Reclaiming Social Work is a thought-provoking and innovative book which examines how social work′s commitment to social justice has been deepened and enriched by its contact with wider social movements. It explores the tensions between social work values and a market-driven agenda, and locates new resources of hope for the social work profession in the developing resistance to managerialism. The book: " discusses pertinent social work issues such as inequality and risk, the voluntary sector, and service-user involvement " examines values such as democracy, solidarity, accountability, participation, justice, equality, liberty and diversity " is written in an accessible style, drawing on diverse examples to illustrate theoretical concepts. Reclaiming Social Work is an accessible yet challenging book and will be essential reading for all social work students and practitioners wanting to think outside the boundaries of their profession. The book will be particularly helpful to students taking courses in anti-oppressive practice, social work values, social work theories and concepts, and international social work. Iain Ferguson is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Stirling. Previous publications include Rethinking Welfare: A Critical Perspective (SAGE, 2002, co-authored with Michael Lavalette and Gerry Mooney); Globalisation, Global Justice and Social Work (Routledge, 2004, co-edited with Michael Lavalette and Elizabeth Whitmore); and International Social Work and the Radical Tradition (Venture Press, 2007, co-edited with Michael Lavalette).

Reclaiming Social Work (RSW) is a radical new system for delivering child and family social work in the UK. The system was first piloted in the London Borough of Hackney and the model has gained national recognition. At the heart of this innovative system is the endeavour to keep children together with their families. This book sets out what the Reclaiming Social Work model is, how it was implemented, and how it works. It explains the RSW system of social work 'units' made up of clinicians and therapists and headed by a consultant social worker, and demonstrates how it has worked in practice. The evidence base and theories underlying the model are also explained. Several chapters are written by consultant social workers with extensive experience of working within RSW, which outline the methodological approaches used. This book on a pioneering new social work model will be of great interest to social work managers, policymakers and academics.

Approximately 2.4 million Black youth participate in after-school programs, which offer a range of support, including academic tutoring, college preparation, political identity development, cultural and emotional support, and even a space to develop strategies and tools for organizing and activism. In Reclaiming Community, Bianca Baldridge tells the story of one such community-based program, Educational Excellence (EE), shining a light on both the invaluable role youth workers play in these spaces, and the precarious context in which such programs now exist. Drawing on rich ethnographic data, Baldridge persuasively argues that the story of EE is representative of a much larger and understudied phenomenon. With the spread of neoliberal ideology and its reliance on racism—marked by individualism, market competition, and privatization—these bastions of community support are losing the autonomy that has allowed them to embolden the minds of the youth they serve. Baldridge captures the stories of loss and resistance within this context of immense external political pressure, arguing powerfully for the damage caused when the same structural violence that Black youth experience in school, starts to occur in the places they go to escape it.

Advocacy is an essential skill for social workers who need to be able to speak confidently on behalf of service-users in a range of situations. In this new book, Jane Dalrymple and Jane Boylan explore the theory and research behind advocacy to demonstrate how to achieve best practice. Key topics covered include: - Independent advocacy - Supporting self-advocacy and decision-making - Challenging oppression - Negotiating with organisations Each chapter includes rich case examples, which help readers bring the discussion into the real life practice context. Effective Advocacy in Social Work will be valuable reading for those studying social work at undergraduate and postgraduate level, as well as those working in practice and in interprofessional contexts. Jane Dalrymple is Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England. Jane Boylan is Senior Lecturer at Keele University.

Social Work: From Theory to Practice provides a critical introduction to core and emerging theories of social work and teaches students in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand how to apply these theories in their practice to facilitate change. The fourth edition introduces a cultural lens through which to interrogate theory. A new chapter on Aboriginal perspectives explores a range of theories, from emancipatory frameworks and approaches to deep listening and provides insights for students on how to decolonise their practice and responsibly provide socially just outcomes for communities. New discussions on navigating the service system, feminist and anti-oppressive approaches, sustainability and the impact of COVID-19 on social workers and the communities they serve are included throughout the book. Each chapter includes reflections from social workers and case examples with accompanying questions. New end-of-chapter questions help students engage critically with the content.

This unique and timely book, edited by Michael J. Austin, introduces and connects social justice to the core values of social work across the curriculum. It presents the history and philosophy that supports social justice and ties it to ethical concepts that will help readers understand social justice as a core social work value. The book further conveys the importance of amplifying client voice; explores organization-based advocacy; and describes how an understanding of social justice can inform practice and outlines implications for education and practice.

An Invitation to Community and Models for Connection After almost every presentation activist and writer Mia Birdsong gives to executives, think tanks, and policy makers, one of those leaders quietly confesses how much they long for the profound community she describes. They have family, friends, and colleagues, yet they still feel like they're standing alone. They're "winning" at the American Dream, but they're lonely, disconnected, and unsatisfied. It seems counterintuitive that living the "good life"--the well-paying job, the nuclear family, the upward mobility--can make us feel isolated and unhappy. But in a divided America, where only a quarter of us know our neighbors and everyone is either a winner or a loser, we've forgotten the key element that helped us make progress in the first place: community. In this provocative, groundbreaking work, Mia Birdsong shows that what separates us isn't only the ever-present injustices built around race, class, gender, values, and beliefs, but also our denial of our interdependence and need for belonging. In response to the fear and discomfort we feel, we've built walls, and instead of leaning on each other, we find ourselves leaning on concrete. Through research, interviews, and stories of lived experience, How We Show Up returns us to our inherent connectedness where we find strength, safety, and support in vulnerability and generosity, in asking for help, and in being accountable. Showing up--literally and figuratively--points us toward the promise of our collective vitality and leads us to the liberated well-being we all want.

A treatise of Black women’s transformative influence in media and society, placing them front and center in a new chapter of mainstream resistance and political engagement In Reclaiming Our Space, social worker, activist, and cultural commentator Feminista Jones explores how Black women are changing culture, society, and the landscape of feminism by building digital communities and using social media as powerful platforms. As Jones reveals, some of the best-loved devices of our shared social media language are a result of Black women’s innovations, from well-known movement-building hashtags (#BlackLivesMatter, #SayHerName, and #BlackGirlMagic) to the now ubiquitous use of threaded tweets as a marketing and storytelling tool. For some, these online dialogues provide an introduction to the work of Black feminist icons like Angela Davis, Barbara Smith, bell hooks, and the women of the Combahee River Collective. For others, this discourse provides a platform for continuing their feminist activism and scholarship in a new, interactive way. Complex conversations around race, class, and gender that have been happening behind the closed doors of academia for decades are now becoming part of the wider cultural vernacular—one pithy tweet at a time. With these important online conversations, not only are Black women influencing popular culture and creating sociopolitical movements; they are also galvanizing a new generation to learn and engage in Black feminist thought and theory, and inspiring change in communities around them. Hard-hitting, intelligent, incisive, yet bursting with humor and pop-culture savvy, Reclaiming Our Space is a survey of Black feminism’s past, present, and future, and it explains why intersectional movement building will save us all.

Lawrence Vale explores the rise, fall, and redevelopment of three public housing projects in Boston. Vale looks at these projects from the perspectives of their low-income residents and assesses the contributions of the design professionals who helped to transform these once devastated places during the 1980s and 1990s.

Riding on the success of Indigenous Social Work Around the World, this book provides case studies to further scholarship on decolonization, a major analytical and activist paradigm among many of the world’s Indigenous Peoples, including educators, tribal leaders, activists, scholars, politicians, and citizens at the grassroots level. Decolonization seeks to weaken the effects of colonialism and create opportunities to promote traditional practices in contemporary settings. Establishing language and cultural programs; honouring land claims, teaching Indigenous history, science, and ways of knowing; self-esteem programs, celebrating ceremonies, restoring traditional parenting approaches, tribal rites of passage, traditional foods, and helping and healing using tribal approaches are central to decolonization. These insights are brought to the arena of international social work still dominated by western-based approaches. Decolonization draws attention to the effects of globalization and the universalization of education, methods of practice, and international ’development’ that fail to embrace and recognize local knowledges and methods. In this volume, Indigenous and non-Indigenous social work scholars examine local cultures, beliefs, values, and practices as central to decolonization. Supported by a growing interest in spirituality and ecological awareness in international social work, they interrogate trends, issues, and debates in Indigenous social work theory, practice methods, and education models including a section on Indigenous research approaches. The diversity of perspectives, decolonizing methodologies, and the shared struggle to provide effective professional social work interventions is reflected in the international nature of the subject matter and in the mix of contributors who write from their contexts in different countries and cultures, including Australia, Canada, Cuba, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, and the USA.