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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Social Work and the Law

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Social Work and the Law by Allan E. Barsky LAST REVIEWED: 25 May 2011 LAST MODIFIED: 25 May 2011 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195389678-0024

“Social work and the law” refers to the interface between the practice of social work and the legal system, including statutory law, case law, legal institutions (courts, prisons, etc.), and legal professionals (attorneys, judges, paralegals, forensic experts, and alternative dispute resolution professionals). Law plays a number of important roles in the practice of social work. First, from an ecological perspective, the legal system is a vital part of a client’s social environment. Many social work clients are involved in legal systems, such as child protection, criminal justice, or mental health. Social workers need to be aware of the laws that regulate each system in order to help clients navigate their way through these systems more effectively, and to be able to advocate for law reform to improve the goodness of fit between clients and their socio-legal environments. Laws also govern many relationships of interest to social work clients, including landlord/tenant, employer/employee, physician/patient, vendor/purchaser, spouse/spouse, and parent/child relationships. Thus, knowledge of the law should provide practitioners with a practical understanding of their clients’ rights and responsibilities in a broad range of social relationships. Second, hospitals, schools, social assistance, correctional institutions, mental health facilities, and other social agencies are regulated by organization-specific laws. Organization-specific laws may dictate who is eligible for services, standards for record keeping, confidentiality, and other client rights. Social workers need to understand these laws in order to ensure that their agencies comply with the laws, and to be able to advocate for changes in the law to promote greater social and economic justice. Third, the profession of social work itself is regulated by various laws. Most states have licensing or accreditation laws that regulate the practice of social work, including who may practice and what standards of practice are legally enforceable. Social workers should also be aware of malpractice (tort) laws that identify when a social worker may be legally responsible for causing harm to a client if they perform their professional duties in a manner that falls below a reasonable standard of care. Finally, some social workers practice in forensic settings, providing investigations, evaluation, expert testimony, and treatment for clients involved in court or other legal systems. Such settings include probation, parole, prison, child custody evaluation, and involuntary committal to mental health institutions.

The resources listed here provide overall introductions to social work and the law, as well as to law and the legal system more generally. For basic overviews and explanations of legal terms, some of the older materials may be sufficient. For specific laws and how they apply in specific circumstances, readers should refer to the most current sources. Madden 2003 and Alexander 2003 provide two of the more recent and comprehensive introductions to social work and the law. Stein 2004 offers one of the most accessible introductions to the legal system and the philosophy of law.

Albert, Raymond. 2000. Law and social work practice: A legal systems approach . 2d ed. New York: Springer.

Provides a clear explanation of the legal system, including judicial and legislative processes, as well as areas of law most relevant to social workers. Information on rapidly evolving topics such as same-sex marriage has become dated.

Alexander, Rudolph. 2003. Understanding legal concepts that influence social welfare policy and practice . Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Describes laws pertaining to child welfare, mental health, professional liability. Designed to help readers understand the relevance of laws to social welfare policy and practice (with emphasis on macro issues).

Brayne, Hugh, and Helen Carr. 2010. Law for social workers . 11th ed. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.

Comprehensive textbook on the British legal system, including laws related to a social worker’s obligations in working with the legal system, children, families, people with mental illness, homeless people, and other people who have been socially excluded.

Madden, Robert G. 2003. Essential law for social workers . New York: Columbia Univ. Press.

Provides a good overview of the legal system and uses case examples to demonstrate the application of law to various issues related to social work practice (particularly clinical/micro practice). Excellent information on child welfare, contracts, advance directives, and malpractice.

Martin, Peter W. 2010. Introduction to Basic Legal Citation .

Online resource that explains norms for citing legal sources, including statutes and case law.

National Association of Social Workers Legal Defense Fund. Legal Issue of the Month. Washington, DC: NASW Legal Defense Fund.

Practice-oriented series of articles to inform social workers of legal issues, rights, and responsibilities. List of titles and order information available online .

Schroeder, Leila Obier. 1995. The legal environment of social work . Washington, DC: National Association of Social Workers Press.

Provides a good overview of the legal contexts in which social workers operate (particularly child welfare, family, mental health, and social security laws).

Stein, Theodore J. 2004. The role of law in social work practice and administration . New York: Columbia Univ. Press.

Provides social workers with a good overview of the legal system, legal terminology, and the history and philosophy of law. Chapters on specific areas of law are relatively basic, perhaps designed for social work students rather than practitioners.

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Adolescent Depression
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Differential Response in Child Welfare
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Ecological Framework
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Homelessness: Ending Homelessness as a Grand Challenge
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Law, Social Work and the
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Mainland European Social Work, History of
Major Depressive Disorder
Management and Administration in Social Work
Maternal Mental Health
Measurement, Scales, and Indices
Medical Illness
Men: Health and Mental Health Care
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Mental Health Needs of Older People, Assessing the
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Using the Law in Social Work

Robert Johns
Description

This book will help social work students gain a secure foothold in understanding aspects of law as applied to social work practice. It is not a law manual or full of complicated legal jargon remote from the everyday realities of practice, but rather brings the reader closer to safe, legally-appropriate social work. It not only covers recent changes to legislation such as The Children and Families Act 2014 and The Care Act 2014 , but also other key areas of legislation and policy including human rights , youth justice, child protection and mental capacity. There are updates to case law and codes of practice and numerous case studies and reflective activities to help underpin knowledge and learning.

Affordable, practical and tells you exactly what you need in order to pass assignments and prepare for practice.

Key Updates include new information on:

· The Children and Families Act 2014

· The Care Act 2014

· Working Together to Safeguard Children (2012)

· Mental Capacity Act 2005

This book is in the Transforming Social Work Practice series. All books in the series are affordable, mapped to the Social Work Curriculum, practical with clear links between theory & practice and written to the Professional Capabilities Framework.

ISBN: 9781446272688

Hardcover

Suggested Retail Price: $110.00

Bookstore Price: $88.00

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

For assistance with your order: Please email us at [email protected] or connect with your SAGE representative.

SAGE 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, CA 91320 www.sagepub.com

Clear outline of how to apply law to social work practice, gives clear case studies and examples and highlights key legislation for practice

A basic introductory book that will help new students to understand how to apply the law to social work practice. It will support our core text books. It helps make complicated concepts in law more simply.

A good introductory book to law and social work. Easily interpreted for new students yet demanding enough for reference.

This is a well written and easy to read book about social work law. I will recommend it for students in relation to human rights, and it is still applicable for teaching law in relation to children and families and court practice, however the adults element of the book needs updating in line with the Care Act 2014.

I realised during the course that it was probably not a good idea getting Irish students to directly read this book as there are differences in the legal systems, mostly subtle, but some profound as a result of our Constitution, and this caused confusion amongst some students. I did however use the book in my lectures to help explain fundamental principles that are nicely explained in this book, and it was a particular help in studying the Cleveland abuse scandal, which has been on the syllabus for some years. The book provided some fresh perspectives on that.

Using the law in social work gives students a good overview of the legal landscape they will encounter in practice. The chapter on 'ending up in court' goes some way to preparing the individual for what may be a nerve-wracking experience.

A good text for students wanting to use the law in everyday practice settings.

A good introductory text that demonstrates the application of the law to practice. It is a popular text at all levels.

A very useful guide to current social work legislation.

useful, concise introduction to relevant law not only for social work students but also those studying social care and public health

Key need 1 Social Work Law is a core component of the qualifying degree

Key feature The book covers the core aspects of social work law as it taught on the degree

Key benefit Students will be able to use this book to complete core assignments

Key need 2 Many social work students find law complicated and difficult to understand

Key feature This book is accessible and uses lots of real-life practice examples

Key benefit This direct link between law and practice will develop students understanding

Key need 3 The law as applied to social work is constantly changing

Key feature The author updates this text every two / three years

Key benefit This keeps the book up-to-date and more relevant than competitor titles

New editions: What is new? If applicable

1. New sections on the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

2. New material on Working Together to Safeguard Children in chapter 4

3. New requirements regarding care proceedings in chapter 7

4. References where appropriate, to the following changes in legislation

a. Health and Social Care Act 2012

b. Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012

c. Breaks for Carers of Disabled Children Regulations 2011

d. Mental Health Regulations 2008

5. References to n ew legislation on social care and protection of vulnerable adults: current chapter 6.

6. New regulations and requirements regarding professional registration following abolition of General Social Care Council and move to Health and Care Professions Council and The College of Social Work: current Chapter 8.

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Applying social work law to asylum and immigration

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7.1 Case study: Katy Eagle – a voluntary sector practitioner

The next activity provides an opportunity to listen to Katy Eagle, a voluntary sector social worker from Embrace Life, Luton in England, talking about her experience of working with migrants, asylum seekers and refugees and how social workers can help this vulnerable group of people.

In the first part of the activity, Katy discusses her top tips for social workers. In the second part, you can listen to Katy explain how she would practise, as you work through two case studies with her.

Activity 4 Katy Eagle – Social work practice with migrants, asylum seekers and refugees

Firstly listen to Katy speak about the work that she does at ‘Embrace Life,’ Luton with migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. She discusses her social work practice within a voluntary organisation to support asylum seekers and refugees, and the legal framework that she practises within. She also outlines her top tips for social workers. As you listen to the audio, answer the questions that follow.

Please note, this audio is approximately 17 minutes long.

Transcript: Audio 3 Katy Eagle

1. What are some of the common problems that refugees and asylum seekers coming to her agency face?

2. What kind of help can social workers give and what should social workers be alert to?

3. What are the limitations that social workers have to negotiate?

Above all, Katy talks about remembering core social work values and acting with humanity and compassion. As well as offering practical help and support for people’s immediate needs, she talks about the importance of supporting people emotionally.

You can hear Katy outline more of her practice observations in the next part of this activity.

Now listen to the audios of Katy describing two case studies, one of a family and one of a gay man, who are seeking asylum. You can read the transcripts of the case studies if required.

Think about the questions that Katy poses as you go through each of the case studies and the kind of help and support you could offer. Make notes in the boxes below each part of the case study before listening to Katy reflecting on her practice in relation to the questions asked. Once you have worked through the case studies, look at the comments from Katy about good practice in the discussion.

Case studies

Case study 1: florence, ronald, peter and grace, transcript: audio 4 katy outlines the story of ronald and florence and their two children.

Questions to consider:

How might social workers be involved with the family? What might their role be?
How can the family be supported to ensure that their basic needs are met?
How would you support the family? What would your priorities be? How can social workers support a family in this situation?

Now listen to Katy reflecting on her practice in relation to these questions.

Transcript: Audio 5 Katy reflecting on her practice

Transcript: audio 6 ronald and florence’s story continues.

How can you support this family? Where would you look for advice, help?
What impact could this situation be having on each member of the family? How would this impact on relationships within the family?

Transcript: Audio 7 Katy reflects on her practice

Transcript: audio 8 ronald and florence’s story continues.

How can social workers use their skills to continue to support the whole family?

Now listen to Katy reflecting on her practice in relation to this question.

Transcript: Audio 9 Katy reflects on her practice

Case study 2: abdul.

Katy now describes Abdul’s story.

Transcript: Audio 10 Katy outlines the story of Abdul

What would your advice to Abdul be? What are his options for support?

Transcript: Audio 11 Katy reflects on her practice

Transcript: audio 12 katy continues the story of abdul.

How could this impact upon Abdul?

Transcript: Audio 13 Katy reflects on her practice

Transcript: audio 14 katy completes the story of abdul.

How can Abdul be supported?
What are the risks and critical moments for Abdul?

Transcript: Audio 15 Katy reflects on her practice

Katy commented:

We find that many of the people we support come to us at the point of crisis. People who are having problems related to immigration or asylum often become known to support services at that point of crisis – and this could be charities, health services, churches, food banks, or statutory services such as children’s or adult social care, or mental health teams. Often, our immediate support is to make sure that people’s most basic needs are met – food, shelter, food/nappies for babies, clothing etc. Basic necessities that people have not been able to obtain when their support network has broken down, their circumstances have changed suddenly or they can no longer manage alone. In terms of social work theory, we find it useful to consider Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which is a model that shows that a person has to have their fundamental basic needs (food, shelter, safety) met before they can reach their potential and go on to achieve their goals and ambitions. Accordingly, key support at this stage for a person seeking asylum who has arrived in the country may include signposting to a solicitor or immigration support service for advice – it is really important to know what specialist services are operating in your area: for example, British Red Cross, Migrant Help, Refugee Council and local projects supporting people – food banks, etc. If children are destitute or at risk of this, we consider referring to children’s service for support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 and Section 22 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. We also find that it’s important to know some of the terminology around asylum and immigration – No Recourse to Public Funds, National Asylum Support Service (now Asylum Support), tribunals, appeals, further submissions and voluntary return but we also focus on not labelling people, for example as ‘illegal’. We find that it is again important for us to know who can provide legal advice – e.g. our local law centre, university law clinic, pro bono advisers. Immigration advice is regulated in the UK and providing immigration advice without registration is a criminal office. Social workers therefore need to be aware of what information they can provide and when to seek further advice/support for people. The registration is known as ‘OISC’ (Office of the Immigration Service Commissioner) registration and advisers must be accredited through this scheme. People in the UK who are experiencing difficulties with immigration often tell us that the process can be dehumanising and belittling and having to prove your case (for example your sexuality) can be very very difficult. Our advice for other professionals is always to focus on the person and be compassionate – seemingly simple things like taking the time to offer a hot drink to someone in crisis can make a huge difference. We often see other people that other agencies feel they can’t support due to someone’s immigration status – sometimes this is true, but other times, it is based on misconceptions or misunderstanding – but we often need to challenge the reasoning behind these decisions and advocate for people to have fair access to services. The climate of a ‘hostile environment’ immigration policy can make daily life difficult for people – even a trip to hospital could bring a large bill. In the case studies, Florence, Ronald and family, and Abdul could also be vulnerable to exploitation and vulnerable to crimes such as modern slavery, as their lack of financial resources and the means to change this could lead them to alternative ways of providing for themselves that leave them vulnerable. We have heard from people who have found themselves in abusive and exploitative situations, but who are too afraid about the consequences to report this to the police or safeguarding teams. Whilst modern slavery is not just about international borders and immigration issues, many people experiencing modern day slavery have come to the UK from overseas. We’ve found the most valuable support we can provide is a listening ear and being alert to the signs of modern slavery, and then knowing what to do with concerns – support is provided through a National Referral Mechanism (immediate concerns should be reported to the police) and there is a national helpline [ Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. ( Hide tip ) ] that can provide advice to people and professionals, currently run by Modern Slavery Helpline. (Comment prepared by Katy Eagle, Embrace Life, Luton, 2018)

Box 4 Seeking advice on immigration law

Social workers must not provide immigration advice to people with insecure immigration status and asylum seekers. Only accredited immigration advisers registered with the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC) are authorised to do so. The Immigration and Asylum Accreditation Scheme (IAS) is also in operation. Incorrect advice can have devastating consequences for the individual concerned.

In Activity 4, Katy Eagle spoke about the importance of encouraging migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to get appropriate independent legal representation and other advice and support, and the importance of social workers being able to signpost their clients to these services appropriately.

1st Edition

Practical Social Work Law Analysing Court Cases and Inquiries

Taylor & Francis eBooks (Institutional Purchase) Opens in new tab or window

Description

Practical Social Work Law : analysing court cases and inquiries presents legal issues associated with social work in an accessible format. It approaches the law in a way that is less daunting and more engaging by examining actual court cases and public inquiries, and explores the stories of real people and the legal and ethical dilemmas practitioners will face. The text adopts a problem-centred approach to learning by introducing the reader to key aspects of the law through a series of real-life situations; it addresses basic principles regarding the operation of the law and explores the lessons for good practice. Each chapter addresses a specific area of social work law including family breakdown, safeguarding children, youth justice, adults with disabilities, mental health and mental capacity. Landmark cases, cases drawn from the lower courts, tribunals, and ombudsman’s decisions are included throughout presenting an accessible account of the application of the law. Practical Social Work Law is an essential text for undergraduate, postgraduate and recently qualified social workers who are wrestling with the complexity of the law and the professional dilemmas it poses for their practice. "This book is unusual for a law book in that it is not only a reference book but also a very readable volume...[It] is set out clearly and provides a sound basis for student social workers new to the law and a refresher for qualified practitioners." Catherine Poulter. RSW. Integrated Community Services. Carmarthenshire County Council

Siobhan E. Laird

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Supporting the use of case law in social care practice

Published: 11/01/2023

Author: Research in Practice

News & views

New Research in Practice resources aim to support the use of case law in social care practice.

Effective practice includes knowledge of the law but it is often complex. A new podcast explores the role of case law in social care and contains examples of its impact. It provides top tips for interpretation whilst considering the evidence and information.

Regular Case Law and Legal Summaries (CLLS) also highlight implications of selected cases. CLLS support practice, decision making and Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

These resources support work with children and families, young people and adults.

Using case law in social care practice

In this podcast, Research and Development Officers Claire Williams and Luciann Blake talk to Laura Pritchard-Jones and Tony Anyaegbu about interpreting and applying case law in practice. The podcast explores how effective practice should be underpinned by good and up-to-date knowledge of relevant case law.

Listen to the podcast.

Supporting your CPD with Case Law and Legal Summaries

Reading and interpreting case law is an important part of social work practice. Case Law and Legal Summaries can be used to support practice, decision making and your CPD.

Read the blog .

Children & families

Knowledge of legal frameworks and the Children Act 1989 is essential. In 2022, Research in Practice summarised key children’s and family cases. These included:

The adoption process.
Different legal routes to permanency for children.
Decisions about family time (contact) in private and public law proceedings.
Multiagency working (including with health services and prison/probation services).

After breaches of the Adoption Agencies Regulations (2005) were discovered in Somerset County Council's adoption procedures, local authorities have had to examine their own policies. New videos present key impacts of the case.

Case Law and Legal Summaries 2022 overview

This overview provides links to summaries of key judgments from 2022 with more details of the case and of their impact on social work practice.

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Case Law and Legal Summaries

Our Case Law and Legal Summaries provide a monthly overview and analysis of selected cases, highlighting implications for children and young people's social care practice.

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Somerset: The impact

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Legal literacy connects legal rules with professional priorities and ethical practice. In 2022, Research in Practice summarised key adults cases. These included:

Best interest decisions (including about the COVID-19 vaccine).
Deprivation of liberty, and assessing mental capacity.
Disagreements between local authorities and family members when adults do not have capacity to make a decision.

New videos introduce the concept of legal literacy and its application to adult social care practice.

There is also a legal glossary , a catalogue of legal literacy resources and the Legal Literacy: Change Project resources which are designed to support direct practice, supervision and organisational systems.

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Our Case Law and Legal Summaries provide a monthly overview and analysis of selected cases, highlighting implications for adults and families social care practice.

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The importance of legal literacy in adult social care: the origins and concept of legal literacy

Legal literacy involves connecting relevant legal rules with professional priorities and the objectives of ethical practice. In this short video, Professor Suzy Braye introduces the origins, concept and importance of legal literacy, and its application to adult social care practice.

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The importance of legal literacy in adult social care: a legally literate decision-making model

Legal literacy involves connecting relevant legal rules with professional priorities and the objectives of ethical practice. In this short video, Professor Michael Preston-Shoot explores defensible decision-making and offers a legally literate decision-making model for adult social care practice.

The importance of legal literacy in adult social care

In this blog, Professors Suzy Braye and Michael Preston-Shoot discuss the importance of legal literacy in enabling adult social care practitioners to understand and respond to complex situations.

Research in Practice

Human Rights–Based Social Work Practice with Immigrants and Asylum Seekers in a Legal Service Organization

David androff.

School of Social Work, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Ave., Ste. 800, Mail Code 3920, Phoenix, AZ 85004-0689 USA

Cherra Mathis

The human rights of immigrants and asylum seekers are threatened by the erosion of asylum and a system of crimmigration that combines immigration and criminal law. This paper explores social work practice with immigrants and asylum seekers in a legal service organization. A qualitative research study asked social workers, lawyers, and administrators ( n = 27) to discuss the relationship between human rights and social work. Data from key informants were collected in five focus groups and one individual interview. Findings indicate that the participants see social work practice as an important response to the attack on immigrant and asylum seekers’ rights. Social workers identified human rights as a primary motivation for their practice, and integral to the profession. The findings also reveal that this legal service organization applies a rights-based approach by integrating social and legal services. Participants described how this rights-based approach protects and promotes the human rights of immigrants and asylum seekers. This paper illustrates the value of rights-based approaches and how they can be incorporated into social work practice.

Immigrants and asylum seekers face unique and specific challenges seeking asylum in the USA. Increasingly xenophobic and restrictionist policies diminish their rights and threaten their well-being. Social workers are called to protect the dignity, worth, and self-determination of vulnerable populations, yet this is rarely framed in terms of their human rights (Mapp et al., 2019 ). Human rights offer a framework for a robust protection of people’s human dignity, freedom, health, and quality of life. When the human rights of marginalized groups are violated, the rights of everyone else in society are threatened (Becerra et al., 2013 ). Social work practice is necessary to fulfill human rights, particularly among the most disenfranchised.

This paper examines social work practice with immigrants and asylum seekers in a legal service organization. The paper begins by detailing the human rights of immigrants and asylum seekers and reviewing the US immigration system. Next the paper situates social work practice in the context of legal service organizations, serving immigrants and asylum seekers, and incorporating rights-based approaches. The methods and key findings are presented, including themes of human rights violations in the immigrant system, human rights as motivation for practice, social work’s connection to human rights, and how the human rights are integrated into social work practice. The paper concludes with a discussion, implications for practice, and study limitations.

The Human Rights of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers

Human rights, such as the right to safety and security, are universal. That means they apply to everyone, everywhere, on the basis of their inherent humanity. Immigrants and asylum seekers have human rights because they are humans first and foremost.

The universality and interdependence of human rights is embodied in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948 ). Article 13 acknowledges that freedom of movement is a fundamental human right. This entails that everyone has the freedom to choose their own place of residence, and the freedom to leave their country. Article 14 recognizes the fundamental human right to seek asylum from persecution in other countries.

The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol provide the cornerstone for the rights of people forcibly displaced (UN, 1951 , 1967 ). The most significant is the right to nonrefoulement (Article 33). Nonrefoulement is the guarantee against being forcibly returned to the country from which someone has fled. It shields the asylum seeker from further persecution in their country of origin. In addition, the Refugee Convention affirms asylum seekers’ right to freedom of movement within the country of asylum. It also identifies asylum seekers’ rights to social welfare benefits and services, including housing, education, public assistance, and social security.

Other core human rights instruments further specify the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination states immigrants and asylum seekers have the right to nondiscrimination and equal treatment (UN, 1965 ). The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that immigrants and asylum seekers have the right to due process and legal representation (UN, 1966 ). The right to be free from arbitrary arrest, detention, and exile without due process is also included in this covenant as well as the Universal Declaration. The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment states that immigrants and asylum seekers have the right to protection from political persecution (UN, 1984 ). The Declaration on the Human Rights of Individuals who are not Nationals of the Country in which They Live states that immigrants and asylum seekers have the right to protection from harm such as arbitrary expulsion (UN, 1985 ). The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families seeks to protect the human rights of migrant workers who often labor in dangerous conditions with precarious status; it remains unsigned and unratified by the USA (UN, 1990 ).

The universal human rights of asylum, protection, and nonrefoulement are international human rights law, sometimes referred to as soft law for lack of enforcement mechanisms. The primary duty-bearers of immigrant and asylum seeker rights are nation states.

However, in the last several decades, nation states around the world have diminished the right to asylum (FitzGerald, 2019 ). Asylum seekers increasingly are confronted with militarized borders, externalization and offshore processing, and restrictive migration policies. These measures prevent asylum seekers’ ability to seek asylum, absolving states from having to grant asylum claims without technically violating their obligation to international human rights. This global trend has foreclosed legal and regular routes to safety, family reunification, and meeting basic needs. Instead, people displaced by violence, conflict, inequality, disasters, and climate change have used smugglers to escape danger and access safety, where they must traverse exceedingly perilous terrain (Androff & Tavassoli, 2012 ; Mountz, 2020 ).

US Immigration Policy

Immigration policy in the USA has developed over 100 years of converging immigration and criminal law. This trend toward punitive and restrictive immigration policy, known as crimmigration, has accelerated in the last two decades (Ayón et al., 2012 ; Mathis & Androff, 2021 ). Examples include using detention as deterrence and framing immigrants as “others” and threats (Kiehne & Androff, 2020 ; Becerra et al., 2012 ).

President Bush oversaw massive securitization and militarization of the border after 9/11 (Androff, 2014 ). President Obama balanced providing rights and security to the children of immigrants through DACA with a record high of deportations (Hing, 2017 ; Johnson, 2018 ). Family detention and surveillance under the Obama administration morphed into President Trump’s child separation policies (Barak, 2021 ; Eagly et al., 2018 ; Pittman, 2020 ).

President Trump further restricted the right to asylum through the Migrant Protection Protocols and Title 42. The later was initiated by the Centers for Disease Control under the Trump administration as an outsized response to the risk of COVID-19 (Hing, 2017 ; Human Rights Watch, 2021 ). It targeted asylum seekers and fed into xenophobic narratives of immigrants as vectors of disease.

People seek asylum on the basis of a credible fear of violence, that their government is unable or unwilling to keep them safe, and that they are likely to experience continued persecution if they are returned to their country of origin. Immigration judges determine whether there is enough evidence to substantiate their claim, and whether it meets the criteria (USCIS, 2021 ).

Immigration courts are civil courts, not criminal courts, and exist outside the main judicial system although under the executive branch. Unlike criminal courts, immigration courts provide no public defender on behalf of petitioners at risk of losing their liberty, except in cases of the most extreme physical or mental disability (Franco-Gonzalez vs Holder, 2013 ).

The US Constitution applies to all people within the jurisdiction of the USA, including those without legal status. However, the civil and political rights of constitutional protections are frequently not applied to asylum seekers. For example, the right against unreasonable search and seizure (Fourth Amendment) does not extend to the border, the right to due process (Fifth Amendment) is abrogated by expedited removal and streamlining procedures, and the right to legal counsel (Sixth Amendment) is avoided by the civil nature of immigration charges.

The US government’s trial attorneys generally argue against granting asylum. This is a lengthy process that requires months if not years of engagement with an adversarial court where asylum claims are most often denied (Ramji-Nogales et al., 2007 ). Almost 70% of the 59,747 asylum cases decided in fiscal year 2020 lost their petitions (TRAC, 2021a , b ). The consequences can be dire: detention, deportation, and the risk of death when returned to their country of origin (Human Rights Watch, 2020 ).

Most petitioners represent themselves, pay out of pocket, or, if they are lucky, receive pro bono advocacy. Statistically, immigrants who receive representation are much more likely to be successful in their petition (Berberich & Siulc, 2018 ; Ramji-Nogales et al., 2007 ; TRAC, 2021a , b ).

Ultimately, many detainees go unrepresented, and are forced to navigate the complexities and retraumatization of immigration court alone, with little knowledge of US immigration law and their rights and options under it (Paskey, 2016 ). They are required to gather necessary testimony, witnesses, and documents to substantiate both the facts and the credibility of their claims, often while being detained, or navigating other barriers such as health challenges, lack of familiarity with US systems, social isolation, and language barriers (Davis, 2014 ; Obinna, 2021 ; Paskey, 2016 ).

Prior to deportation, and pending their hearing, immigrants may spend months or even years in detention or under surveillance in the community due to massively backlogged courts (Koh, 2019 ). Data from 2019 indicate that of the approximately 51,500 immigrants held in Immigration and Custody Enforcement (ICE) detention, approximately 7% are held in private facilities run for profit, who contract with the US government, and were guaranteed a quota of filled beds (Sinha, 2016 ; TRAC, 2021a , b ). Immigrant detention facilities, whether government run or private, have a history of lax oversight and reports of rights violations and abuse (DeLaPerriere, 2020 ). A new and growing alternative for migrants with “vulnerabilities not compatible with detention” is GPS monitoring and facial recognition software (Singer, 2019 , p. 2), which has the benefits of physical freedom, but shackles immigrants with intrusive, privacy-violating, sometimes technologically faulty supervision that imperils them and others with precarious documentation status who are vulnerable to ICE scrutiny (Pittman, 2020 ).

Crimmigration does not just effect asylum seekers. Latinos in the USA experience discrimination related to restrictionist immigration policies whether they are citizens or not (Becerra et al., 2013 ). Latinos with lower levels of acculturation have experienced more discrimination (Becerra et al., 2015 ). This has led to lack of trust with law enforcement and the justice system (Becerra et al., 2017 ). Especially as victims of crime are unwilling to seek protection or report crime (Messing et al., 2015 ). Increased policing of the interior and special relationships between ICE and local police agencies can funnel immigrants into deportation proceedings for something as simple as a broken taillight (García Hernández, 2018 ). Even people well established who may have spent decades as contributing members of their communities are vulnerable.

Legal Service Organizations

Legal service organizations provide free or low-cost legal services to those who most need, but cannot afford, representation. They were developed to circumvent barriers to participating in the justice systems, as an outgrowth of the legal profession’s commitment to justice for anyone, regardless of ability to afford counsel or their perceived “worthiness” (Houseman & Perle, 2013 ). One hundred and forty-five years since the first US legal aid society was established in New York City to support German immigrants who were too poor to pay for representation to defend their rights, legal service organizations can be found in every state in the USA (Heeren, 2011 ).

Legal service organizations are funded by philanthropic donations and government contracts (LSC, 2020 ; Udell, 2016 ). They depend on the generosity of individual lawyers, firms, and university legal clinics for pro bono service for staffing and expertise (Acer, 2004 ). Legal service organizations serve a range of disenfranchised people and communities, working in adoptions, divorce, bankruptcy, and tenant-landlord disputes, as well as immigration services.

Legal service organizations that work with immigrants assist with completing immigration forms such as asylum applications, family-based petitions, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, T visas, U visas, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) petitions, and other filings with USCIS. They also provide representation at asylum interviews, in immigration courts, or before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) for adjustment of status, naturalization and citizenship, and removal hearings (Immigrant Advocates Network, 2021 ).

Access to nonprofit pro bono legal aid significantly reduces immigrant removal rates (Chand et al., 2020 ). Access to legal representation has been the most significant predictor of asylum petition success in immigration court, regardless of other variables (Ramji-Nogales et al., 2007 ). However, there is not sufficient pro bono legal representation available for every asylum seeker. To meet the demand, legal service organizations have developed legal orientation programs designed to prepare immigrants to represent themselves in immigration court. Popularized as “Know Your Rights” presentations, these programs teach the basics of self-representation.

Some legal service organizations collaborate with social work or complimentary disciplines for support in medical cases, housing advocacy, social services, therapeutic referrals, and a more person-centered approach that accommodates the complexity of clients both within and outside the legal case (Androff, 2016a ; Chicco & Congress, 2015 ). Many of these nonprofit legal service organizations also engage in state and national policy advocacy to address issues that complicate their clients’ needs for protection and support (Chand et al., 2020 ).

Social Work Practice with Immigrants and Asylum Seekers

From its inception, the profession of social work has sought to serve immigrants and asylum seekers. Social work pioneer Eglantyne Jebb founded Save the Children in 1919 to serve children orphaned and displaced after World War I (Healy, 2008 ). Contemporary social work practice roles with immigrants and asylum seekers include provision of services, case management and resource brokerage, community development, and policy advocacy (Chang-Muy & Congress, 2016 ; Hilado & Lundy, 2018 ). Social workers assist immigrants and asylum seekers across various domains of integration such as child welfare, education, employment, and health (Dettlaff & Fong, 2016 ; Potocky & Naseh, 2019 ). Social workers have also addressed rising tides of nationalism and xenophobia that fuel anti-immigrant, restrictionist approaches (Popescu & Libal, 2018 ).

Human Rights–Based Approaches to Social Work Practice

In addition to immigrant and asylum seeker rights, early social work pioneers also championed the human rights of children, women, and racialized minorities (Albrithen & Androff, 2014 ; Healy, 2008 ). However, in the ideological conflict of the Cold War, the USA prioritized civil and political rights over social, economic, and cultural rights. This led to an overemphasis upon laws, courts, and legal interventions as the main tools for achieving human rights. While these are important, this served to diminish the role of social workers in protecting and promoting human rights. Human rights became almost exclusively a legal profession. Mainstream social work evolved to favor individual therapeutic interventions framed from a deficit or needs-based approach. Human rights receded from contemporary social work practice.

The overly legalistic interpretation of human rights has fed the perception that human rights only exist in international documents in Geneva, as opposed to on the ground in local communities. The problem was summarized by the co-author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, “it would be deceiving the peoples of the world to let them think that a legal provision was all that was required … when in fact an entire social structure had to be transformed” (Cassin, R., quoted in French, 2009 ).

Human rights–based approaches have been developed as a way to apply the principles of human rights into everyday practice (Androff, 2020 ). Originally established in the fields of public health and international development, the UN mainstreamed a rights-based approach across their programs in the late 1990s (Oberleitner, 2008 ). More recently, human rights–based approaches have been applied to social policy analysis (Gatenio Gabel, 2016 ), social investments (Androff, 2018 ), social work research (Maschi, 2016 ), community practice (Libal & Harding, 2015 ), and clinical social work (Berthold, 2015 ).

Conceptual models for applying human rights in social work practice have also emerged. Wronka and Staub-Bernasconi ( 2012 ) developed a personal-professional practice model that integrates human rights into social workers’ focus on clients, the profession, and wider society. Ife ( 2012 ) developed a three-generation practice model that advances civil and political rights through macro practice and advocacy; social, economic, and cultural rights through micro practice for individuals and families; and collective rights through community development. This model emphasizes communities’ capacity to determine and protect their own rights. McPherson ( 2018 ) developed a model for practitioners to apply human rights as a lens for assessment, as methods for intervention, and as goals for outcomes.

Another model incorporates the human rights–based principles of human dignity, nondiscrimination, participation, transparency, and accountability across social work practice domains (Androff, 2016b ). In this model, social workers respect and promote the fundamental human dignity of all people. This includes recognizing all people as rights-holders, and thus fundamentally deserving, not due to a need, vulnerability, or other deficits. This principle also includes respecting peoples’ self-determination and combatting the dehumanization that accompanies human rights violations. Nondiscrimination entails the prevention of discrimination on any basis, especially peoples’ gender, sexual, racial, ethnic, and religious identities. This extends to national origin, language, and immigration status. Participation is both a goal and a process for rights-based social work practice that aims for empowered people to have influence and control over decisions that affect them. Transparency in rights-based social work means assessing and reporting human rights violations. Accountability entails advocacy, promoting justice and the rule of law, and raising awareness.

This qualitative exploratory study examined social work practice with immigrants and asylum seekers at a legal service organization. The organization is situated in a large urban environment in a border state in the southwestern US. The state and city have a large, long-standing immigrant community. This nonprofit organization serves precariously documented migrants and asylum seekers in detention and throughout the court process. Their clients are predominantly but not exclusively from Mexico and the Central American Northern Triangle countries, which are Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

The research question asked social workers, lawyers, and administrators how the legal service organization’s provisions of social services to immigrant and refugees were related to human rights. The research team consulted with the organization’s leadership on the study design, research questions, and on snowball sampling to identify key informants. After obtaining contact information of their staff from the organization, the research team recruited participants to focus groups and interviews via email.

Twenty-seven employees agreed to participate, representing approximately one-fifth of the total organization employees, but including almost the entire social work staff. Twelve participants were social workers, nine were legal professionals (managing attorneys, staff attorneys, accredited representatives, law graduates, and legal assistants), and six were from the administrative or management team (executive director, deputy director, legal director, program manager, and human resources). Social work expertise included child, adult, and mental health focus, family separation, and program management. The participants had a range of experience with the organization, having worked there from approximately 6 months to over a decade. Although participants were not asked it, several revealed their immigration status during the focus groups. Data regarding age, gender, and ethnicity were not collected, to protect the anonymity of participants. The organization clients, asylum seekers receiving legal representation and services from the teams, were not invited to participate due to inability to protect their anonymity or confidentiality.

A university institutional review board approved the research. Participants gave informed consent prior to data collection. Participants were offered the opportunity to share their perspectives via individual interview rather than focus groups to accommodate their comfort level and schedule availability, and to minimize social and professional risks to participants. No compensation was offered.

Five focus groups were facilitated and recorded via Zoom software. Each was approximately two hours in length. The focus groups averaged five participants. The focus groups were organized by professional background and role within the legal service organization, yet all focused on the relationship between human rights and social work practice. Two focus groups were conducted with social workers, two with attorneys, and one with managers and administrators. All groups used similar prompts regarding the role of social work in the organization, its connection to human rights, and the nature of the advocacy work, for example, “How is social work related to human rights?” One individual interview was conducted with a social worker who was not available to join the focus groups.

Audio recordings were transcribed using Otter.ai software. Transcripts were de-identified; all identifying personal or professional data was removed. Transcripts were imported into Dedoose, a web-based tool for organizing, coding, and analyzing qualitative data.

The research team read transcripts for themes, identified core ideas, and came to agreement about emerging codes in the data, both deductively based on the focus group prompts and inductively, addressing higher level themes and cross-question connections present in the responses from the three contributing groups. Child codes were applied hermeneutically and evolved and were refined through the process of application. The research team discussed coding difficulties, discrepancies, new insights, and nascent connections biweekly.

The Immigration System as a Primary Frontline of Human Rights Violations

Social workers and attorneys identified the US immigration system as violating human rights and “incredibly unjust.” The victims of the system include “individuals, kids, toddlers who … were fleeing violence.” These victims, their clients, are set up to fail by the system, “so many barriers … hinder our clients from participating meaningfully in their legal case.” Participants saw violations of clients’ human rights as representing a larger systemic threat, “immigration is one of the, if not the primary, frontlines on which human rights are being eroded.”

Both legal professionals and social workers explained the role of legal services as responding to these human rights violations, “everything that the [organization] does is to ensure that human rights are being preserved or to regain them for certain populations.” This applied to “both the legal and the social services” who each “does a lot to try to hold the line [against rights violations].”

Social workers articulated their practice in the legal service organization as protecting, restoring, and promoting the human rights of people caught in the system; lawyers emphasized similar observations about the contributions of their social work colleagues helping to more fully realize the substance of the rights for which the attorneys fought. The focus on human rights was described as “integral to our work.” The legal staff identified the role of social work as responding to human rights violations, “social workers play a critical role in helping our clients document and address different types of abuses that they suffer in the detention centers.” The social workers saw their practice as on the frontlines of the battle for human rights and responding to pressing and ongoing human rights violations.

Human Rights as Motivating Social Work Practice with Immigrants and Asylum Seekers

Social workers identified their individual commitments to human rights as motivation for their practice, “essential human rights should be a given.”

I definitely believe in families being together. I do see it as human rights work at home, whether it’s detention facilities, or taking on school systems that are being racist, or medical and sexual health services. I see us as supporting clients in their ability to access [and] assert their human rights.

Their passion for rights aligned with the organization’s mission,

When I was seeking employment … I didn’t think it was humane for parents to be separated from their child, or their caretaker be separated from a little one, that’s the reason why I seek employment [here], because someone was doing something to support them.

The social workers understood human rights as not distant and exotic, but local and relevant,

In all our [social work] classes, we’ve talked about human rights so much …. a lot of it was looking outside of the U.S. But especially right now, there’s so much within our country that we need to focus on. I think immigration is probably one of the areas with the most egregious human rights violations right now. That’s why I was really drawn to the work that’s being done here.

In many cases, the social workers’ understanding of human rights was informed by personal and family experiences that gave them perspective and empathy. Some of the social workers were immigrants themselves, “I’m an immigrant. I remember when our family immigrated to the U.S.” They shared identity and experiences of rights violations, trauma, and the long-term consequences of these on the health and well-being of families, adults, and children, “I could relate in a way to these children coming … I could just imagine … the impact that can have on young children.” Another social worker shared “I saw the long-term outcome of [human rights violations in the immigration system] in my Dad.”

These shared experiences contributed to their motivation, “I wanted to do something that would help kids and let them know that they do have rights, and that there are people that are available to kind of help them in different parts of their life.” Witnessing the impact of human rights violations on family members “motivated me to do this type of work.” These experiences led them to pursue social work practice as a way to advance human rights, and specifically social work practice in a legal rights organization serving immigrants and asylum seekers.

Social Work as Fundamental to Human Rights

Participants viewed social work as directly connected to human rights work, “I feel that there isn’t a separation. If you’re saying that you want to go into the social work profession, then it should be a de facto that you’re going to be working for the rights of everybody else.” The humanization of rights-based approaches was seen as central to social work, “treating people as humans is one of the biggest concepts of social work, you know, social justice.”

However, they were also conscious of the profession’s ambivalence to human rights, “social work can be a part of human rights. But I don’t think it is completely.” When the profession upholds social workers as experts, professionals communicate a “false narrative of being some sort of heroes.” They acknowledged how due to the profession’s complicity in historical and contemporary oppression, social work is “clearly part of the problem, 100%. It has upheld institutions, and policies that have hurt people, have gone against human rights.”

The participants expressed that advancing human rights was the most impactful form of social work they could do. The social workers view their human rights–based practice as fulfilling the ethical and historical mission of the profession. It meets the promise of social work and begins to redress and overcome social work’s problematic legacies and tendencies.

The findings also reveal that the participants conceive of human rights as inseparable from social work. Participants described social work as fundamentally human rights work. By treating people as fully human, the social workers emphasize their innate human value and worthiness of respect. By validating their voices and experiences, the social workers advocate for immigrant and asylum seeker rights within the immigration system. Social work practice is seen as a way to respond to human rights violations and to protect clients’ rights as they navigate an oppressive immigration system. In this way social workers described how their practice worked to realize human rights at micro and macro levels (Androff & McPherson, 2014 ).

Social Work Practice as a Means for Achieving Human Rights

The social workers identified their practice as intrinsically rights-based. They recognize that practicing social work in a legal setting was a way to protect the rights of the most vulnerable. As a legal service organization, the organization’s main focus is on clients’ civil and political rights. Yet the social workers expressed how civil and political rights are interdependent with social and economic rights, “our clients are so much more than their immigration case.” They noted how denials of civil and political rights impacted clients’ social and economic rights, “because of their immigration case, they can’t meet their basic needs.”

Civil and Political Rights

Social workers sought to protect the civil and political rights of their clients, known as first-generation human rights. These include the right to asylum, due process, life, safety, and self-determination, access to legal representation, and freedom from detention, persecution, and torture. By working directly with clients to succeed in their legal case and supporting the lawyers, the social workers advance civil and political rights.

In particular, participants focused on personal safety and freedom from violence as a human right, “it’s just so many things about feeling safe, and being safe … I think that’s really what human rights is about, its feeling safe being who you are, and being safe being who you are.” This related to clients’ migration as most clients fled “disastrous situations in their home countries and hometowns,” such as criminal, gender-based, or political violence. Once in the USA, abuses and deficient conditions in immigration detention disrupted their finding safety. Even when clients were released on their own recognizance or on humanitarian parole, clients’ safety was challenged by trafficking, abuse, unsafe housing, and unsafe relationships.

Protection from violence was understood by social workers to be integral to the definition of human rights, “human rights is giving an opportunity for the person to feel safe, and provide a safe environment … it is not appropriate for individuals to be detained in order to seek this safety net.” To promote the right to safety, social workers ensured their clients had resources to report abuses and support for help-seeking. One legal staff explained that social workers’ promoting clients’ self-determination “embody what human rights are.”

Social and Economic Rights

Social workers also addressed the social and economic rights of their clients, known as second-generation human rights. These include clients’ rights to basic needs, food, housing, employment, and access to health care and education. The legal service model of zealous advocacy incorporates clients’ social and economic rights which are obtained through social workers. An attorney explained, “there are so many needs that go beyond the delivery of legal services, [social workers] are critical in providing those services to our clients.” The legal staff viewed social work practice as extending and strengthening the legal services,

If somebody’s basic needs aren’t being met, that includes dignity, it makes it nearly impossible to be able to focus on your legal needs … social work is the baseline of human rights even before the legal part comes in.

The role of social workers in realizing second-generation human rights was explained by the legal staff answering prompts about the role of social workers in human rights as “access to shelter is a human right, access to health care is a human right, access to education is a human right…. the way that you get to all of those things within the [organization] are through social workers.” This was accomplished through social workers helping clients to negotiate multiple systems, “every individual has a human right to learn how to properly navigate systems.” The social workers provide for their clients’ social and economic rights through casework, resource brokering, and direct services. These rights include the human rights to housing, education, decent work, and an adequate standard of living.

The participants described the rights-based approach as responding to the various aspects of their clients’ lives. The social workers go beyond pursuing clients’ rights as defined by the immigration system, to attend to the whole person. This allows for more holistic, ethical, and humane services. The holistic approach reflects the interdependency and indivisibility of human rights. The legal and social work team members focus on different but congruent rights which allows for more effective realization of rights. Their rights-based approach allows flexibility within cases and therefore the ability to address complex client needs, ultimately accommodating a spectrum of clients’ rights. Rights-based social work practice requires interacting with complex individuals across multiple crosscutting systems, only one aspect of which is a legal case. A rights-based approach permits the client to be validated and their voice to be amplified in the system.

Principles of Human Rights–Based Social Work Practice

These findings show that the social workers are applying the principles of rights-based practice in their work, including human dignity, nondiscrimination, participation, transparency, and accountability.

The social workers aim to ensure that clients have the rights to human dignity, respect, and humane living conditions regardless of their legal status. Human dignity entails the humanization of the client in a system that dehumanizes immigrants and asylum seekers. The integrated model of social and legal services approaches the client as a whole person, within a system, but having needs and rights outside of and beyond that system. While the legal team defines success in terms of the legal case, the social workers bring a more person-centered approach to establishing their human rights. Together the collaborative teams support their human dignity.

Clients’ human rights are at the center of social work practice in the legal service organization. The social workers combat the dehumanizing aspects of the immigrant system that do not treat clients as whole human beings. They approach each client as a whole person, not just a legal problem, and address the whole person’s needs and rights. This allowed them to address clients’ needs and fulfill rights to physical health care and mental health care, including addressing trauma that was affecting their legal case. This upholds the human dignity of clients by working for their long-term success, not just their short-term legal case. The client’s well-being and their rights continue beyond the courthouse.

The social workers practice nondiscrimination by working to fulfill the rights and basic needs of their clients, no matter their national origin. They respond to discrimination that their clients faced in detention, the court system, and society. The findings also confirm another facet of nondiscrimination in practice, which is reducing the power differential between practitioners and clients. The social workers accomplish this by relating to their clients as equals, and treating them as fully human, deserving of rights and dignity. Participants noted how human rights–based social work practice requires overcoming dynamics of hierarchy that perpetuate power differentials and maintain oppressive structures.

The social workers also support clients’ participation. Through their rights-based approach, the social workers facilitate clients’ active and meaningful involvement in their immigration case and their own lives. They achieve this by supporting clients’ self-determination. They uphold transparency by representing clients’ needs and rights to the court. They encourage accountability by supporting the legal service organization’s legislative and political advocacy efforts. This includes providing community events that educate the public and contribute to building a human rights culture. In this way they are supporting the larger social movement for immigrant and asylum seeker rights.

Limitations

This study is limited by several factors. The qualitative research design limits the generalizability of the findings, due to purposive and snowball sampling, and use of self-report. While this is appropriate for an exploratory study, further research could apply instruments to measure various aspects of practice, such as stress, burnout, resilience, workplace support, or turnover intentions. Future studies may survey the organization’s staff to learn more about the nature of their work. Another limitation is the missing voices of the asylum seekers themselves. The organization’s clients were not invited to participate due to the primacy of concerns for their safety, anonymity, and freedom from retaliation. Future research should include the perspective of service-users in ways that protect their confidentiality, informed consent, and other rights as research participants.

Implications

This study shows how social work practice is an essential support for peoples’ rights in the US immigration system. To fulfill the profession’s potential, social work should incorporate more rights-based approaches to practice with immigrants and asylum seekers (Popescu & Libal, 2018 ).

Social work practice can be strengthened with rights-based approaches. Social work practice must attend to the human rights of immigrants and asylum seekers. This includes working with lawyers and in legal service organizations to protect civil and political rights. Yet it also means providing for basic needs to meet social, economic, and cultural rights.

This study also shows how rights-based social work practice can be applied. Social workers should use more rights-based approaches in their practice. Rights-based approaches can strengthen their practice, improve the lives and well-being of people and communities, and fulfill social work values. These findings can be applied to other organizations and practice contexts where social workers are embedded in advocacy teams. Rights-based approaches to social work practice can be strengthened by building on practitioner’s commitment to addressing unjust systems, their motivation to promote human rights, their ethical mandates, and their skills for realizing both civil and political and social and economic rights. Integrating social work and legal advocacy in immigrant-rights organizations and other contexts can amplify human rights.

Social workers should partner more with legal service organizations. Social work and legal collaborations are a rich practice tradition. Given the power of law in society, these interprofessional partnerships can dramatically increase the impact of social work practice, and also may strengthen legal services. Social workers working in collaborative teams with attorneys must manage tensions that arise from power differentials and the ethical obligations of each profession. Rights-based approaches do not erase these complications but may provide a bridge across which disciplines can meet in their pursuit of their mission of dignity, self-determination, protection, and safety for their clients.

Social work researchers should continue to examine the role and relevance of human rights to social work practice. More research is needed on social work practice with immigrants and asylum seekers. Research on interprofessional practice with lawyers is also needed. Also, more research should investigate the impact of rights-based approaches on the people that social workers serve.

Social workers must increase their advocacy for human rights on the national and international stage. Social workers can elevate the voices of survivors of the USA’s immigration procedures and call for alternatives to immigration detention. Social workers should advocate for the USA to sign, ratify, and implement the international covenants and conventions, especially the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families , that embody duty-bearers’ obligations to the human rights of asylum seekers (UN, 1990 ). In these ways social workers can help to rebuild an immigration process that honors the right to asylum and the human rights of the forcibly displaced.

As observed by the study participants, immigrant and asylum seeker rights are being eroded. Social workers practicing in legal service organizations are fighting to protect immigrant and asylum seeker rights. Social work practice that protects the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers is necessary to resist the global retreat of asylum. Social workers have a role to play in preserving the human rights of vulnerable populations. In doing so, social workers can protect everyone’s rights. This study shows how social workers are protecting human rights and doing so with rights-based approaches. In the process, they are fulfilling social work’s historical mandate for the new millennium.

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Two cases that illustrate why robust social work court evidence is so vital

Ahead of her session on presenting robust evidence in court at community care live london, shefali shah looks at two cases in which the quality of social work evidence was critical to the outcome.

By Shefali Shah

We are all familiar with the fact that court proceedings relating to both children’s and adults’ cases are on the increase. This means that you as social care professionals are increasingly at risk of having your evidence examined in court. The two contrasting cases below illustrate the impact the social worker’s evidence can have on the local authority’s case. Although the cases relate to children, the same principles can be applied in adult cases.

Let’s start with an encouragingly positive case, that of A Local Authority v M & Ors [2017] EWFC B66 , in which great praise was bestowed on the social worker and their evidence relating to care proceedings for a 14-month-old child.

‘Balanced and fair’

The facts of the case were that the local authority issued care and placement order proceedings in respect of the child when she was just 12 days old. The child’s mother was young and had suffered a difficult childhood herself. Despite the social worker identifying positives, her evidence was that the mother was not able to protect the child, due to her lack of insight. The local authority’s case, supported by the guardian, was to seek a care and placement order, and for the child to be adopted. The parents objected to this care plan.

The social worker had filed a robust set of evidence consisting of six statements and a parenting assessment of the mother, which assisted the judge to undertake an analysis of the realistic options as required by the court further to the Court of Appeal’s leading case of Re B-S .

In this positive case, the court found the social worker’s oral evidence to be balanced and fair, without being defensive. The social worker addressed suggestions from other professionals “with an open-minded vigour”. The judgment records that the court “was impressed by the social work evidence, describing it as “direct”…”focused..thoughtful and reflective” [paragraph 112].

Unusually, Judge Simon Wood set out most of the social worker’s oral evidence in the judgment.

‘Unprofessional’

Now compare this with the case o f M and N (Children: Local authority gathering, preserving and disclosing evidence) [2018] , which was reported by Community Care and whose facts and key issues I have summarised here .

The case concerned how a single injury was caused to N, who was then two months old. The local authority concluded that it was down to a deliberate act by the baby’s parents or neglect, placed N and her sibling with her maternal great grandmother and applied for a care order.

The social worker had not written up her formal case notes until two weeks after meetings with the family and, when their reliability was called into question, was asked to produce her handwritten, contemporaneous notes. The judge said that it was “difficult to overstate how unprofessionally prepared these notes were”. This case clearly demonstrated the need for robust and coherent contemporaneous evidence. The local authority ended up withdrawing its application.

The judge in M and N took the view that training for social workers is crucial. So don’t be left vulnerable to the consequences of poor evidence. Come along to my session at Community Care Live London next week, to understand:

what constitutes robust evidence;
the importance of court documents that can stand cross examination;
the court expectations of the report writer.

Shefali Shah, solicitor and national trainer, Kingsley Knight Training , and author of Key Changes to Family Justice (CoramBAAF, 2016), will be delivering a session at Community Care Live London on Tuesday 25 September at 11.30am on presenting robust evidence in court . To reserve your place at this session, register for Community Care Live and select this legal learning session. There is a fee of £29 plus VAT for each legal learning session you attend and you can pay on the day if places remain. The vast majority of sessions at Community Care Live remain free to attend.

More from Community Care

Related articles:, 2 responses to two cases that illustrate why robust social work court evidence is so vital.

Please can we have a link that works for the first court case mentioned?

Apologies, that should now have been corrected.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Social Worker — Social Work Case Study Questions And Answers

Social Work Case Study Questions and Answers

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Published: Jun 14, 2024

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What is a social work case study, example of a social work case study, question 1: what are the main challenges in this case study, question 2: what interventions can be implemented, question 3: what are the ethical considerations in this case study, question 4: what are the potential long-term implications of this case.

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Social Work Law Case Study 4300 words

LAW ASSIGNMENT CASE STUDY

Introduction

Social work came into being with the introduction of the Local Authority Social Services Act (LASSA) 1970. The Act defines the responsibilities of social workers and how these responsibilities are being applied. This assignment will explore key legislation affecting the roles and responsibilities of Local Government towards people in need of social care provisions. For the purpose of this case study, I will define “Duty” and “Power” in relation to social services legal responsibilities to service users. If a duty is imposed by law, the local authority is legally compelled to carry out a particular function. When referring to a “power” the Local Authority has an element of choice. This means the authority may act in a certain way and is not under a legal obligation to provide a service or assistant (Brammer, 2007). The combination of duties and powers facilitates decision making for Local Authorities (Clements, 2004). While the law outlines various duties and powers these are counterbalanced by issues relating to values and ethics as in the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998), which aims to ensure that all aspects of our law are compatible with human rights.

You are the duty social worker at the CMHT what are your powers and duties to intervene?

The duty social worker has a duty to warn others of the risk and also warn the patient of the risk to their behaviour (Hardcastle and Powers, 2004). As a duty social worker within the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT), I would, in the case of Sharon need to apply for deprivation of liberty for hospital treatment, based on the fact that Sharon has schizophrenia which is a recognised mental health disorder under the mental health Codes of Practice 1983 (MHCOP 1983). Under section 117 of the Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983, local authorities have a duty to provide after care services for any person with a mental disorder. This will include people admitted to hospital for treatment (section 3). An individual duty is placed on both local and health authorities to provide the after care services for anyone to whom certain sections of the law applies until both authorities feel the person is no longer in need of the service (Mandelstam, 2000). In this particular case the duty social worker will have the power to call for a supervision order since Sharon suffers from mental illness and has relapsed, and that there is a substantial risk of serious harm to her health and safety or of her being seriously exploited if she was not to receive the after care service to be provided under MHA 1983, s117. Also the supervision order will ensure that Sharon receives the after care service. The application for a supervision order should then be made to the health authority (MHA 1983s25a).

Application for guardianship is made by the local authority’s Approved Mental Health Practitioner (AMHP), with the agreement of the nearest relative requiring written recommendations of two medical practitioners. An application for guardianship comes with a comprehensive care plan under the Care Programme Approach (CPA). The AMHP ensures that a multidisciplinary approach is maintained in developing the care plan (Brammer, 2007)

There are issues with the duty social worker’s powers and duties to intervene which may cause an ethical dilemma for social work practice. The key issue is between preserving the patient’s autonomy as enshrined in the 1998 Human Rights Act and protecting the patient and others. It is therefore important to determine the patient’s capacity. Therefore it is useful to promote non consensual intervention when necessary in order to ensure the appropriate balance of rights, obligations and interests (Potter, 2007).

It is important that a formal process is followed and there are legal backings for the deprivation as stated in the Bournewood judgement (DH, 2006). So the Deprivation of liberty safeguards will apply to those under the 2007 MHA, people in hospitals registered under part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000, and will apply to people who lack the capacity to give informed consent to the arrangements made for their care, and need to be cared for in circumstances which amounts to a deprivation of liberty in order to protect them from harm.

Under the safeguards there are a number of assessments that can be followed. A mental health assessment could be done under s12 of the MHA 1983. A mental capacity assessment will establish that the person lacks capacity in relation to the question whether Sharon should be a resident in the hospital, and a best interest assessment, which ascertains whether the detention is in the best interest of the person being detained.

The AMHP interviews Sharon before making the decision that sectioning her is the most appropriate way to provide care and medical treatment (Brayne and Carr, 2008). Then the AMHP will liaise with Sharon’ nearest relative as advised by s13 (2) of the MHA 1983. Since Dorothy is Sharon’ nearest relative, It is important to consult with the right relative otherwise this will make the detention unlawful. The AMHP then explains the decision to detain Sharon to all relevant parties such as the doctors, Dorothy and GP. As contained in DH (2008) the AMHP also has the power to inform the police or other relevant parties to transport Sharon to the hospital (s6 MHA1983 and MHCOP 11.8).

Peay (2003) states that while the MHA1983 and MHCOP provides a clear definition of the duties and powers of the AMHP there can be an ethical issue where this conflicts with both personal and professional values.

You are the duty social worker who spoke to the AMHP. What are the local authority’s legal obligations to Natalie and Sam? What actions do you take? And what are the legal grounds for those actions?

As Natalie and Sam are now alone in the house, the AMHP has a duty to inform the Children’s Team of the children’s current circumstance. Part 3 of the Children’s Act (CA) 1989 defines Children in Need as “unlikely to achieve, maintain or have the opportunity of achieving, maintaining a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision of services by a local authority. Or the health and development of the children in need is likely to be significantly impaired or further impaired without the provision of such service” (CA1989, S17). Local authorities have the duty to safeguard or promote the welfare of the children within their area who are in need by providing a range of appropriate services and accommodation (CA1989, S20).

Brammer (2007) states that Local authorities have a duty of consultation before making decisions around looked after children. Therefore, they must find out the wishes of the children concerned, and the parents. The local authority should also consult with others (including family members who may be seen as relevant to the matter in hand (CA 1989 s22 [4]). However, in this case Sharon will not be in the position to be consulted just yet, therefore under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005 she may not have the capacity, but may likely gain capacity again in future therefore she will still maintain responsibility. There is a duty to maintain the child and provide contact with parents, family members and friends. This is not an absolute duty and will depend on the practicalities of individual cases, and where people may be contactable (Ball and Macdonald, 2002). If it is not practicable to place the children with family members or friends (or none of them are contactable) the social worker can place Natalie and Sam in a residential home (Ball and Macdonald, 2002). But they should place them as near to their parent’ home possible.

You are the allocated social worker for Natalie and Sam. How do you now proceed? And what are your powers and duties?

There are a number of issues the social worker will now have to consider. Firstly, the children will now be separated as their African aunt, Rose, is only able to care for Natalie on a short term basis, as a kinship carer. Sam would then become a looked-after child. Sam will remain under the supervision order, and Sharon can be relinquished of her duties whereby the local authority can now consider adoption (Ball and Macdonald, 2002). The process of review will need to take place at the point which Sharon continues to remain in hospital and says she can no longer care for the children. However, it should also be ascertained whether Sharon had the capacity to make the decision at the time she relinquished responsibilities of the children.

Fostering should now be the step forward. This may be short or long term, it may need to be provided in an emergency, as part of a planned provision of respite care by the local authority or private carer. Foster carers do not acquire parental responsibilities by virtue of the fostering arrangement. This is governed by the Fostering services Regulation (FSR2002, s11) which provides for the approval process of foster carers and written placement agreements. The regulation states that due consideration is given to the child’s wishes and feelings, and dependant on their age and understanding, and considering religious, cultural, racial and linguistic persuasions. The clash here is between Natalie being raised by white parentage and Rose coming from an African background, and the need to promote upbringing of children by their families. These issues will be unravelled by referring to the fostering service to carry out an assessment of any person considered to be suitable to become a foster parent. Since the foster carer is a kinsperson, the rules to kinship caring apply. This arrangement is where a child who cannot be looked after by their parents goes to live with a parent or a family friend (The Children’s Legal Centre, 2008). Rose can care for Natalie under the fostering arrangements for kinship care. Davis (2009) states that where a local authority is satisfied that the immediate placement of a child is necessary they may place a child with a foster carer which is not approved for a six week period. FSR, 2002 section 38 explains the conditions under which this can be met, and the carer can be a relative or friend.

What are the local authority’s responsibilities towards Sam as a looked After Child and Natalie who is placed with a kinship carer?

In terms of the local authority’s responsibilities, Sam and Natalie will both still be classified as Looked after Children therefore will fall under the same procedures, even though Natalie is under kinship care. The local authority would have obtained an Interim Care Order (ICO) enabling it to have parental responsibility. The care order is made if the court believes the child may suffer if the child is not under any parental control (Section 33 CA 1989). The court makes it a duty for the local authority to receive a child into their care once they receive a care order. But the local authority will also have the power to determine to what extent a parent or guardian of the child may meet his parental responsibility, particularly if they wish to safeguard the child or promote his welfare. (OPSI, 2008)

CA 1989 Section 38 stipulates the duties the local authority will have towards children and young people it looks after. This will include providing suitable accommodation near Sam’s parent’ home as contained in CA 1989 Section 34. If the authority is unable to find a close enough accommodation to Sharon’s house then the authority should make the money available to facilitate such contact (Ryden, 2005). The next responsibility would be to facilitate safe contact by family members and other relevant people. The local authority has a duty to provide Sam with a care plan which must be reviewed every 6 months after the initial review period of 1 month and 3 months.

The local authority should also consider Sam’s religious, cultural and linguistic background when placing him, though this may not necessarily be a duty for the local authority but will be seen as good practice (CA) 1989 Section 22 (5) (c).

In terms of health it is a duty for the local authority to provide regular medical examinations, as in Promoting the health of looked after children (DH, 2002a).

The local authority has a duty to support the educational achievements of Looked After Children as stipulated in the Local Authority Social Services Act (LASSA)1970 Section 7, and in Care Matters (DfES, 2007) and also in s52 CA 2004. The duty of a local authority under sub section (3) (a) to safeguard and promote the welfare of a child looked after by them includes in particular a duty to promote the child’s educational achievement. (Crown Copyright, 2004) Social workers work in partnership with the local authority in consulting with the Local Education Authority (LEA) to ensure that the right educational provisions are in place. The authority will then need to place Sam in a school within 14 days of obtaining an accommodation (Brammer, 2007).

Despite the duties the Local Authority must follow, Sam and Natalie’s wishes must be taken into account throughout, apart from consent to accommodation (Davis, 2009).

What actions do you and the local authority take and on what legal grounds?

The CA 1989 section 47 places an immediate duty on the local authority to investigate a child’s circumstances when there is information that gives reasonable cause to suspect that a child who lives or is found in their area is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm. Since the allegation involves a foster carer, the procedure for investigation is outlined in the Carers and Disabled Children’s Act (CDCA) 2000 and the London Child Protection Procedures (LSCB, 2007) which calls for a strategy meeting to be held within three working days involving relevant professionals (including an OFSTED representative, as it involves a child) who are expected to determine a course of action. The police should be involved because there may be a criminal act to investigate. Sam must have a medical examination within 24 hours of the bruises being identified by his aunt. The Commission for Social Care Inspectorate (CSCI) are to be notified of the incident against Sam since they regulate and inspect registered carers.

The major purpose of the investigation will now be to protect Sam as best as possible. Therefore a decision will be made as to whether to place Sam on the Child Protection Register. However, the preferred option might be to suspend the services of the perpetrator and any other children under his care.

Sam will need to be interviewed by an independent social worker trained in attaining best evidence, which promotes impartiality throughout the investigation (Brayne and Carr, 2008). If the allegation is substantiated the perpetrator may be asked to leave the home under the Domestic Violence Act (2004). A fostering panel will take place to review the situation. Every Child Matters clearly states that the police should be informed before telling the person who is subject to the allegation because a criminal investigation might take place (DfES, 2006).

As their supervising social worker you need to advise them. What would you discuss with them in relations to the legal options?

Under the Care Standards Act 2000 adoption agencies are regulated by the Commission for Social Care Inquiry (CSCI). The social worker will follow the Local Authority Adoption Service (England) Regulations (2003) which provide a children’s guide to adoption services for children and prospective adopters. The social worker in an adoption case is likely to work with the children’s intended adopters, family members and other relevant parties (Brammer, 2007). The Adoption and Children’s Act (ACA) 2002 introduces provisions which obliges the court to consider arrangement for contact. Adoption and placement orders can only be made by the court. LASSA 1970 s7 provides National Adoptions Standards that must be met by the Local Authority. A few of these include, the child’ need for a permanent home to be discussed at the review meeting, a suitable adoption match. Statutory guidance to ACA 2002 is also contained in DfES (2005).

Before making a placement order the court must consider arrangements or proposals for contact, then invite the parties to comment under s26 ACA 2002. At the Adoption application stage, s46 (6) requires that before making an adoption order the court must consider arrangements made by the long term carers. If the court considers that an order for contact should be made this will be covered under s8. It is no longer possible to attach contact conditions to an adoption order. Contact will also be considered as part of subsection f in the welfare checklist (ACA2002, s1 (4)) as a necessary relationship which Natalie and Sam will have for their relatives. Once the adoption order has gone through, the biological parents are no longer parents under the CA 1989.

The court must not make any order under the Act unless it considers that making it will be better for the child than not doing so (ACA 2002, s 1(6). The court is obliged to consider whether other orders such as supervision and special guardianship might be more appropriate than adoption. The court has to consider the HRA 1998 due to the obvious interference with family life that an adoption order will effect as in the case of RE M(A Minor) (Adoption or residence order) [1998] FLR 520.

There are conditions in place for making an adoption order. Parents or guardians should consent to the adoption (ACA 2002, s20). If parents do not consent a placement order can be obtained (ACA 2002 s21). When the child has lived with the prospective adopters for up to 10 weeks, the adopters may apply for an adoption order. The adopted person will be treated by law the same way as if the adopters had given birth to them, and any other holder of parental responsibility is removed (ACA 2002 s67). The Adoption agencies Regulations 2005 require the local government to establish an adoption panel. DH (2002, p36) states that:

“The role of the adoption panel is to provide an independent perspective, informed by a broad range of expertise to monitor and quality assure social work recommendations on adoption cases”.

The panel must decide whether adoption is in the best interest of the child, the suitability of prospective adoptive parents and matching the child to the adoptive parents.

What are the CMHT’s responsibilities towards Sharon?

Brammer (2007) states that a patient can be discharged from hospital as soon as he or she is found not to be suffering from a mental disorder. It is then the duty of the CMHT to provide after care services until Dorothy is no longer in need of these services (MHA1983, s117). The decision will be made jointly by the health team and the CMHT. However, Dorothy is under no obligation to accept after care and has a legal right to refuse, although in reality if the patient is receiving medication and no longer takes them or plans not to take them they can be detained further. The CMHT must also complete a multidisciplinary care plan for after care. This must also include a risk assessment for discharge (DH, 1995).

Sharon can receive supervised discharge under the Mental Health (Patients in the Community) Act (1995). This will ensure that she receives after care services which the CMHT must support the application. The CMHT will have to devise a care plan once Sharon is out of the hospital. However, the CMHT must also consider Sharon’s wishes as well as her needs and that of relevant others in Sharon’s life such as family members (Clements, 2004). The Care Plan will follow the model of the Care Programme Approach (CPA). DH (1995) also stipulates that CPA should be applied to patients who are accepted by specialist psychiatric services. The National Service Framework (NSF) for Mental Health (DH, 1999) sets standards as to what the CPA must adhere. Standard 4 states that Sharon must receive care which increases engagement and reduces risks. The CPA must give Sharon a copy of her care plan which is regularly reviewed. Services must be accessed all the time.

The local authority will assess, plan, review and coordinate the range of treatment, care and support needs for Sharon under the CPA, while the service user will be involved throughout the process. FACS may apply with regards tackling inequalities to ensure that those who meet the eligibility criteria will receive the service, based on assessment of individual needs. The local government will then be able to fund those who are mostly in need. However, the CPA is not a measure of eligibility. If support under the CPA arrangement is needed this will depend on a number of factors including risk of suicide, self harm, relapse, abuse and exploitation (DH, 2008a)

What are the local authority’s powers and duties towards Dorothy and Sharon?

The Local Authority has the power to make arrangements to promote the welfare of older people (under the Health Services and Public Health Act 1995) though they will not have the power to make the person take up the service. Under the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 section 47 the Local Authority has a duty to undertake an assessment of the needs of an individual for community care services. Dorothy can be assessed under the Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) 2002 which has four eligibility bands to help the local authority ration resources (Brayne and Carr, 2008).

The local authority has a duty to inform Sharon and Dorothy of any other services that they or any other organisation provides for people with disabilities as contained in the Disabled (Services, Consultation and Representation) Person’ Act 1986 section 1. Dorothy can also receive the relevant service for her health and social care needs, as contained in the National Framework for Older people (DH, 2001) . The Local Authority however, does not have the power to impose any service against Dorothy’s wishes, and respect her rights to take risks. The important issue in this case is to realise the capacity a person has, and balance this with the duty of the local authority to minimise risks. This will make it easier for social workers to deal with ethical dilemmas of this nature.

The local authority has a duty to offer Dorothy and Sharon direct payments for her to purchase services of her own choice and to choose her own support staff where necessary. This is covered in the Community Care, Services for Carers and Children’s Services (Direct Payments) Regulations 2003 section 1 and the Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996.

DH (2001) guidelines also expects the Local Authority to set up a Single Assessment Process which aims to speed up response time for older people who require service and reduce duplication in assessments. However, a critic of this process is that in order to improve practice and responses, more time was actually being spent by professionals.

Why might they have been refused bail? What are the legal responsibilities of the Youth Justice team in relations to Natalie and what options are available to the court?

If a juvenile is charged with an offence, the custody officer will have to consider bail. If bail is refused the child must be remanded to appear before the youth court at the earliest opportunity. Until then the child must be accommodated by the local authority (PACE 1994, s38 (6). If the child is over the age of 12 as in Natalie’s case then this will be a secure accommodation. The police can therefore refuse bail if they believe it is in the best interest of the child to do so. Other grounds for refusing bail as stated in PACE s 38, will not apply in Natalie’s case. Brayne and Carr (2008) believes that the best interest judgement may apply where Natalie will be transferred to a local authority accommodation pending trial, which may offer more prevention from Natalie committing another offence while awaiting trial. This implies that Natalie will no longer stay with her Aunt Rose.

Natalie will then receive services from the Youth Offending team (YOT) which are required by the Crime and Disorder Act (CDA) 1998. Every child matters also set out key outcomes for children with respect to early intervention and prevention (Home Office, 2003). The Children Act 2004 then provided structural changes for the delivery of children services requesting for the police authorities, probation boards and the YOT to cooperate in improving children’s well being (DfES, 2004).

The YOT must follow the Youth Justice plan (CDA1998, S40) in order to meet national objectives. Responsibilities of YOT include making assessments of children and young persons for rehabilitation programmes to prevent reoffending, where the young person receives a reprimand or final warning; provide support for children and young persons remanded or committed on bail.

The cases outlined above included relevant areas of four care provisions where the Local Authority has powers and duties to act. These are mental health services, children and adoption services, the Youth justice system and older people’s services. These cases have shown that the law plays an important part in social work practice. While the law defines many areas of duties demonstrated in the cases which govern practice, there are also areas where social workers make decisions without being subject to the law. The assignment tackled ethical issues where this conflicts with both personal and professional values. The key issue is between preserving the patient’s autonomy as enshrined in the 1998 Human Rights Act, and protecting the patient and others. It is also useful to promote non consensual intervention when necessary in order to ensure the appropriate balance of rights, obligations and interests. The Local Authority, however, does not have the power to impose any service against people’s wishes, and must respect people’s rights to take risks. The important issue in this case is to realise the capacity a person has, and balance this with the duty of the local authority to minimise risks. This will make it easier for social workers to deal with ethical dilemmas of this nature.

Ball, C and Macdonald, A (2002) Law for Social Workers (4 th ed), Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing

Brammer, A. (2007) Social Work Law , 2nd edition, Harlow, Pearson Longman

Brayne, H and Carr, H (2008) Law for Social Workers (10 th ed) Oxford, Oxford University Press

Clements, J (2004) Community Care and the Law , London, LAG Education and Services Trust

Davis, L (2009) The Social Workers Guide to Children and Families Law , London, Jessica kingsley

DfES (2007) Care Matters: Time for Change, London, The Stationary Office

DfES (2006) Every Child Matters: Working Together to safeguard Children: a guide to inter agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children , London, The Stationary Office

DfES (2004) Every Child Matters: Change for Children in the Criminal Justice System , London, The Stationary Office

DH (2008) Code of Practice, Mental Health 1983 , London, The Stationary Office

DH (2008a) Refocusing the Care Programme Approach: Policy and Positive Practice Guidance , Crown Copyright

DH (2006) Bournewood Briefing Sheet , London, The Stationary Office

DH (2002) A Fundamental Review of the Operations of Adoption Panels , London, The Stationary Office.

DH (2002a) Promoting the Health of Looked After children, London, The Stationary Office.

DH (2001) National Service Framework for Older People and System Reform, London, Crown Copyright

DH (1999) National Service Framework for Mental Health: Modern Standards and Service Models , London, Crown Copyright

DH (1995) Building bridges: A guide to arrangements for interagency working for the care and protection of severely mentally ill people , London, Stationary Office.

Hardcastle, D, Powers, P and Wenocur, S (2004) Community Practice: Theories and Skills for Social Workers, Oxford, Oxford University Press

Home Office (2003) Youth Justice – The next Step: Companion document to Every Child Matters , London, Crown Copyright

Home Office (1998) Establishing Youth Offending Teams , London, and Crown Copyright

London Safeguarding Children Board (2007) London Child Protection Procedures , 3 rd edition, London, LSCB

Mandelstam, M. (2000) An A-Z of Community Care Law, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Potter, M (2007) Mental Health Capacity and Non Consensual Intervention: A Human Rights Perspective, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Review, Issue 5, summer 2007,

Peay, J (2003) Decisions and Dilemmas: Working with Mental Health Law , Oregan, Hart Publishing

Ryden, N (2005) Family Support in Children and Families . In Jowit, M and O’Loughlin, S (ed) 2005, Social Work with Children and Families , Exeter, Learning Matters Limited.

Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI, 2008) Care order:

www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1989/ukpga last accessed 05/11/2008

The Children’s Legal Centre (2008) Kinship Care:

http://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/Resources/CLC/Documents/PDF%20A-MKinship%20care%20leaflet.pdf accessed 02/04/09

Adoption and children’s Act 2002

Adoption agencies Regulations 2005

Carers and Disabled Children’s Act 2000

Children’s Act 1989

Children’s Act 2004

Community Care (Direct Payments) Act 1996.

Crime and Disorder Act 1998

Fostering Service Regulations 2002

Health Services and Public Health Act 1995

Human Rights Act 1998

Local Authority Social Services Act 1970

Mental Health Act 1983

Mental Capacity Act 2005

Mental Health (Patients in the Community) Act (1995)

National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990

Re M (A Minor) (Adoption or residence order) [1998] FLR 520.

How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 9 Easy Steps [Free Template]

Creating your social media marketing strategy doesn’t need to be painful. Create an effective plan for your business in 9 simple steps.

A social media marketing strategy is a summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve on social media. It guides your actions and lets you know whether you’re succeeding or failing.

The more specific your plan is, the more effective it will be. Keep it concise. Don’t make it so lofty and broad that it’s unattainable or impossible to measure.

In this post, we’ll walk you through a nine-step plan to create a winning social media strategy of your own. We’ve even got expert insights from Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing.

How to create a social media strategy:

Bonus: Get a free social media strategy template to quickly and easily plan your own strategy. Also use it to track results and present the plan to your boss, teammates, and clients.

What is a social media marketing strategy?

A social media strategy is a document outlining your social media goals, the tactics you will use to achieve them and the metrics you will track to measure your progress.

Your social media marketing strategy should also list all of your existing and planned social media accounts along with goals specific to each platform you’re active on. These goals should align with your business’s larger digital marketing strategy.

Finally, a good social media plan should define the roles and responsibilities within your team and outline your reporting cadence.

Create. Schedule. Publish. Engage. Measure. Win.

Creating your own social media marketing strategy (video guide)

No time to read the whole article? Let Amanda, Hootsuite’s own Senior Manager of Social Media Marketing, guide you through our free social media marketing strategy template in less than 10 minutes:

How to create a social media marketing strategy in 9 steps

Step 1. choose goals that align to business objectives, set s.m.a.r.t. goals.

The first step to creating a winning social media strategy is to establish clear objectives and goals. Without goals, you have no way to measure success and return on investment (ROI) .

Each of your social media marketing goals should be SMART : s pecific, m easurable, a ttainable, r elevant and t ime-bound.

Psst: Need help getting started? We’ve got social strategy guides for small businesses , financial services , government , higher education , healthcare , real estate , law firms , and non-profits .

Oh, and if you need examples of smart social media goals , we’ve got you covered there too.

track your social media goals in a social media strategy doc, like this one.

Once you’ve decided on your goals, track them in a social media strategy doc — grab our free template if you don’t have one already.

Track meaningful metrics

Vanity metrics like number of followers and likes are easy to track, but it’s hard to prove their real value. Instead, focus on things like engagement, click-through, and conversion rates.

For inspiration, take a look at these 19 essential social media metrics .

You may want to track different goals for different social media networks, or even different uses for each network.

For example, if you use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your website, you would measure click-throughs. If Instagram is for brand awareness, you might track the number of Instagram Story views. And if you advertise on Facebook, cost-per-click (CPC) is a common success metric.

Social media goals should align with your overall marketing objectives. This makes it easier to show the value of your work and secure buy-in from your boss.

Screenshot of chart showing how social media goals should align to business objectives for an effective social media marketing strategy.

Start developing a successful social media marketing plan by writing down at least three goals for social media.

“ It’s easy to get overwhelmed by deciding what to post and which metrics to track, but you need to focus on what you want to get out of social media to begin with,” says Amanda Wood, Hootsuite’s Senior Manager of Social Marketing. “Don’t just start posting and tracking everything: match your goals to your business, and your metrics to your goals.”

Step 2. Learn everything you can about your audience

Get to know your fans, followers, and customers as real people with real wants and needs, and you will know how to target and engage them on social media.

When it comes to your ideal customer, you should know things like:

Average income
Typical job title or industry

Here’s a simple guide and template for creating audience/buyer personas .

Document important information about your target customers in your social media strategy doc

Don’t forget to document this information in your strategy doc!

Social media analytics can also provide a ton of valuable information about who your followers are, where they live, and how they interact with your brand on social media. These insights allow you to refine your strategy and better target your audience.

Jugnoo, an Uber-like service for auto-rickshaws in India, used Facebook Analytics to learn that 90% of their users who referred other customers were between 18- and 34-years-old, and 65% of that group was using Android. They used that information to target their ads, resulting in a 40% lower cost per referral.

Check out our guide to using social media analytics and the tools you need to track them .

Step 3. Get to know your competition

Odds are your competitors are already using social media, and that means you can learn from what they’re doing.

Conduct a competitive analysis

A competitive analysis allows you to understand who the competition is and what they’re doing well (and not so well). You’ll get a good sense of what’s expected in your industry, which will help you set social media targets of your own.

It will also help you spot opportunities and weaknesses you can document in your social strategy doc.

track essential information about your competitors in your social strategy doc

Maybe one of your competitors is dominant on Facebook, for example, but has put little effort into X (Twitter) or Instagram. You might want to focus on the social media platforms where your audience is underserved, rather than trying to win fans away from a dominant player.

Use social media listening

Social listening is another way to keep an eye on your competitors.

Do searches of the competition’s company name, account handles, and other relevant keywords on social media. Find out what they’re sharing and what other people are saying about them. If they’re using influencer marketing, how much engagement do those campaigns earn them?

Pro tip : Use Hootsuite Streams to monitor relevant keywords, hashtags and accounts in real-time.

Try Hootsuite for free. You can cancel anytime.

As you track, you may notice shifts in how your competitors and industry leaders are using social media. You may come across new, exciting trends. You might even spot specific social content or a campaign that really hits the mark—or totally bombs.

Use this kind of intel to optimize and inform your own social media marketing strategy.

Just don’t go overboard on the spy tactics, Amanda advises. “ Make sure you aren’t ALWAYS comparing yourself to the competition — it can be a distraction. I’d say checking in on a monthly basis is healthy. Otherwise, focus on your own strategy and results.”

Step 4. Do a social media audit

If you’re already using social media, take stock of your efforts so far. Ask yourself the following questions:

What’s working, and what’s not?
Who is engaging with you?
What are your most valuable partnerships?
Which networks does your target audience use?
How does your social media presence compare to the competition?

Once you collect that information, you’ll be ready to start thinking about ways to improve.

We’ve created an easy-to-follow social media audit guide and template to walk you through each step of this process.

Screenshot of a social media audit spreadsheet for building an effective social media marketing strategy

Your audit should give you a clear picture of what purpose each of your social accounts serves. If the purpose of an account isn’t clear, think about whether it’s worth keeping.

To help you decide, ask yourself the following questions:

Is my audience here?
If so, how are they using this platform?
Can I use this account to help achieve my goals?

Asking these tough questions will keep your social media strategy focused.

Look for impostor accounts

During the audit, you may discover fake accounts using your business name or the names of your products.

These imposters can be harmful to your brand—never mind that they’re capturing followers that should be yours.

You may want to get your accounts verified too to ensure your fans know they are dealing with the real you.

Here’s how to get verified on:

X (Twitter)

Step 5. Set up accounts and improve profiles

Decide which networks to use.

As you decide which social networks to use, you will also need to define your strategy for each.

Benefit Cosmetics’ social media manager, Angela Purcaro, told eMarketer : “For our makeup tutorials … we’re all about Snapchat and Instagram Stories. [X], on the other hand, is designated for customer service.”

Hootsuite’s own social team even designates different purposes for formats within networks. On Instagram, for example, they use the feed to post high-quality educational infographics and product announcements and Stories to cover live events or quick social media updates.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hootsuite 🦉 (@hootsuite)

Pro tip : Write out a mission statement for each network. A one-sentence declaration to keep you focused on a specific goal.

Example: “We will use X for customer support to keep email and call volumes down.”

Or: “We will use LinkedIn for promoting and sharing our company culture to help with recruitment and employee advocacy.”

One more: “We will use Instagram to highlight new products and repost quality content from influencers.”

If you can’t create a solid mission statement for a particular social media channel, you may want to ask yourself if it’s worth it.

Note : While larger businesses can and do tackle every platform, small businesses may not be able to — and that’s ok! Prioritize social platforms that will have the most impact on your business and make sure your marketing team has the resources to handle content for those networks. If you need help focusing your efforts, check out our 18-minute social media plan .

Set up your profiles

Once you’ve decided which networks to focus on, it’s time to create your profiles. Or improve existing ones so they align with your strategy.

Make sure you fill out all profile fields
Include keywords people would use to search for your business
Use consistent branding (logos, images, etc.) across networks so your profiles are easily recognizable

Pro tip : Use high-quality images that follow the recommended dimensions for each network. Check out our always-up-to-date social media image size cheat sheet for quick reference.

We’ve also got step-by-step guides for each network to walk you through the process:

Create a Facebook business page
Create an Instagram business account
Create a TikTok account
Create a X (Twitter) business account
Create a Snapchat account
Create a LinkedIn Company Page
Create a Pinterest business account
Create a YouTube channel

Don’t let this list overwhelm you. Remember, it’s better to use fewer channels well than to stretch yourself thin trying to maintain a presence on every network.

Optimize your profiles (and content) for search

Never heard of social SEO ? It’s time to learn.

44% of Gen Z consumers use social platforms to research their purchase decisions, which means it’s extra critical that your channels are optimized for social search.

That means making sure your profile names are clear and descriptive, you’re including relevant hashtags and keywords in your bio and on every post, and you’re using features like alt text and captions to include your target keywords as naturally as possible.

Step 6. Find inspiration

While it’s important that your brand be unique, you can still draw inspiration from other businesses that are great on social.

“ I consider it my job to stay active on social: to know what’s trending, which campaigns are winning, what’s new with the platforms, who’s going above and beyond,” says Amanda. “This might be the most fun step for you, or the hardest one, but it’s just as crucial as the rest of them.”

Social media success stories

You can usually find these on the business section of the social network’s website. ( Here’s Facebook’s , for example.)

Case studies can offer valuable insights that you can apply to your own social media plan.

Award-winning accounts and campaigns

You could also check out the winners of The Facebook Awards or The Shorty Awards for examples of brands that are at the top of their social media game.

For learning and a laugh, check out Fridge-Worthy, Hootsuite’s bi-weekly awards show highlighting brands doing smart and clever things on social media.

Your favorite brands on social media

Who do you enjoy following on social media? What do they do that compels people to engage and share their content?

National Geographic, for example, is one of the best on Instagram, combining stunning visuals with compelling captions.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo)

Then there’s Shopify. The ecommerce brand uses Facebook to sell themselves by showcasing customer stories and case studies.

And Lush Cosmetics is a great example of superior customer service on X. They use their 280 characters to answer questions and solve problems in an extremely charming and on-brand way.

Source: lushcosmetics on X

Notice that each of these accounts has a consistent voice, tone, and style. That’s key to letting people know what to expect from your feed. That is, why should they follow you? What’s in it for them?

Consistency also helps keep your content on-brand even if you have multiple people on your social media team.

For more on this, read our guide on establishing a compelling brand voice on social media .

Ask your followers

Consumers can also offer social media inspiration.

What are your target customers talking about online? What can you learn about their wants and needs?

If you have existing social channels, you could also ask your followers what they want from you. Just make sure that you follow through and deliver what they ask for.

Step 7. Create a social media content calendar

Sharing great content is essential, of course, but it’s equally important to have a plan in place for when you’ll share content to get the maximum impact.

Your social media content calendar also needs to account for the time you spend interacting with the audience (although you need to allow for some spontaneous engagement as well).

Set your posting schedule

Your social media content calendar lists the dates and times at which you will publish types of content on each channel. It’s the perfect place to plan all of your social media activities—from images, link sharing, and re-shares of user-generated content to blog posts and videos. It includes both your day-to-day posting and content for social media campaigns.

Your calendar also ensures your posts are spaced out appropriately and published at the best times to post .

Pro tip: You can plan your whole content calendar and get recommended best times to post on every network based on your past engagement rate, impressions, or link click data in Hootsuite.

Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature

Determine the right content mix

Make sure your content strategy and calendar reflect the mission statement you’ve assigned to each social profile, so that everything you post is working to support your business goals.

(We know, it’s tempting to jump on every meme, but there should always be a strategy behind your social media marketing efforts!)

You might decide that:

50% of content will drive traffic back to your website
25% of content will be curated from other sources
20% of content will support lead-generation goals (newsletter sign-ups, ebook downloads, etc.)
5% of content will be about your company culture

Placing these different post types in your content calendar will ensure you maintain the right mix.

If you’re starting from scratch and you’re not sure what types of content to post, try the 80-20 rule :

80% of your posts should inform, educate, or entertain your audience
20% can directly promote your brand.

The 80-20 rule of social media publishing

You could also try the social media content marketing rule of thirds :

One-third of your content promotes your business, converts readers, and generates profit.
One-third of your content shares ideas and stories from thought leaders in your industry or like-minded businesses.
One-third of your content is personal interactions with your audience

The social media marketing rule of thirds

Whatever you decide on, be sure to document it in your strategy doc.

document your content pillars in your strategy doc

Don’t post too much or too little

If you’re starting a social media marketing strategy from scratch, you may not have figured out how often to post to each network for maximum engagement yet.

Post too frequently and you risk annoying your audience. But, if you post too little, you risk looking like you’re not worth following.

Start with these posting frequency recommendations:

Instagram (feed): 3-7 times per week
TikTok: 3-5 times per week
Facebook: 1-2 times per day
X (Twitter): 1-5 times per day
LinkedIn: 1-5 times per day

How often to publish on social media by each platform

Pro tip : Once you have your social media content calendar planned out, use a scheduling tool to prepare messages in advance rather than updating constantly throughout the day.

We might be biased, but we think Hootsuite is the best social media management tool. You can schedule social media posts to every network and the intuitive calendar view gives you a full picture of all your social activity each week.

Try It Free

Step 8. Create compelling content

Remember those mission statements you created for each channel in Step 5? Well, it’s time to go a bit deeper, a.k.a. provide some examples of the type of content you’ll post to fulfill your mission on each network.

If you’re not sure what to post, here’s a long list of social media content ideas to get you started. Or (to make it even easier) you can use an AI tool like OwlyWriter to generate on-brand content in a flash.

The idea here is to:

Keep your content aligned with the purpose of each network;
Show other stakeholders (if applicable) what kind of content they can expect to see on each network.

This last point especially will help you avoid any tension when your colleagues want to know why you haven’t posted their case study/whitepaper/blog post to TikTok yet. It’s not in the strategy, Linda!

Ideally, you will generate content types that are both suited to the network and the purpose you’ve set out for that network.

For example, you wouldn’t want to waste time posting brand awareness tweets if you’ve designated X/Twitter for primarily customer support. And you wouldn’t want to post super polished corporate video ads to TikTok, as users expect to see short, unpolished videos on that platform.

It might take some testing over time to figure out which type of content works best on which type of network, so prepare to update this section frequently.

We won’t lie: content creation isn’t as easy as everyone not on the social team seems to think. But if you’re struggling, Amanda suggests going back to basics.

The first question to ask is: is there cohesion between your content types? Is your content providing value? Do you have a good mix of entertaining, or educational content? What does it offer that makes a person stop and spend time? Creating a few different content pillars or categories that encompass different aspects of storytelling for your brand, and what you can offer your audience is a good start.

This brings us to Step 9.

Step 9. Track performance and make adjustments

Your social media marketing strategy is a hugely important document for your business, and you can’t assume you’ll get it exactly right on the first try.

As you start to implement your plan and track your results, you may find that some strategies don’t work as well as you’d anticipated, while others are working even better than expected.

That’s why it’s important to document your progress along the way.

Look at performance metrics

In addition to the analytics within each social network (see Step 2), you can use UTM parameters to track social visitors as they move through your website, so you can see exactly which social posts drive the most traffic to your website.

Benchmark your results

You’ve got your numbers, but how do they stack up to the competition in your industry? Industry benchmarks are a great way to evaluate your performance against other businesses in your category.

If you’ve got Hootsuite Analytics , you can use our built-in social media benchmarking tool to compare the performance of your social accounts against the average of brands in your industry with just a couple of clicks.

You can set up custom timeframes, switch between networks — Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and TikTok — and look up benchmarks for metrics like followers, audience growth rate, engagement rate, clicks, shares, and much more.

You’ll also find resources to improve your performance right in the summary section:

Industry benchmarking in Hootsuite Analytics: Performance summary with dedicated resources for improvement

Re-evaluate, test, and do it all again

Once this data starts coming in, use it to re-evaluate your strategy regularly. You can also use this information to test different posts, social marketing campaigns, and strategies against one another. Constant testing allows you to understand what works and what doesn’t, so you can refine your social media marketing strategy in real time.

You’ll want to check the performance of all your channels at least once a week and get to know the basics of social media reporting so you can track your growth over time.

Pro tip: If you use Hootsuite, you can review the performance of all your posts on every network in one place. Once you get the hang of checking your analytics, you may even want to customize different reports to show specific metrics over a variety of different time periods.

Surveys can also be a great way to find out how well your social media strategy is working. Ask your followers, email list, and website visitors whether you’re meeting their needs and expectations, and what they’d like to see more of. Then make sure to deliver on what they tell you.

Finalizing your social media strategy

Spoiler alert: nothing is final.

Social media moves fast. New networks emerge, others go through demographic shifts.

Your business will go through periods of change as well.

All of this means that your social media marketing strategy should be a living document that you review and adjust as needed. Refer to it often to stay on track, but don’t be afraid to make changes so that it better reflects new goals, tools, or plans.

When you update your social strategy, make sure to watch our 5-step video on how to updating your social media strategy for 2024:

Social media strategy template

Ready to start documenting? Grab your free social media strategy template below!

What’s next? When you’re ready to put your plan into action, we’re here to help…

Save time managing your social media marketing strategy with Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can easily:

Plan, create, and schedule posts to every network
Track relevant keywords, topics, and accounts
Stay on top of engagement with a universal inbox
Get easy-to-understand performance reports and improve your strategy as needed

Try Hootsuite for Free

With files from Shannon Tien .

Do it better with Hootsuite , the all-in-one social media tool. Stay on top of things, grow, and beat the competition.

Become a better social marketer.

Get expert social media advice delivered straight to your inbox.

Christina Newberry is an award-winning writer and editor whose greatest passions include food, travel, urban gardening, and the Oxford comma—not necessarily in that order.

Amanda Wood is a senior social marketing professional who combines analytical and creative thinking to build brands.

As head of social at Hootsuite, Amanda oversees the global social strategy encompassing organic and paid social on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn, a social engagement and listening strategy, and an employee advocacy program.

As the leader of a high-performing social team, she has extensive experience collaborating with creatives to bring campaigns to life on social and drive business results.

How To Set and Exceed Social Media Goals [9 Examples]

Struggling to structure your efforts on social? Set yourself up for success with our guide to setting and exceeding smart social media goals.

How To Run the Easiest Social Media Audit [FREE TEMPLATES]

A social media audit is the best way to review and improve any social marketing strategy. Our free checklist and template make it easy.

How to Create a Social Media Calendar and Stay Organized

Social media content calendars are the best way to plan and organize your content. Build one in 4 easy steps or use our free templates.

Social Media Marketing Tools: The Complete Guide

Automate your work, save time, and build better relationships with your audience by using the right social media marketing tools.

Together Against Trafficking in Human Beings

Trafficking in human beings is a crime that should have no place in today’s society. It destroys individuals’ lives by depriving people of their dignity, freedom and fundamental rights. It is often a violent crime committed by organised crime networks.

Facts about trafficking in human beings

37% of the victims of trafficking in the EU are EU citizens, and a significant number of them are trafficked within their own country. However, non-EU victims have increased in recent years and they now outnumber victims with an EU citizenship. The majority of victims in the EU are women and girls who are mainly trafficked for sexual exploitation. The ratio of male victims has more than doubled in the last years.

Around 15% of victims of trafficking in the EU are children.

The most common forms of trafficking in the EU is sexual exploitation and labour exploitation . Both forms of exploitation amount to an equal share of victims. Most traffickers in the EU are EU citizens and often of the same nationality as their victims. More than three quarters of perpetrators are men.

Links with organised crime

This crime brings high profits to criminals and carries with it enormous human, social and economic costs. Trafficking in human beings is often linked with other forms of organised crime such as migrant smuggling, drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering, document fraud, payment card fraud, property crimes, cybercrime and other.

This complex criminal phenomenon continues to be systematically addressed in a wide range of EU policy areas and initiatives from security to migration, justice, equality, fundamental rights, research, development and cooperation, external action and employment to name a few.

Discover the 'End human trafficking. Break the invisible chain' campaign

Learn about EU Anti-trafficking actions

A comprehensive EU approach to fight trafficking in human beings is anchored in the EU Anti-trafficking Directive, and complemented by the EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings (2021-2025).

The EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator is responsible for improving coordination and coherence among EU institutions, EU agencies, Member States and international actors, and for developing existing and new EU policies to address Trafficking in Human Beings.

Part of the mandate of the EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator is to foster cooperation and policy coherence, including the EU Networks of the National Rapporteurs and Equivalent Mechanisms, the EU Civil Society Platform and the cooperation with the EU Agencies.

This section provides comprehensive information on how each EU country, tackles, prevents and identifies instances of trafficking in human beings.

Recent calls for proposals and EU projects and Funding for projects addressing trafficking in human beings are presented.

This section provides an overview of relevant publications and studies on EU anti-trafficking actions.

News on combatting trafficking

Image displays headline: Stronger EU rules to fight human trafficking

News article
27 May 2024

Image displays info about call for proposals including deadline to apply which is 21 august

22 May 2024

In a dark train station, surrounded by busy people, the figure of a man who is begging appears. He is almost transparent, suggesting the invisibility of victims of trafficking in human beings.

28 February 2024

Visual displaying three different types of victims of trafficking in human beings: labour exploitation, sexual exploitation, and forced begging.

24 January 2024

EU Network of National Rapporteurs and Coordinators and EU Civil Society Platform join efforts against trafficking in human beings

10 November 2023

18 October 2023

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Suburbanization Problems in the USSR : the Case of Moscow

Référence bibliographique

Gornostayeva Galina A. Suburbanization Problems in the USSR : the Case of Moscow . In: Espace, populations, sociétés , 1991-2. Les franges périurbaines Peri-urban fringes. pp. 349-357.

DOI : https://doi.org/10.3406/espos.1991.1474

www.persee.fr/doc/espos_0755-7809_1991_num_9_2_1474

RIS (ProCite, Endnote, ...)

Galina A. GORNOSTAYEVA

Moscow University

Suburbanization Problems

in the USSR :

the Case of Moscow

Suburbanization processes typical to cities in Western Europe, the USA and other countries are not observed in the USSR or they are distorted to such an extent that they may not be compared with existing standards. This states the question how Soviet cities-succeeded in escaping this stage of urban development. In order to answer this question, we should first summarize the main aspects of Western suburbanization.

Firstly, it is well known that the urbanization processes are linked to structural changes in the economy. Thus the transition from the stage of concentration to this of suburbanization is associated with industrialization, and the transition to the third stage - déconcentration - is related with the rapid growth of employment in the non-industrial sphere. Secondly, a suburbanization of economic activities can be distinguished. It applies in the first place to the building and iron- working industry, transports, engineering and chemical works. These are polluting and requiring extensive areas. This suburbanization of industry is caused by the following factors: rising demand for land from firms ; worsening of transport

tions in the inner cities ; demand for lower land costs and taxation levels in suburbs ; rapid growth of road transports; state policies regulating the growth of large cities ; migration of the labour force to the suburban zones. Scientific and educational activities are also transferred from the centre to the suburbs.

The third important aspect of suburbanization applies to the population. In the suburbs two opposite flows of population meet ; one is centripetal, coming from non- metropolitan regions, the other is centrifugal, coming from the central city. The reasons for the migration to the suburbs are as follows : declining living standards in large cities (overcrowding, slow housing renewal, environmental problems, etc.); growth of motorization of the population, development of communications (telephone, telex, fax, computer) ; intensifying decentralization of working places ; lower land prices in the suburbs ; state support for the intensification of real estate development in the suburbs. The above-mentioned factors and reasons for suburbanization are altered in the Soviet cities. Let us explore them, by taking for example the largest one - Moscow.

National Politics | Supreme Court has a lot of work to do and…

Breaking News

National politics | so long, warriors klay thompson unfollows golden state on instagram, national politics, national politics | supreme court has a lot of work to do and little time to do it with a sizable case backlog.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is headed into its final few weeks with nearly half of the cases heard this year still undecided, including ones that could reshape the law on everything from guns to abortion to social media. The justices are also still weighing whether former President Donald Trump is immune from criminal prosecution in the election interference case against him, more than a month after hearing arguments.

The court heard 61 cases this term, and 29 remain unresolved, with some decisions expected Thursday and Friday.

Here’s a look at some of the major undecided cases:

Presidential immunity

Donald Trump is arguing that former presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts they took in office and that the indictment he faces on charges of election interference must be dismissed.

The Supreme Court has previously ruled that former presidents can’t be sued in civil cases for what they did in office, but it has never weighed in on criminal immunity.

The timing of the decision may be as important as the outcome. Trump’s trial in Washington, D.C., may not take place before the November election, even if the court rules he is not immune.

Jan. 6, 2021

A former Pennsylvania police officer is challenging the validity of obstruction charges brought against hundreds of people who took part in the violent assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump faces the same charge of obstructing an official proceeding.

The issue is whether a law meant to discourage tampering with documents sought in investigations can be used against the Capitol rioters.

Abortion pill

Abortion opponents are trying to make it harder for pregnant women to obtain medication abortions. They want the Supreme Court to roll back changes made by the FDA that have made it easier to obtain mifepristone , one of the two drugs used in nearly two-thirds of abortions in the United States last year. Those include eliminating the need for in-person visits and allowing the drug to be mailed.

Most Republican-led states have severely restricted or banned abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. The high court’s decision in this case will affect abortion even in states where it remains legal.

Emergency abortion

There’s a second abortion case on the docket this year: whether doctors can provide that medical procedure in emergencies in states that banned abortion after the court overturned Roe v. Wade.

In a case out of Idaho, the Biden administration says abortions must be allowed in emergencies where a woman’s health is at serious risk.

The state argues that its strict abortion ban does allow abortions to save a woman’s life, and doesn’t need to expand exceptions for health risks.

The justices are weighing whether to uphold a federal law that seeks to protect domestic violence victims by keeping guns away from the people alleged to have abused them. An appeals court struck down a law that prohibits people under domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms. That court found that the law violated the 2nd Amendment right to “keep and bear arms” following the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that expanded gun rights and changed how courts are supposed to evaluate gun restrictions.

Homelessness

The most significant Supreme Court case in decades on homelessness centers on whether people can be banned from sleeping outdoors when shelter space is lacking.

A San Francisco-based appeals court decision said that amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Leaders from California and across the West say that the ruling makes it harder for them to regulate homeless encampments encroaching on sidewalks and other public places.

Advocates say it would criminalize homelessness just as rising costs have pushed the number of people without a permanent place to live to record levels.

Bump stocks

The Trump administration banned bump stocks, a gun accessory that allows rapid fire like a machine gun, after they were used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

The ban is being challenged by a Texas gun shop owner who says the Justice Department was wrong to reverse course and declare them illegal machine guns after the 2017 Las Vegas massacre.

The Biden administration argues banning them after the shooting that left 60 people dead was the right call.

The justices could overturn a 40-year-old decision that has been cited thousands of times in federal court cases and used to uphold regulations on the environment, public health, workplace safety and consumer protections. The decision colloquially known as Chevron calls on judges to defer to federal regulators when the words of a statute are not crystal clear. The decision has long been targeted by conservative and business interests who say Chevron robs judges of their authority and gives too much power to regulators.

Social media

Three cases remain unresolved at the intersection of social media and government.

Two cases involve social media laws in Texas and Florida that would limit how Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube and other social media platforms regulate content posted by their users. While the details vary, both laws aimed to address conservative complaints that the social media companies were liberal-leaning and censored users based on their viewpoints, especially on the political right.

In the third case, Republican-led states are suing the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat controversial social media posts on topics including COVID-19 and election security. A federal appeals court sided with the states in finding that administration officials unconstitutionally coerced the platforms to limit conservative points of view.

Purdue Pharma

The Supreme Court controls the fate of a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would allocate billions of dollars to combat the opioid epidemic , but also provide a legal shield for members of the Sackler family who own the company. The settlement has been on hold since last summer after the Supreme Court agreed to weigh in.

A business-backed challenge to a tax on foreign income is being watched closely for what it might say about the fate of a wealth tax , an often discussed but never implemented tax on the wealthiest Americans.

Air pollution

Republican-led, energy-producing states and the steel industry want the court to put the Environmental Protection Agency’s air pollution-fighting “good neighbor” plan on hold while legal challenges continue. The plan aims to protect downwind states that receive unwanted air pollution from other states.

Another important regulatory case could strip the SEC of a major tool in fighting securities fraud and have far-reaching effects on other regulatory agencies. The court is being asked to rule that people facing civil fraud complaints have the right to a jury trial in federal court.

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Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump express baseline support for Israel, but they diverge significantly on a two-state solution, settlements and other key questions.

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Border Protection Workers Get Retaliation Claims Revived

By Ufonobong Umanah

Three employees of a Customs and Border Protection division tasked with and praised for disrupting MS-13 can pursue whistleblower claims before the Merit Systems Protection Board after the Fourth Circuit revived their case.

The workers at CBP’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Division raised concerns the agency had been “‘out of compliance’” with the DNA Fingerprints Act of 2005. But CBP allegedly retaliated against them, partly by transferring MS-13 responsibilities away from their division, according to the opinion by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

An MSPB administrative judge said the board had jurisdiction over some claims under ...

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An Israeli data-scraping company sued by Elon Musk's X Corp is taking aim at the social media company's legal team, telling a judge in San Francisco that X's law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart ...
Union Pacific Workers' Bias Suit Tolled by Class Action, Back On
Five Union Pacific Railroad Co. employees who say a company fitness-for-duty program was run in a way that discriminated against those with disabilities can pursue their claims under a class action rule that suspends the time for class members to sue individually, the Ninth Circuit said Friday in a case of first impression.. The tolling of a statute of limitations under American Pipe and ...
Connecticut Town to Face Ex-Worker's Sexual Discrimination Case
2nd Circuit reversed decision that Berlin addressed harassment Plaintiff Hellyn Riggins could take her claims to a jury trial A former town official in Connecticut may bring her sexual harassment-related claims to a jury trial after an appellate court struck down a federal court decision. The ...
How to Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy [Template]
Social media success stories. You can usually find these on the business section of the social network's website. (Here's Facebook's, for example.) Case studies can offer valuable insights that you can apply to your own social media plan. Award-winning accounts and campaigns
Elektrostal
Law #11/2013-OZ of January 31, 2013 On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Moscow Oblast, as amended by the Law #249/2019-OZ of November 29, 2019 On amending the Law of Moscow Oblast "On the Administrative-Territorial Structure of Moscow Oblast". Effective as of the day following the day of the official publication (January 13, 2013).).
Judge in Trump case notifies lawyers about social media post claiming
The judge in Donald Trump's Manhattan hush money case notified lawyers on both sides about a social media post alleging that one of the jurors who convicted the former president may have spoken ...
Together Against Trafficking in Human Beings
This crime brings high profits to criminals and carries with it enormous human, social and economic costs. Trafficking in human beings is often linked with other forms of organised crime such as migrant smuggling, drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering, document fraud, payment card fraud, property crimes, cybercrime and other.
Suburbanization Problems in the USSR : the Case of Moscow
The social and economic causes of Moscow's extensive growth reveal that its problems are a reflection of the ones facing the USSR. The concentration of economic, social and management functions in Mos-. cow in Soviet times materializes the strong centralism of the particraty and weighs down on the city's development.
Supreme Court has a lot of work to do and little time to do it with a
The court is headed into its final few weeks with nearly half of the cases heard this year undecided, including ones that could reshape the law on everything from guns to abortion to social media.
Border Protection Workers Get Retaliation Claims Revived
Three employees of a Customs and Border Protection division tasked with and praised for disrupting MS-13 can pursue whistleblower claims before the Merit Systems Protection Board after the Fourth Circuit revived their case. The workers at CBP's Weapons of Mass Destruction Division raised concerns the agency had been "'out of compliance ...