. The architecture of the community within which a child is domiciled can determine their perception of views (The Open University, 2023b). Making a conscious decision for these children to understand and learn about their society may provide the means towards improving their past and future circumstances. Knowing this balance, the practitioners will likely undertake a deliberate move towards redirecting the children and young people towards relooking for plausible solutions that can reshape their circumstances for the better. In the interview by Yvonne Hayes, she talks of nurturing programs that reinstate family links and a focus on behaviour management through rewards and consequences, which can be instigated to instil some values or conditions in the lives of the children concerning how a good community would require (The Open University, 2023a). This is the same for underprivileged families living in racist societies where this relationship can be used to inform an effective adaptive mechanism. As schooling remains the most important tool for disadvantaged children, the practitioners can determine the view of the parents towards education and inform a change in culture among these groups.
Skills
A fundamental skill in this program is patience, as Yvonne Hayes explains, such that one is not obsessed with quick fixes but can take steps towards engaging the family and the parents towards a plausible solution (The Open University, 2023a). Most children have challenges because of the parental styles utilized by the parents; thus, a patient approach must be undertaken to target the parents with the desired change (Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, n.d.). These parents may be deriving more from the community and the people within their vicinity, which often impedes change. Patience is, therefore, key for a practitioner in appreciating the small progress and improving on it towards actualizing the overall agenda of meeting the needs of the children. Dealing with young people who have a substance use disorder may require more time to recover from such challenges fully, and patience will be an important skill in ensuring that this is attained to its logical conclusion.
Additionally, communication is crucial for practitioners who target communities whose challenge is a need for essential information streams. This is demonstrated by the activity involving watching Shona Brown, who demonstrates through her experience in social work that the best skill she offers is communication with children of different ages and stages in development (The Open University, 2023a). This skill also enables pitching oneself to a level that can allow for engagement with children in different circumstances; thus, one can operate in a manner maximizing the potential of the children. Children and young people may also present unique challenges with unique needs; therefore, directed communication is beneficial in addressing these problems. Communication is the overriding skill for the social construct and relationship of the people; consequently, it is important to be well mastered by all practitioners.
Dealing with stress is also a skill that practitioners must consider, owing to the caseload of the issues these people have to pay attention to. Social workers sometimes face an avalanche of demands from the public with limited resources to deal with them in challenging and demanding work environments (University of Plymouth, 2015). Additionally, the people a practitioner deals with often experience stress and worry, which they must deal with while discharging their duties. Therefore, this skill is fundamental as it acts as a buffer for the practitioner who is prepared to deal with the challenges should they arise. Working as a team with colleagues is therefore important in this regard to effectively meet the underlying needs should the environment pose such challenges.
Values
Finally, the values required by practitioners include meritocracy, a value system where the society is organized such that the success and opportunities people are exposed to are due to effort and talent (Gov UK, 2016). Therefore, fairness and equal opportunity should always be the underlying call for stakeholders involved in dealing with the issues of children and young people. This is important because it ensures that people engaged in these activities have the aptitude towards social work and the right skill set needed for this engagement. It ensures that children are exposed to quality care based on the principles of best practice instilled by merit. This value system is critical in reinforcing systems to the children that would propel them towards increasing a quest for merit as a fundamental for their social upheaval. Merit sets people apart, and when it becomes an underlying message, it may help change the view of the children about their society.
The second value is collaboration, which instigates working together to achieve a common objective for the children. Collaboration is necessary, especially in a world with limited resources where effort from numerous quotas can play an important role in fostering good service delivery. This value system is also necessary for the stakeholders, where the parents, community leaders and societal groups are brought together to work as a unitary team towards dealing with the children (The Open University, 2023b). Monitoring of the children’s progress and resource mobilization should be a collaborative approach between the various societal players in a child’s life. Finally, this approach propagates people from different multidisciplinary teams to be called upon by these practitioners should the child require additional attention.
Conclusion
Children and young people largely depend on the communities and the surroundings in their development, including the immediate family, who should be accorded more attention. In this regard, the key knowledge required by the practitioners includes the circumstances of the children and their relationship with their communities. Moreover, the underlying skills needed include communication, stress management and patience owing to the nature of engagement, which often needs these preparations. On the other hand, the values of meritocracy and collaboration are instrumental in the unique technicalities witnessed when dealing with this group. Therefore, it is imperative that these knowledge bases, value sets and skills are accorded the desired attention lest they impede the need to deal with problems faced by these groups, which are in the process of development.
References
GOV.UK, 2016. Britain, the Great Meritocracy: Prime Minister’s Speech, 9 September [Online]. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/britain-the-great-meritocracy-prime-ministers-speech (Accessed 16 June 2018).
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, n.d. State of Child Health Report, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, London [Online]. Available at https://stateofchildhealth.rcpch.ac.uk/ (Accessed 1 June 2020).
The Open University, 2023a. Learning Guide 3: Working Together. pp.1–206.
The Open University, 2023b. Learning Guide 2: Society and Community. pp.1–152.
University of Plymouth, 2015. How stress impacts social workers – and how they’re trying to cope. [online] University of Plymouth. Available at: https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/news/pr-opinion/opinion-how-stress-impacts-social-workers-nil-and-how-theyre-trying-to-cope.
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