Assignment Task:
1. How do Maryann and Julian's responses differ?
2. How does each response comply with or contradict the NASW Code of Ethics?
3. Propose two examples of how Maryann and Julian might work together in an integrated response.
4. What role might race, class, gender, and other aspects of identity play in this vignette?
Julian is a school-based social worker. He works with Gene, who has been struggling both academically and with his behavior in school. Julian can see that Gene and his family are distressed, and they have sought his assistance in helping Gene acclimate to school. He has helped them secure assessments, an individualized education plan, counseling, and home-based resources. Julian's advocacy efforts, even when successful, are often met with resistance and bureaucratic hurdles. Moreover, Gene is one of many children in Julian's school who face similar challenges. Julian does not have enough time to help all the children in need, and also finds the help he can provide under current laws, school district policies, and available resources is not what it should be. Although he does not know the names of all the policies and directives that impact his work with Gene, Julian knows that they include the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Julian also knows that testing in the schools, required by IDEA and state government requirements, has changed teachers' and school administrators' ability and willingness to assist children on his caseload, including whether or not they will work with him to retain students with disabilities.
Julian has begun talking with Maryann, a friend from his BSW program who works for a nonprofit disability rights organization. Maryann told him that her organization has been challenging policies that affect children like Gene. For example, they have been tracking the relationship between school testing scores and disciplinary action for children with behavioral disabilities. For the past few months, Maryann has been expressing her frustration with Julian because she claims that his work focuses too much on helping Gene and his family adapt to what she sees as a broken system. It feels to Julian that Maryann doesn't value the importance of the help that he provides to Gene and his family in a time of need. While he finds her work praiseworthy in the abstract, he thinks it is cruel to leave Gene and his other clients "high and dry" while they await policy changes that may never come.