Assignment

Abuse

Resources

Readings

• Beerma, D. (2012). Advocacy handbook for social workers. National Association of Social Workers – North Carolina Chapter. Retrieved from http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/naswnc.site-ym.com/resource/resmgr/Advocacy/Advocacyhandbook

• Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen S. M. (Eds.). (2014). Social work case studies: Foundation year. Baltimore: MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e- reader].

o “Working with Clients with Dual Diagnosis: The Case of Joe” (pp. 77–78)

• Popple, P. R., & Leighninger, L. (2015). The policy-based profession: An introduction to social welfare policy analysis for social workers. (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

o Chapter 8, “Mental Health and Substance Abuse” (pp.

164-193)

• Humphreys, K., & McLellan, A. T. (2011). A policy-oriented review of strategies for improving the outcomes of services for substance use disorder patients Addiction, 106(12), 2058– 2066.

Assignment: Advocating with Policy Makers

Choose a social welfare problem that you believe is in need of change and write a letter to an elected local, state, or federal official regarding the issue you have chosen. You are not required to send the letter; however, it must be written in a professional, well organized, clear, and concise format.

Writing letters to public officials is a form of political advocacy for clients and social workers. For this Assignment, you will write an advocacy letter to a public official about a problem and a policy. In addition, you will write a 1-2 page explanation of your letter. Your explanation will provide the rationale behind your chosen issue and the approach you took with the specific representative.

Assignment: In the same document, submit both Part I and II of the assignment (2-4 pages):

Part I: Letter to Representative

Your letter should include:

• A description of the social welfare issue

• An explanation of how you want the legislator to respond to the issue (vote, create legislation, hold public hearings, etc.) and why.

• Support of your viewpoints with credible facts and research.

Part II: Explanation (1-2 pages, double-space, APA format) For this part of the assignment, provide an explanation of:

• Why you selected the issue

• How the issue affects social work

• The reason you chose the specific representative

• The approach you took with the representative (consider the representative’s voting history, political affiliation, and any other factors you considered)