Teenage pregnancy is an issue of international significance and relevance to social services. The rate of adolescent pregnancies have increased as sexual activities are becoming more prevalent at younger ages (Silva & Stanton, 1996). For the purpose of this essay, this issue will be defined as unplanned or unwanted pregnancy in women under the age of eighteen, or below the legal age of adulthood. Because early parenting correlated with poorer outcomes for children and the mother, it has become a recognised problem( Families commission, 2011). The consequences of falling pregnant before adulthood statistically give greater risk of social, economic and psychological disadvantages and therefore also require social service attention (Yazdkhasti et al., 2015).
Unwanted …show more content…
New Zealand is identified as having the second highest rate of teenage childbirth in the OECD (Nash, 2001). I chose this issue to explore the social workers role and ability to create change in both the individual and wider community. Exploring a range of interventions that address the cause, prevention , strategies and stigma create approaches of where and how to tackle this issue. This essay will identify these responses and the corresponding theories that support them.
A social work response to adolescent pregnancy could be engaging with the teenager herself in a client- practitioner relationship. This would involve counseling and referral onto services. The social workers role is to meet the client’s needs and thoughts in relation to her circumstance, aiding her through any periods of difficulty. In this client- social worker relationship, the assessment of the client’s present and future needs relies on the practitioner’s expertise of appropriate referrals in services and welfare. The main goal of this approach is to navigate inside existing systems and
Unwanted …show more content…
New Zealand is identified as having the second highest rate of teenage childbirth in the OECD (Nash, 2001). I chose this issue to explore the social workers role and ability to create change in both the individual and wider community. Exploring a range of interventions that address the cause, prevention , strategies and stigma create approaches of where and how to tackle this issue. This essay will identify these responses and the corresponding theories that support them.
A social work response to adolescent pregnancy could be engaging with the teenager herself in a client- practitioner relationship. This would involve counseling and referral onto services. The social workers role is to meet the client’s needs and thoughts in relation to her circumstance, aiding her through any periods of difficulty. In this client- social worker relationship, the assessment of the client’s present and future needs relies on the practitioner’s expertise of appropriate referrals in services and welfare. The main goal of this approach is to navigate inside existing systems and