Discussion: Advocacy

For some, advocacy might conjure images of speaking at a congressional hearing or soliciting petition signatures at library entrances. Yet, social workers engage in advocacy as an agent of social change in numerous ways:

Case advocacy—When a social worker addresses the lack of services or resources at the micro level, educates the client about available resources and programs, or fights for clients’ rights
Legislative advocacy—When a social worker addresses a policy gap at the macro level and provides information and suggestions to legislators in order to close that gap
Community advocacy—When a social worker represents the needs of a community at the mezzo level by engaging in group-oriented activities, such as holding a town meeting to educate the neighborhood about a particular issue they are facing
Reflecting as a social worker, what are the benefits to engaging in an act of advocacy? Are there risks associated with being an advocate? Do the risks ever outweigh the need to advocate for what is just?

Throughout this term, you have been asked to engage in an act of advocacy. For this Discussion, you will reflect on the advocacy in which you engaged and discuss both risks and values related to advocacy.

By Day 3
Post:

Describe the advocacy in which you engaged this term.
Explain how the concepts from this week’s resources apply to the act of advocacy in which you engaged.
Describe potential risks that you considered or that may exist for a social worker who serves as an advocate.
In APA format with references noted

ORDER CUSTOM, PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.