In your reading for this week, you meet Jose and Iris, two individuals who are in situations that require assistance and guidance from a professional social worker and policy advocate. In this Discuss

Discussion: Policy Proposals

In your reading for this week, you meet Jose and Iris, two individuals who are in situations that require assistance and guidance from a professional social worker and policy advocate.

In this Discussion, create a policy proposal that will impact the situations faced by either Jose or Iris. Describe the trade-offs you used to develop your proposal.

To prepare: In your text, review "Trade-Offs: Systematically Comparing Policy Options in Step 3" in Chapter 8 of the Jansson textbook materials.

Provide a Discussion Post containing the following paragraph heading, topics, and content:

• A summary of the policy proposal that you created based on Jose's situation

• Provide the purpose of the policy proposal that you created based on Jose's situation

• Define and detail the trade-offs you used to develop your proposal.

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 8, "Placing Policy Proposals in Policy Briefs in the Second, Third, and Fourth Steps of Policy Analysis” (pp. 246-283)

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].

• "Working with Clients with Addictions: The Case of Jose" (pp. 65–68)

• "Working with the Aging: The Case of Iris" (pp. 68–69)

Stuart, P. H. (1999). Linking clients and policy: Social work’s distinctive contribution. Social Work, 44(4), 335–347

Midgley, J., & Livermore, M. M. (Eds.) (2008). The handbook of social policy (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

• Chapter 6: "The Impact of Social Policy" (pp. 83–100) (PDF)

Working With the Aging: The Case of Iris

Iris is a 78-year-old, divorced, Caucasian female who lives alone in a mid-sized Southern city. Her main sources of income are a pension from her more than 35 years of work as an elementary school teacher and monthly Social Security retirement benefits. Iris has no children but was married for 34 years. Two years ago her husband, completely to the surprise of Iris, announced that he wanted an immediate divorce and was planning to marry a much younger woman he had met just a few months earlier.

Within 2 years of her divorce, Iris started noticing increasing challenges with her mobility. One day she fell while carrying groceries and had to be hospitalized overnight for an injured knee. To help meet Iris’ needs during her convalescent period, the local Older Adults Services Agency (OASA) arranged for Iris to receive daily Meals on Wheels deliveries, and her health plan arranged for visiting nurses to see her once every 2 weeks. Within about 3 months, Iris recovered to the extent that she could again drive short distances and walk with the assistance of a cane.

Iris was determined to fully regain her independence, but she was rapidly approaching the age of 80 and had no family and few friends who could assist her. She nevertheless insisted on continuing to drive longer distances even though her driving skills were significantly impaired. Over the course of a 3-week period, Iris was involved in three vehicle accidents, one in someone’s driveway, one near her home, and the last one in the parking lot of her local grocery store. The first two incidents were fairly minor fender benders, but the last accident was much more serious. When parking and getting out of her car, Iris neglected to place the vehicle in park and the car rolled backward, with the open door striking Iris and one of the vehicle’s tires running over her right foot.

Iris was severely injured and was hospitalized for more than 2 weeks. The local police suspended Iris’ driver’s license, and she agreed to no longer drive. The hospital social worker arranged for Iris to stay for 4 weeks at a licensed long-term care facility upon discharge. After her stay there, staff at the OASA found a moderately priced assisted living facility where Iris could live.

Iris is now living in the new facility, which includes about two dozen other older residents. She continues to tell the staff at the home and her OASA social worker that she is depressed, badly misses her independence, and wishes that she could go back to driving and traveling. Because Iris still has difficulty even getting back and forth to the bathroom and dining room, however, the prospects for this currently appear dim.

Jose is a 42-year-old, heterosexual, Latino male. He had been booked and charged for vagrancy three times in the last 2 months. He had also been arrested six other times over the past 10 years for various minor offenses, such as trespassing, public drunkenness, and disorderly conduct. After this last hearing, the judge mandated him to a drug treatment facility and gave him 2 years’ probation.

As a social worker at the county’s mental health and substance abuse agency, I was assigned to manage his case and to ensure he followed the judge’s ruling. My role was also to provide resources and referrals and advocacy, when needed. We met initially to complete the intake form so that I might get as much information as possible to assist him. Jose informed me immediately that he had no source of income, was homeless, and was very interested in services to address his alcoholism and substance abuse. He added that over the past 20 years, he had tried many times to get clean and sober but had little success. Jose identified himself as a “chronic relapser.” He was concerned that he was going to have to pay for the drug treatment facility and expressed surprise that the judge had not placed him in jail as he had been in the past.

I explained that our state had recently passed a law that required the judicial system to direct persons who were identified as primarily having addictive problems out of or away from incarceration and instead into alternative community-based drug treatment programs. I told him that a class action suit had been brought by a number of inmates for alternative services after a recent study was published that reported that more than two-thirds of state prison inmates had chronic and severe drug and alcohol abuse problems and that almost half of this group’s only convictions were for drug- and alcohol-related offenses. These findings had propelled the state to put this new policy into place. All of the counties quickly established a process to manage a new model.

I learned that Jose had not been steadily employed for the past 12 years, although he had been gainfully employed for at least a decade before then. He had graduated high school and appeared to have above-average intelligence. He had never been married nor had children. For the past 2 years, he said that he had primarily been living under a railroad bridge near a major freeway in the area. He reported no support or family in the area, but said that he still has occasional contact with a sister and an aunt in separate Southern states and a cousin on the West Coast.

Jose shared that he had moved to the West Coast from the South 8 years ago, hoping that a change of location would help him get sober. However, upon arrival and having no place to reside, he ended up living on the street and in pursuit of alcohol and cocaine. He was mostly supporting his habit by panhandling and recycling.

Jose stated that he comes from a family with members who have struggled with alcohol abuse and drug addiction. He said that his mother was placed in a nursing home at the age of 42 (when Jose was 8) and was diagnosed with dementia as a result of long-term alcoholism. His father committed suicide at the age of 47 (when Jose was 10). Jose said that his father suffered from depression and was a heroin intravenous drug user. As a result of his parents’ difficulties, Jose was almost completely raised by his grandmother in an urban public housing project. Jose said that he also had bouts of depression but had never sought professional help to address it. It was not clear if the depression was brought on by the substance abuse or if the drug abuse was being used to address the depressive symptoms.

Based on the information provided, we created a plan of action. After exploring alternatives for immediate assistance, I was able to arrange for Jose’s admission the next day into a 5-day detoxification center, followed by 30 days of inpatient treatment at a county-supported program. Jose and I would either meet or speak on the phone every week in order to track his progress so that I could complete a written report for the judge and Jose’s probation officer.

After Jose’s release from the inpatient program, we worked together to decide goals that seemed feasible for him and would continue his current trajectory toward a clean and sober life. A bed was found for him at a local sober living environment (SLE) house in the community that agreed to take him as long as he could start paying rent within the first two months. He seemed to adapt well to the new environment and reported that for the first time in many years he was feeling hopeful and was less depressed. The planned goals included continued and consistent attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous™ (AA) meetings, getting together with his sponsor for recovery support, and seeking employment. We worked together to build his resume and looked on the Internet for possible job leads.

Within a few weeks of living in the SLE, Jose was able to obtain employment conducting telephone sales for a local telemarketing company. Later that same year, Jose obtained his driver’s license and began working for a valet parking contractor. After 2 years he is still living in the same SLE residence and says that his life is now stable and productive. He is no longer mandated to meet with me, and his probation has expired with no incidences. He is in a relationship with a woman he met at work, and they plan to wed next year.