Reimagining Social Work in AotearoaChange is needed in child welfare and in social work more broadly if we are to begin to realise a social justice mandate. It has become blindingly obvious that there are fundamental disjunctions between the way that the profession of social work likes to see itself and the reality of policy and practice. In this post I want to examine some key narrative threads and pose some questions.
An open letter appeal to social workers of Aotearoa New Zealand – A guest post by Luis Arevalo.
Kia Ora
For several years we have been advocating for the social work profession in this country to view climate change for what it is; an existential threat to life on earth, and as such start advocating for the cessation of those industries that, research shows, are the biggest producers of harmful gases that accelerate climate change.
A poem arrived today … as I drove down Great North Road … and I thought it might be a thing to share …
The question of whether the Aotearoa statutory social work agency Oranga Tamaraki can be reformed or whether it should be abolished and replaced with something radically different is an issue that has drifted into the fog in recent times. In this post, I’d like to blow away some of the smoke and refocus on this fundamental question.
First a disclaimer. I don’t pretend to be an expert on youth justice or residential care but as I mentioned many moons ago on this blog site – you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. I would like to say that the recent revelations suggesting sexually exploitive behaviour, young people breaking out to the roof of the Korowai Maanaki residence and video of cage-fight style violence apparently over-seen by staff is shocking and appalling. It is of course, but sadly I think that ‘predictable’ is a better descriptor.