Carole Zufferey

Responses to Homelessness in Australian Cities: Social Worker Perspectives

Abstract Responses to homelessness in Australia are provided by a range of government and nongovernment services. The present study examined the experiences of social workers within these diverse services. The article discusses how social workers make meaning of their professional identity and responses to homelessness in contemporary practice and policy settings. The findings of a qualitative study of 39 social workers employed in Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney are analysed from a social constructionist perspective. The practice dilemmas for social workers interviewed related to the dominating influence of the contemporary political and economic climate, the managerial requirement of organisations, and the personal and professional tensions these political and organisational contexts created.

Making Gender Visible Social Work Responses to Homelessness

Social workers’ bodies and identities are gendered. This article examines gender relations in social workers’ accounts of their practices using data from a qualitative study that focused on social workers’ responses to homelessness in three Australian cities. Themes in the data relate to essentialist notions of gender; gender functioning as an invisible form of oppression; heterosexual assumptions in client—worker relationships; and the preferability of feminist approaches, particularly when working with women’s homelessness that is a result of domestic violence.

‘Jack of all trades, master of none?’ Social work identity and homelessness in Australian cities

• Summary: Professional social work identity emerges from particular historical, sociopolitical and organizational contexts. This article examines social work practices and identities in the context of Australian social work responses to homelessness. It draws on historical and contemporary literature and a qualitative study that interviewed 39 social workers employed in the area of homelessness in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. • Findings: The findings of this research indicate that social workers employed in the field of homelessness constructed their professional identities by drawing on historical debates in social work literature including structural and/or individual approaches to social problems, as well as by reflecting on the personal and professional tensions that arise from their practice contexts. It also found that professional social work identity is overshadowed by managerial organizational contexts, influencing social work practice in the field of homelessness. • Application: Debates have existed about social work identity since its inception. A critically informed approach to social work research, practice and literature provides significant insights into the challenges faced by social workers in this new and emerging area of practice and enables social workers to question social inequalities that disadvantage people experiencing homelessness. Further research is needed to identify differences and similarities between Australian and international social worker experiences in homelessness services.

Questioning Representations of Homelessness in the Australian Print Media

Abstract Social workers have an important role in questioning how social problems such as homelessness are represented in public discourse. Using Carol Bacchis policy analysis framework, this paper analyses representations of homelessness and service provision in the Australian print media, by examining assumptions underlying these representations, gaps and silences; the effects of these representations; and how these can be defended and disrupted. The study found that print media representations of people can reinforce deep-seated community values that maintain unequal gender and power relations, which has implications for social worker advocacy.

‘Not knowing that I donot know and not wanting to know’: Reflections of a white Australian social worker

In this article I critically reflect on how white power and privilege constitutes my personal power and professional experiences as a social work practitioner and social work educator in Australia. I explore my white privilege in the context of the colonization of Australia and social work practice in child protection.

Social Work Education and Children

Abstract It is well documented that social work graduates feel unprepared for work with vulnerable children, especially those involved with child protection systems. Initiatives of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) emphasise the importance of including a focus on children within the Australian social work curricula. This article considered whether social work education was preparing graduates to respond more effectively to children by examining current online evidence of the courses provided in Australian social work programs in 2011. It builds on previous research conducted by the Australian Centre for Child Protection. Some implications for practice, research, and the future education of social work graduates are discussed.

‘A who doing a what?’: Identity, practice and social work education

Summary This article explores the discourses employed by social work educators in their constructions of social work identity, practice and education. The research data for this qualitative study was collected from in-depth interviews with social work educators from two South Australian universities, who were eligible for membership with the Australian Association of Social Workers. Findings Using Gee’s discourse analysis framework, the key discourses used by social work educators to construct social work, social workers, clients and social work educational institutions are identified. Social work educators drew on professional, helping/caring, emancipatory and social control discourses to highlight the ‘typical’ story of ‘social work’ and construct social workers and social work educators as ‘a who doing a what’, to distinguish social work from other professions. Application Despite being constructed as having the power to act as ‘gate keepers’ to the profession, very little research examines how social work educators reflect on their practice as social workers and social work educators. Further national and international research is required to examine how social work students, service users, employers and other disciplines interpret these social work discourses.

‘I Don't Just Want to Do It for Myself’: Diverse Pespectives on Being Successful at University by Social Work Students Who Speak English as an Additional Language

This article gives attention to furthering understandings about what being successful at university means to social work students, focusing on the perspectives of students who speak English as an additional language (EAL). It departs from approaches in the literature that focus on problematic aspects of teaching and learning. The article is informed by data from a small-scale focus group study of nine students from an undergraduate and a postgraduate social work programme in a South Australian university. Drawing on a methodological approach known as ‘Appreciative Inquiry’, students were asked how they conceptualise, experience and imagine success at university. The study found that students’ understandings of success are inextricably intertwined with their individual, family and community aspirations. These findings are discussed in the light of current dominant assumptions about the notion of success and possible directions for future research and implications for social work education.

Homelessness in Western Cities

Contemporary urban environments create practice tensions for social workers when responding to homelessness. Social work is evolving with the diverse and changing landscape of urban homelessness. Cities provide opportunities for access to housing, health, education and employment. However, urban policies and policing responses to people who are visibly homeless in urban spaces and public places have the potential to further exacerbate social inequalities. This chapter examines innovative responses available to social work which include ‘Housing First’ in European, North American and Australian cities. It argues that social workers can advocate for and contribute to a ‘good city’ that improves and ameliorates the situation of people who experience homelessness.

Intimate Partner Violence and Housing: Eroding Women’s Citizenship

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is an extreme example of gender inequality that compromises women’s citizenship. This article discusses the effects of IPV on women’s housing circumstances based on the findings of a large national Australian survey. The analysis found that IPV erodes women’s citizenship, which includes their access to safe and affordable housing, connections to “home,” and participation in community life. Drawing on notions of gendered citizenship, this article provides new understandings about how women negotiate housing as a key dimension of citizenship in the context of IPV.