Wk 9 discussion SOCW 6361 Discussion: Developing Political Strategies In this week's resources, you explore the stories of Susana and the Bradley family. They are all in situations that need social work intervention and advocacy. What political strategies would you use to enact policies developed to assist these individuals? In this Discussion, you develop political strategies to address one aspect of the situation(s) and problem(s) facing Susana and members of the Bradley family. To Prepare: Read and review Chapter 11 in your text. Read "Social Work Policy: Children and Adolescents" and "Social Policy and Advocacy: Violence Prevention". View the Bradley Episode 7 in the media for this week. Post an explanation of the political strategies you would use to address one aspect of the situations/problems facing Susana and members of the Bradley family.  Explain why you selected that strategy. Be sure to support your post with specific references to this week's resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to provide full APA-formatted citations for your references. Resources Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an effective policy advocate: From policy practice to social justice (8th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Series. Chapter 11, "Developing Political Strategy and Putting It into Action in the Policy-Enacting Task" (pp. 372-419) Plummer, S.-B, Makris, S., Brocksen S. (Eds.). (2014). Social work case studies: Concentration year.Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader]. "Social Work Policy: Children and Adolescents. The Case of Susanna" (pp. 57–60) "Social Policy and Advocacy: Violence Prevention" (pp. 53–55) Social Policy and Advocacy: Violence Prevention As a social worker in a private nonprofit organization, I was hired to coordinate the activities of a newly formed countywide committee to explore and address violence prevention. The newly formed prevention committee was funded privately and managed by a local nonprofit, family service organization. As committee coordinator, it was my role to work with the committee to identify programmatic and policy interests that could be addressed in the community. The county demographics varied by region, from affluent suburban areas to impoverished urban areas. The prevention committee was composed of professionals and community members throughout the county. Social service workers, healthcare professionals, educators, law enforcement officials, domestic violence professionals, community members, and local government officials worked collaboratively on the committee. Through monthly meetings, I worked with members to collect data on various forms of violence within the county. Our goals were to gain a better understanding of violence in the community, clarify unmet needs, explore available services in place, and share knowledge on violence prevention with one another. By working toward these goals, we set objecti.

1. Wk 9 discussion SOCW 6361
Discussion: Developing Political Strategies
In this week's resources, you explore the stories of Susana and
the Bradley family. They are all in situations that need social
work intervention and advocacy. What political strategies would
you use to enact policies developed to assist these individuals?
In this Discussion, you develop political strategies to address
one aspect of the situation(s) and problem(s) facing Susana and
members of the Bradley family.
To Prepare: Read and review Chapter 11 in your text. Read
"Social Work Policy: Children and Adolescents" and "Social
Policy and Advocacy: Violence Prevention". View the Bradley
Episode 7 in the media for this week.
Post an explanation of the political strategies you would use to
address one aspect of the situations/problems facing Susana and
members of the Bradley family.
Explain why you selected that strategy.
Be sure to support your post with specific references to this
week's resources. If you are using additional articles, be sure to
provide full APA-formatted citations for your references.
Resources
Jansson, B. S. (2018). Becoming an effective policy advocate:
From policy practice to social justice (8th ed.). Pacific Grove,
CA: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning Series.

2. Chapter 11, "Developing Political Strategy and Putting It into
Action in the Policy-Enacting Task" (pp. 372-419)
Plummer, S.-B, Makris, S., Brocksen S. (Eds.). (2014). Social
work case studies: Concentration year.Baltimore, MD: Laureate
International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
"Social Work Policy: Children and Adolescents. The Case of
Susanna" (pp. 57–60)
"Social Policy and Advocacy: Violence Prevention" (pp. 53–55)
Social Policy and Advocacy: Violence Prevention
As a social worker in a private nonprofit organization, I was
hired to coordinate the activities of a newly formed countywide
committee to explore and address violence prevention. The
newly formed prevention committee was funded privately and
managed by a local nonprofit, family service organization. As
committee coordinator, it was my role to work with the
committee to identify programmatic and policy interests that
could be addressed in the community. The county demographics
varied by region, from affluent suburban areas to impoverished
urban areas.
The prevention committee was composed of professionals and
community members throughout the county. Social service
workers, healthcare professionals, educators, law enforcement
officials, domestic violence professionals, community members,
and local government officials worked collaboratively on the
committee. Through monthly meetings, I worked with members
to collect data on various forms of violence within the county.
Our goals were to gain a better understanding of violence in the
community, clarify unmet needs, explore available services in
place, and share knowledge on violence prevention with one

3. another. By working toward these goals, we set objectives to 1)
address unmet needs through collaboration and innovation, and
2) clarify a policy agenda the entire committee would be able to
support.
I examined trends and incidence levels of violence in order to
identify unmet needs and narrow the focus of our policy agenda.
I gathered qualitative data from all committee members
regarding areas of violence prevention relevant to their work in
the community. Initial feedback was widely varied as a result of
the broad range of fields represented on the committee. After
continued discussion with committee members, an area of
common concern was found related to dating violence education
in local schools. While it was found that several individual
schools were utilizing educational curricula to address dating
violence, there were multiple concerns regarding large service
gaps as well as inconsistencies across the school districts and
the county as a whole.
The committee continued discussions on the topic of dating
violence prevention, sharing research and knowledge on
prevention programs. As the committee continued working, a
new bill was introduced in the State General Assembly
addressing the specific topic of dating abuse education in public
school systems. The proposed legislation posited that each
school district would be required to implement age-appropriate
dating violence education as a part of the physical education
and health curriculum. I proceeded with analyzing the contents
of the bill by utilizing a social welfare policy analysis
framework. I conducted additional research on the effectiveness
of school-based dating violence prevention curricula. I
compiled a body of peer-reviewed research demonstrating the
effectiveness of educational programs similar to those supported
by the committee. The programs I researched were quite similar
to the proposal in the new bill. Prior to the next committee
meeting, I obtained approval from the executive director of the

4. sponsoring nonprofit organization to support this bill as the
committee’s policy agenda.
The committee as a whole then voted to support the dating
violence education bill. We collaboratively worked to draft a
letter of support for the new legislation. Each committee
member then utilized the letter to advocate for the new bill.
Members sent letters to, called, and arranged for meetings with
their local assemblymen and assemblywomen. I composed a
letter on behalf of the committee as a whole and distributed it to
local government representatives. I met with local school
leaders and the county domestic violence agency’s educational
program staff to discuss implementation of the new bill. The
school leaders and the domestic violence education staff
publicly supported the bill; the domestic violence education
staff had already begun working to ensure their curriculum met
the requirements of the new bill.
As the legislative process continued, I tracked the bill as it
passed through the Assembly Education Committee. I provided
regular updates to committee members, and I maintained
communication with local legislators and continued publicly
supporting the bill when I attended community meetings. The
bill proceeded to the House, and with minimal amendments the
final dating abuse prevention legislation was passed just as the
prevention committee entered the second year of work.
Social Work Policy: Children and Adolescents case study
Susana is a 15-year-old, Caucasian female who lives with her
parents and younger sister in a middle-class suburban
neighborhood. Her family has been involved with the county
Child Protective Services due to a persistent problem with
truancy attending public school during a 6-month period. The
school principal requested the agency’s intervention because
Susana had only attended school for 1 day during the fall

5. semester. Her attendance the previous year was also poor, as
she had missed a total of 64 out of 175 days.
As the social worker assigned to the case, I met with the school
principal as well as with Susana and her parents. The principal
reported that Susana, other than her recent persistent truancy,
had a good school record. He said that her teachers never
reported any unusual behaviors other than that Susana was
somewhat quiet, shy, and kept to herself during both class and
recess times. Her grades and test scores were above average
during her elementary and middle school years until last year
when she started to fall behind as a result of missing so many
school days. In accordance with school policy and state law
(which mandates that all children up to age 16 attend school),
school personnel called her parents and met with them on at
least three occasions about the excessive truancy. The parents
were described as concerned and cooperative but told the
officials that they were unsuccessful in motivating Susana to go
back to school. Eventually, the situation progressed to the point
that the parents were being assessed fines by local magistrates
for the continued truancy, and the case was referred to county
family court for further evaluation.
When I conducted a home visit, I found that the living
conditions appeared good and that both parents seemed to have
a calm and relaxed approach in their communication with each
other and their two daughters. They said they had always had
good relationships with their daughters and that neither had ever
had serious disciplinary issues. They said that Susana had
always been more reserved and less outgoing than her younger
sister, who was 12 years old. The father worked in a white-
collar job, and the mother did not work outside of the home.
They reported no history of serious physical or mental health
issues or significant traumas that might have prompted Susana’s
recent pattern of staying away from school. Susana seemed
polite but also seemed reticent to discuss why she did not want

6. to go back to school. She had few friends, seemed to stay at
home all the time, and appeared very much attached to her
mother, especially when compared to most other teens the same
age. In contrast, her younger sister was described as having
many friends and being involved with multiple extracurricular
activities.
I explained to both Susana and her parents that school
attendance was not only mandatory but also essential to
Susana’s future career development. Because Susana seemed
somewhat withdrawn and nonparticipatory during the interview
process, I also told the parents to set up an appointment with
her personal physician and that I would provide a referral to the
local community mental health clinic for further assessment.
In the meantime, the truancies continued to accrue and the case
was automatically referred to a hearing before the local family
court judge later that same month. I prepared a recommendation
to the court that both the parents and teen be assessed at the
local community mental health center and that Susana be
directed to return to school as soon as possible. Both Susana
and her parents said that they concurred with these
recommendations at the hearing before the judge. The judge
said that he would make a decision and issue a ruling the
following week. When the judge’s finding and order were
received the following week, the social worker was surprised
that instead of directing community-based intervention, the
judge said that Susana should be immediately removed from her
parents’ custody and placed in an institutional setting (a
Catholic girls’ school for delinquents) located about 100 miles
away.
I requested a conference with the judge, which was granted the
following day. I explained to the judge that institutionalization
was not seen as warranted in this case, and that the teen was
quiet and withdrawn and would likely react poorly to a crowded

7. setting populated with delinquent teens. Further, I added that
Susana seemed very attached to her parents, and I was
concerned how she might react if removed from the home. I
advocated for her to remain in the home, explaining that state
and federal courts had ruled since the 1970s that truancy is a
dependent rather than a delinquent act, and that dependent and
delinquent youths cannot be housed together. The judge
responded angrily and said that he made his final decision.
I went to my supervisor to see if there was any alternative
course of action but was told that there was no option but to
follow the judge’s order and to prepare a placement summary. I
replied that I could not follow through with these directives as I
did not feel it was in the best interest of the child. I was
removed from the case, and it was assigned to another worker to
immediately carry out the order. I was suspended for 5 days on
a charge of insubordination. Susana’s family quickly filed an
appeal with a higher court, which found the judge’s ruling
unlawful. Susana was not removed from her parents’ custody. I
was still suspended without pay.