Report on Conducting Group Project Work for Children and Families in Queensland Assessment Answer

GROUP WORK PLANNING 

(Chosen population group- Children and families)

Executive summary 

The report is based on conducting a group project work for a population group in Australia that is Children and their families. A brief description of the group has been mentioned along with their key needs. System theory of social work has been included and the plan has been made based on this theory. In-depth analysis of the proposed meeting has been done along with the effectiveness of the plan and probable ethical issues. My roles as a facilitator have been pointed and lastly, the conclusion has been drawn based on that this group work project may be effective for the children and their families in Queensland to know about the ways of sustainable life leading process. 

Introduction 

Development of a group work project is based on meeting specific criteria through maintenance of coordinated activities. Children and their family members comprise a large portion of the community in Australia. Their needs are also different depending on different social contexts. In order to meet the social needs of this population group, it is necessary to analyse their current situation in the light of AASW Practice Standards.

This group project plan has involved discussion regarding the concerned population group along with their key needs. A detailed plan has been developed to meet the social needs of children and their families with proper efficiency. 

1. Description of the population group 

It has been estimated that in Australia about 4.7 million children are there. As per the information of the Australian Government (2020c), maximum numbers of Australian families have one to three children. The numbers of children are increasing in Australia constantly and it can be assumed that the numbers will reach about 6.4 million by 2048. 

Figure 1: Numbers of children and children as a portion of the Australian population

(Source: Australian Government, 2020c)

One of the prominent facts is that 1 among 11 children in Australia born overseas, so that cultural diversities among those children vary. It has been estimated that 32% of families with children live in New South Wales and 21% live in Victoria (Abs, 2020). On the other hand, in each of the families within a community, numbers of aged people are high and it is increasing prominently. 

Figure 2: Aged population in Australian families 

(Source: Abs, 2020)

Key needs of the group

Key needs of the children and their families are based on the unfulfillment of social needs.  Lack of community involvement of aged individuals in families creates barriers to have community-based services. In addition to this, it has been observed that lack of social constructiveness leads to developing mental illness within aged individuals in families and malnutrition issues among children as they do not get effective social support (Australian Government, 2020b). Along with this, entering migrant families into Australian communities creates an environment of different physical crimes over children. Thus, it can be stated that the basic needs of children and the families are based on having proper social support to lead a disease-free and healthy life.

The current context of service provision 

At present, community-based agencies and private practitioners are engaged in serving the community people of Australia. Several children and their family members are supported in terms of developing community engagement and this is the required area where service providers could be rewarded or extended. As mentioned by Webber and Fendt-Newlin (2017), the development of community engagement is helpful for individuals to know about the most viable ways of sustainable development. It has been observed that there are a number of support services in Australian community such as Australia Child wellbeing and Families Australia which control the wellbeing of children and their families through proper legal support (Australian Government, 2020a).

2. Theories of group work practice 

The System Theory of social work practice sheds light on the fact that the combined efforts of individuals within a social system help to meet the needs of a social group. In this respect, it can be mentioned that this theory deals with the aspects related to the wellbeing of children and their families in Australia through managing the social system. As mentioned by Missimer et al., (2017), maintenance of social sustainability is based on how the social groups are served. The following part is focused to plan a group work to serve children and their families in terms of meeting their social needs. 

Developing a detailed group work plan

Target group and ways to invite them

The target group will include about 10-12 families from a community in Queensland. The families need to have at least one child within an age group of 1-14 years. 

In order to invite them, face to face communication will be maintained by the group members and they will be communicated by distributing leaflets and brochures once in a week. 

Describing key aspects of the meeting 

Composition- The meeting will consist of team members of the concerned project team as well as 10-12 family members along with some of the community workers of Queensland. 

Size- The group work will be based on 40-50 members.

Meeting frequency- The meeting will be constructed once in a week and it will be continued for 20 months. 

Venue- The place of community rehabilitation centre will be booked for conducting the meeting with the family members. 

Communication- The verbal mode of communication will be mainly followed by the members of the meeting. This is because the involvement of the digital mode of communication will not be effective to make the main purpose of the meeting clear to the participants.

Types of group work effective for service users 

In order to serve the children and their families, the model of social work needs to be based on community engagement. As per the report of AASW (2020a), maintenance of professionalism is essential while managing any social activities as well as personal abilities need to be developed based on managing culturally diversified communities. Thus, it can be stated that the group members need to include all families of a community irrespective of their economic position. Mass awareness needs to be developed at the community level by making them understand that having a healthy diet is necessary to lead a healthy life. As per the thoughts of Payne and Askeland (2016), creating boundaries in front of community engagement can be a barrier to managing work. In this respect, it is necessary to make the children realize the needs of schooling and the adults to grab economic advantages to maintain a sound life. Therefore, these kinds of services will be helpful for service users from the Australian community.   

Ways to determine group aim

The aim of the group will be selected based on the willingness of the community people to be involved in the discussion session. In this respect, the group aim can be as-

“To maintain the health status of children and their family members as well as enlighten the environment, so that the children and their families can get a sustainable environment to live in and live on"

Most effective form of group facilitation 

Action planning methods can be applied by the group members to have effective outcomes from this project. In this process, an action-based plan will be made and strategies will be specified to managing those actions. In this regard, Lindsay & Orton (2014) mentioned that until or unless an effective group facilitation method will be selected, success can never be focused on greater outcomes. The individuals of the group will maintain the Ethical guidelines of AASW which will be helpful to eliminate any kinds of ethical risks in this project.  

Probable issues and ways to address them 

It is obvious that conducting a social work plan may involve some functional and planning risks. Thus, in case of this project based on Children and their families in Australia, the probable risks can be as mentioned below-

Table 1: Probable risks and their mitigation strategy 

(Source: Self-developed)

Ethical challenges for working in this group 

In order to work in this group, certain ethical challenges can be faced which may retard the effectiveness of the project as well as reduce the outcomes in a prominent manner. The ethical issues can be as developing dual relationships with different social groups and violating human rights legislation in Australia. Supporting all of the social workers during a group activity denotes that the social work profession is maintained in an ethical way (AASW, 2020b). In this regard, making collaboration with other social working groups and revealing confidential information can be two main ethical challenges faced by the social working group.  

Role as the identified facilitator of this planned group

It can be mentioned that as an identified facilitator, I will be involved in this social working process directly. I shall be focused to support the workers in terms of applying effective community engagement strategies. Along with this, I shall encourage my team members to make our targeted group realize that this group work will help them to enhance community sustainability. Primarily, I must help my workers to find out what are the main issues in community-related to children and their family members. After that, I shall design the work plan and emphasize to maintain continuous progress of social work in the concerned field of practice.

3. Effectiveness of the group work project 

It can be assumed that this group work will be helpful for the children and their family members in terms of meeting their needs such as having a secure environment in the community as well as gaining knowledge regarding the most appropriate way of healthy living. It has become prominent that the rate of child abuse increasing in Australia at a rate of 2% every year. Moreover, in 2019, the rate of childhood malnutrition has been developed up to 7% (WHO, 2020). Not only in children but is malnutrition issue prominent in adults also. Therefore, it can be mentioned that this group work will be effective to develop the rate of community engagement which ultimately guides the families to protect children as well as caring effectively for their own. Hence, this practice of field will be greatly benefitted through the approaches of the group activities. 

Ways to address social issues faced by the service users 

In support of the above discussion, it can be mentioned that this group activity will be considerably helpful to manage the social issues faced by children and their family members in the community. For example, it can be mentioned that children of aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders are facing social exclusion in different fields, thus, this social work will be effective for them to rejuvenate their personal values regarding their own position in society. As mentioned by Greene (2017), the System Theory of social work deals with the fact that until or unless proper development has occurred in human behaviour, social development is never possible. Thus, development is required in perceptions of children and family planning method and it can be attained by this social work process. Apart from this, it can be opined that supporting mental health and making community people understand regarding the ways of healthy living can be achieved through this group project in a better manner. 

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that this group work project may be effective for the children and their families in Queensland to know about the ways of sustainable life leading process. Though different ethical issues can be generated in the process following the guidelines of AASW will be helpful for the workers to manage the growth and development of this group work project. In this respect, I shall try to play a role of ethical facilitator for guiding team members. As a result of this, they can be able to address the social issues faced by children and their family members in an efficient way.