Erin Finley Mr.

Vetter Eng3840J:Genre Analysis September 24,2013

The Genres of Social Work: Safety Assessment, Case Plan, and Activity Reports In the past genres were thought to be a very straight forward, fill in the blank type of writing. However, our understandings of genres have changed in response to recent research. Genres now are more fluid in nature and are used to focus more on the action it is used to accomplish. (Dirk, Birkenkotter and Huckin, Beaufort) Genres develop in response to repeating situations so our response to the situation can be guided by past responses (Bitzer). However, as needs and goals of a situation change our response to that situation changes which in turn causes that genres features to adapt. This is a process Lauren Birkenkotter and Thomas Huckin refer to as dynamism. In the field of social work, for example, documentation in early years was primarily used to facilitate theory building, research and teaching. More recently however, social workers have begun to appreciate the relevance of documents used for risk management purposes. Documentation in social work now serves six primary functions; assessment and planning, service delivery, continuity and coordination of services, supervision, service evaluation, and accountability to clients. In the following essay I will use the method of genre analysis to evaluate the three main documents used in a social work setting; the safety assessment, the case plan and the activity report. My analysis is based on the concept that Birkenkotter and Huckin refer to as situatedness. My goal will be to evaluate how these three documents are related and work together to facilitate communication within the social work setting. I will also incorporate how these documents or genres are used to

facilitate social action (Birkenkotter and Huckin, Dirk, Beaufort) as well as serve the six primary functions mentioned above. I will also examine how these documents function to keep families together which is the goal of the discourse community. Social work is a complex field so for this analysis I will focus my attention on Children Services, which is one of the many disciplines in this profession. Dirk and Birkenkotter and Huckin recognize that genres can be used to facilitate social action. It is important to keep that in mind as we take a closer look into the social work profession. For example, when any type of abuse or neglect of a child is reported the social worker must complete a safety assessment. This document serves as the foundation of all future documents. The purpose of this document is to evaluate the safety of the family and environment in question. Therefore, the safety assessments format is consistent from case to case, but the content of the document adapts to different situations. It is important for the writer to be very explicit in providing detail as to what is observed because these observations are used to determine what action should be taken. To be an effective writer in this community it is important to keep in mind what actions could result from the context of this document. In the sample document I am examining, the action taken at the completion of the safety assessment is legally authorized out-of-home placement. This is also known as the safety response. After evaluating the safety of the environment and explaining why this does or does not constitute abuse the social worker must make a decision as to whether the children are safe in their environment or whether they need to be removed from the home. This is an abstract example or how genres function to facilitate social action. This document directly influences whether the children remain in parents custody or whether they are placed in the custody of the state. Birkenkotter and Huckin also explain how when evaluating a certain genre we can learn more about the community values, norms, and ideology. In the social work setting it is important to keep in

mind that the main goal of the community is to keep families together, and provide services needed to accomplish this. This is apparent because no matter what type of abuse or problem is observed the social worker also determines the strengths that the families possess. This can be observed in the case plan. After completing a safety assessment and determining whether there is substantiated evidence of abuse a social worker then creates a case plan. This document is used to establish the areas of concern that need to be addressed by the family as well the social worker. This reflects the ideas of situatedness described by Birkenkotter and Huckin. Our understanding of the case plan genre is facilitated by understanding the context in which it is used. A case plan is established once substantiated evidence of abuse is observed and it functions as an outline of changes the family needs to address in order to reach the goal of keeping their family together. The case plan details what the social worker observed and how it should be fixed. Each child in the case is given a permanency goal which serves to illustrate that the goal that social workers are trying to accomplish is to keep the children and families together in a safe environment. The case worker also outlines how they will be assisting the family in making the appropriate changes. This is an important aspect to have in writing for risk management purposes. Another important feature in the case plan is the signatures page. This is used to show who all was present when the case plan was developed. This is important because all participating parties are bound by the terms of the plan. If they fail to comply with the terms and conditions mentioned they may be held in contempt of court. It is easy to see how the previous two documents can facilitate social action. The safety assessment directly determines whether the children will remain in the home or will be places in a foster home. The case plan lays out in writing what the family needs to work on in change so the family

can be kept together. At this point you should also be aware of the fact that these documents are intertwined, one is rarely if ever, used on its own. The last document I am going to discuss is the activity report. This document is the most complex, in my opinion, of the three. The activity, report as the name suggests, is a detailed account of any activity or contact the social worker and the agency has with the family. In contrast to the other two documents, the activity reports form and content is a little bit different. Birkenkotter and Huckin determine the genre knowledge includes a sense of what content is appropriate and to a particular purpose in a particular situation. In the previous two documents the form of each stays consistent from case to case, while the content varies. However, in this document the form may be different from situation to situation. In the sample document I am examining the children were placed in a foster home. So this document includes details about the agencys contact with both the biological parents and the foster parents. The form and content would appear differently if the children were remaining in the parents care while they were completing the case plan. This document is necessary for risk management purposes as well as client and worker accountability. Writing in the social work profession is not an easy process. The challenges in this situation include being aware of the vulnerabilities the clients possess, and doing everything with the understanding that this population is very sensitive to deal with. Another aspect of this field is that the documentation has to be thorough and easily understood within the agency. It is also important to note that many families that a social worker deals with are repeat cases, meaning they have been investigated and involved with the agency before. This is a contributing factor to the three documents mentioned above. If a family has been involved in multiple cases, it is important to have a detailed history. This would function to help social workers that are unfamiliar to the case transition smoothly into providing them with the services they need.

As I noted before documentation in social work has evolved over the past few years. It is now used to serve six functions which I will touch on briefly. The first one is assessment and planning and after becoming familiar with the safety assessment and the case plan I am more knowledgeable about how these documents meet this function. The safety assessment meets the assessment aspect of things by detailing the specific concerns that the social worker has. While the case plan functions to lay out a detailed plan to be followed to accomplish the intended goal. Documentation in social work also must function to facilitate service delivery. Although this one is not as easy to observe as the first one I think it can be noted in the case plan. One section of the case plan is used to detail how the social worker plans to help the family including what services they feel are appropriate. Documentation also must facilitate continuity and coordination of services. I touched on this briefly before when I mentioned that many cases involve the same family. For this reason it is important to write in a way that is easily understood within the community so that social workers that may come in contact with the family in the future can be knowledgeable about their history, and take that into account when dealing with current situations. Supervision is also an important factor of documentation in the social work profession. It is important to hold practitioners accountable for the work and services they are providing. This leads into the next function, service evaluation, because a very important aspect of this profession is to make sure that agencies are providing the most effective services efficiently to help their clients meet their specific goals. Accountability to clients is also important to communicate with the clients and ensure that they know we are trying to help them and provide them the services they need. Social work is a complex profession and the documents used in this profession are dynamic in nature. The documents I investigated function as a whole so it is difficult to categorize them into genres. However, it is easy to see how they differ in form and content, while still determining how and why they must function together. I am also now aware of how genres slowly evolve over time. Although in the social work profession we can guide our responses to different situations by our past experiences, it is

important to recognize that no two cases will be exactly alike. This forces us to be aware of how other members of the discourse community handled similar cases, as well as build on that foundation as we encounter diverse cases or situations. Having this genre knowledge will allow social workers to communicate effectively with clients as well as with other members of the professional community. Appendix Comprehensive Safety Assessment Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Planning Model-I.S ODJFS 01401 Safety Assessment ID 732951

Case Plan Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Comprehensive Assessment Planning Model-I.S Case Plan Number 2.02

Activity Report Ohio Department of Job and Family Services

References

Berkenkotter, C., & Huckin, T. (1993). Rethinking genre form a sociocognitive perspective. (4 ed., Vol. 10). Sage Publications Inc. Beaufort, A. Transferring writing knowledge to the workplace. New York: State University of New York Press. Beaufort, A. (1999). Writing in the real world. New York: Teachers College Press. Dirk, K. (2010). Navigating genres. (Vol. Volume 1). Writing Spaces. Retrieved from http:/writingspaces.org/essays

Reflective Essay I learned a lot from this project regarding genres and more specifically genres in my future profession. Unlike most of my peers in this class, when we first started talking about genres I was completely lost. I grew up in a very small town and our education system was in my opinion below average. My first college English class 1510 is when I really began to see myself grow as a writer. I really enjoy reading and writing and although I was reluctant to take this English class, I find myself really enjoying it as well as learning useful information to contribute to my career later on. The readings so far in this course really helped me to fully understand the concept of genres. I found myself agreeing with many of the authors that believed we are not educated to write effectively. In high school I considered myself to be a decent writer, however looking back now I realize it was just easy because we were given a format to follow. The reading over genre analysis made me aware that I will need a variety of writing skill and genre knowledge to write outside of the classroom setting. In our first assignment in 1510 our professor gave us the prompt write about something that has changed your life. This is when I really became aware that the writing I had done up to that point did not prepare me for diverse writing situations. As I entered this class I found myself thinking the same thing. I had no idea what a genre in writing was and really no idea how to analysis a genre. I was also unaware of how helpful gaining this skills and knowledge would be. I really enjoyed this first project. It was interesting to evaluate documents actually used in my profession. I was also interested in trying to distinguish some of the characteristics or goals of my community through these documents. As a social work major I have taken many social work classes and I enjoyed them dont get me wrong, but I tend to be a hands on learner. This project gave me that opportunity to really take a look into my profession and evaluate it as a future social worker. The only thing I struggled with was not having a specific format to follow. However, I think this is one of the skills I need to learn throughout this course, writing efficiently and effectively without a format.