My Interest On Social Work - 1226 Words

My interest in social work began with taking a semester off of school during my undergraduate career. I was given the opportunity to live and work in Puerto Rico. This season away from classes allowed me time to contemplate a career and a major that would best fit my interests, values, and skills. I felt that social work was the only major that adequately reflected this. After returning to school to begin my social work classes, my interest in the field began to develop more fully. The following summer I was able to live and work in Costa Rica with Nicaraguan immigrant teenage girls living in extreme poverty. I began to understand how systems and cycles of poverty can affect the individual. I learned that these girls were not only†¦show more content†¦The field of social work helps to build stronger families, and my work and volunteer experiences have cultivated within me a growing interest in a social work career, specifically in working with children and families. The need for strong families and stable homes in which children can be raised is an issue that I believe deserves better resources and more public attention. It is a complex matter that has no easy solution, nor one single avenue by which it can be addressed. Social work as a profession should continue to address this issue in several ways. Providing additional resources to teenage mothers is a way in which this issue can be aided. Children of teenage mothers are born at a disadvantage because of the limited amount of services available to their mothers. Social workers can provide needed assistance to teen mothers such as counseling services, parenting classes, and further educational opportunities. The effects of this are twofold: when teen mothers are better equipped to take care of themselves, their capacity to appropriately care for their children is enhanced. In turn, they can raise their children in an environment that develops healthy adults. Social work as a profession can also seek to build stronger