With the law being favoured in social work as a framework it is also contested as, although social workers need relevant and vast knowledge of policies and laws in place to guide their practice, they must recognise that in fact they are not lawyers. This creates an element of responsibility as the social worker involved must know legislation to recognise when a legal opinion is required to guide their decision making and also to inform their client to seek legal help or legal intervention when required as circumstances might evolve legally or there may be concerns about health and safety (Hepworth et al, 2006). Also, they need to know the content of the law to act as an advocate to improve the relationship between the service user and the socio
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Therefore, social worker’s knowledge about the law has accumulated over the years and a greater understanding of the use of policies and laws has been widened and understood that the policies and laws in place are a framework and act as a guide for their practice. This is due to social workers engaging with the law a daily basis wither it is working in courts or providing a statutory service. However, it is important to recognise that social workers have a professional responsibility to consider the law as well as procedures due to most things being underpinned by the law. Therefore, social workers have to recognise this as it is argued that social work tasks are somewhat impossible to complete without law due to it being an essential component of social work practice which embraces the law in an active and positive manner (Brammer, 2010). Furthermore, the law also highlights and intertwines social workers values and ethics through different policies and …show more content…
An example of conflicting laws which would affect decision making would be the Human Rights Act 1988 which came into force in 2000. This caused various aspects of how social workers practice and the law to change (Brammer, 2015). This incorporated domestic law to allow individuals to obtain civil and individual rights against the state and state decision making. The most common aspect of this is Article 8 the right to respect a private and family life. Critically, this can be argued to be interfered with in accordance of law for example the Child Protection Order as this authorises the applicant to remove a child from circumstances in which they believe the child is at risk to keep them in a place of safety. This can affect decision making as the service user can claim that it is a violation of their rights, which can cause confusion and uproar within the situation as although the CPO allows the practitioner to take the child at risk away from their parents, technically it can be a breach of the Human Rights Act 1998. Therefore, the social worker may face a situation of wither or not the decision to serve the CPO is the correct route to go or if in fact, it is actually breaching the Human Rights Act of 1998. Also, the language used within law can cause clouded decisions being made due to the
Therefore, social worker’s knowledge about the law has accumulated over the years and a greater understanding of the use of policies and laws has been widened and understood that the policies and laws in place are a framework and act as a guide for their practice. This is due to social workers engaging with the law a daily basis wither it is working in courts or providing a statutory service. However, it is important to recognise that social workers have a professional responsibility to consider the law as well as procedures due to most things being underpinned by the law. Therefore, social workers have to recognise this as it is argued that social work tasks are somewhat impossible to complete without law due to it being an essential component of social work practice which embraces the law in an active and positive manner (Brammer, 2010). Furthermore, the law also highlights and intertwines social workers values and ethics through different policies and …show more content…
An example of conflicting laws which would affect decision making would be the Human Rights Act 1988 which came into force in 2000. This caused various aspects of how social workers practice and the law to change (Brammer, 2015). This incorporated domestic law to allow individuals to obtain civil and individual rights against the state and state decision making. The most common aspect of this is Article 8 the right to respect a private and family life. Critically, this can be argued to be interfered with in accordance of law for example the Child Protection Order as this authorises the applicant to remove a child from circumstances in which they believe the child is at risk to keep them in a place of safety. This can affect decision making as the service user can claim that it is a violation of their rights, which can cause confusion and uproar within the situation as although the CPO allows the practitioner to take the child at risk away from their parents, technically it can be a breach of the Human Rights Act 1998. Therefore, the social worker may face a situation of wither or not the decision to serve the CPO is the correct route to go or if in fact, it is actually breaching the Human Rights Act of 1998. Also, the language used within law can cause clouded decisions being made due to the