Social Work Reflective Report

As part of a requirement to enroll into the social work program at Winston Salem State University, I participated in twenty hours of volunteer service with a professional social worker. The learning and observational experience that I had being involved in the practice of school social work has been truly rewarding. This paper will tie in the concepts learned from my volunteer experience, along with how these concepts can be connected with the information provided from the Introduction to Social Work course. In addition, I will explain in great detail about my observations, thoughts, and feelings towards volunteering at Northwest Middle School.

Northwest Middle School is a Title I school that pulls in children from all different backgrounds

Lindsay Cross, who is a professional school social worker at Northwest Middle School. As a volunteer, Ms. Cross provided me valuable information about her job, and I was able to witness and participate in those duties myself. Ms. Cross also wanted to ensure that I had the opportunity to participate in all of the aspects of the job, because it is more to the job than what people fail to realize, she stated. On the first day of volunteering, I learned about policy and how they can connect with school social work. One of the policies that I learned about was the McKinney-Veto Act, which is a federal law that ensures immediate enrollment and educational stability for homeless children and youth. Another policy that is important for school social workers to abide by is the North Carolina Compulsory Attendance Law, which states that all children under the age 16 should attend school continuously, and have no more than 10 unexcused absences from school. I also learned how to input the information for a student who has missed a substantial amount of days. During this process, I was able to see the records of students that missed the most amount of days, along with going over the form that is to be completed by the school social worker when the parent of the child is at risk of going to court. When the parent has failed at abiding by the Compulsory School Attendance Law, it is important for the school social worker to inform the parent of

Cross to witness her two cases that she filed on the parents who did not abide by the school attendance law. In the two cases that Ms. Cross had to present, both students had over thirty unexcused absences. Being in the court room was very exciting because it was my first time ever being inside of one. When I entered the courtroom, the police officer ordered the witnesses sit to the right of the courtroom, and the defendants to sit to the left of the courtroom. The first case that Ms. Cross had was continued to the month of June by order from the judge. It was the parent’s first time being charged for the violation of the school attendance law. When the case reappears in June, the judge will decide whether the parent needs to be signed up for diversion, or have a trail if the parents pleads not guilty. Diversion is usually appointed to parents when it is their first time having issues with their kids attending school. The parents meet with the school social worker to develop a plan on how to have the child arrive to school on time and present on a daily basis. When the plan is not being acted on, other processes are then taken place. The second case was also continued to the month of June. This particular case has been continued for the third time due to the parent’s public defender not being present for court. Although I did not get to see a trial, I was able to see how the court system works, and gained