Advance Human Rights and Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice

Practice Behaviors:

3.1 – Apply their understanding of social, economic, and environmental justice to advocate for human rights at the individual and system levels

3.2 – Engage in practices that advance social, economic, and environmental justice

Advocacy work is something that goes back to the very beginning of the social work profession. With the work of Jane Adams and many others, social work became a social movement for change. The importance of advocating for those who do not have a voice is a mission that I plan to continue doing in my professional life. By challenging unfair policies or laws, I will help to make changes for vulnerable populations.

Evidence 1 (Class): There are many different avenues for advocacy work. As part of my Social Work Issues and Policy class (SOCW-434), I had the opportunity to advocate for refugees here in Chattanooga by writing an opinion piece for the Chattanoogan. I outlined how executive order 13888 negatively affected refugees in Hamiton county and what we needed to do to help. By informing the public of this policy, people would have the opportunity to make an informed decision to either support or oppose the bill.

Evidence 2 (Field): Since my practicum solely focuses on resettling refugees, our program is largely dependent on the Presidential Determination that is issued every October. This executive order gives the number of refugees that are allowed to be resettled in the United States for the next fiscal year. However, this past October, the executive order restructured the whole resettlement process. Along with the new regulations added, the number of refugees allowed to be resettled was dropped to 18 thousand. The lowest in American history. I had the opportunity to advocate for my clients by setting up a letter-writing campaign to garner support for people in the community to let the Tennesse Governor and Hamilton County mayor that the community supports refugees in our area. To read more about this expereince, please click here and see week 2.

Evidence 3 (Additional): One of the ways that I was able to apply my understanding of human rights at both the micro and the macro levels was by writing article reactions of news stories that I had read during that week. A story that caught my attention was about a deal the United States had created with Honduras where asylum seekers would be turned away from the United State’s border and be sent to Honduras. However, Honduras is already recognized worldwide as one of the most violent countries in the world. So, sending an extremely vulnerable population to such a dangerous environment shows a lack of care for human life. One of the ways that social workers can advance human rights is by first being able to recognize when the NASW code of ethics and basic human rights are being violated. By being able to recognize the policies within this news article, I can then advocate for change and advance the rights of those involved. To learn more about this article, click here.

Skills Used: For these pieces of evidence, I needed to use interpersonal skills, writing skills, and advocacy skills. I needed to use the writing skills that I had learned in several writing courses at Southern Adventist University to be able to write an efficient opinion piece as well as an accurate article reaction. When I set up the booth in the student center, I relied on my interpersonal skills to connect with students, faculty, staff, and community members as they passed me. I then used my advocacy skills to speak out for my clients at the booth.

Knowledge Used: Many of the skills that I used to be able to complete this competency was learned from my Social Work Issues and Policies class (SOCW-434). I learned different tools to advocate, such as letter writing, letters-to-the-editor or opinion pieces, or reaching out directly with local, state, or federal representatives. With this knowledge, I was able to use the opinion piece and letter writing to help advance the human rights of refugees.

Values Presented: Advocacy touches on one of the core values in social work; dignity and worth of the person. By advocating for refugees, I give them the respect and dignity they deserve as human beings. Social justice is another core value that can be seen in these pieces of evidence as they challenge injustices against people.

Cognitive Processes Used: One of the cognitive processes that I was recognizing how the NASW Code of Ethics played into the executive order and how human rights were being violated. I was then able to practice the skills learned in my core social work classes, such as Social Work Issues and Politics (SOCW-44), to advocate and fight for social justice.

Affective Processes Used: With the opinion piece I wrote, I felt that it was my job as a social work student and a constituent of Tennessee, I needed to speak out and share what was happening to the refugee population as a whole. I was also able to integrate this expereince within my own personal life and advocate for refugees with anyone that I meet.

Theoretical Foundation: A theory that highlights these experiences would be the
Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis. What this theory says is that if we feel empathy towards someone or a group of people, we are more likely to help them regardless of reward. If empathy is not present, then people only help if the rewards are better than the effort needed to help. For me, since I have a strong sense of empathy towards refugees, it is much easier for me to help them without weighing the pros or cons of doing so.