Reaching Out to Children and Families

Students Model Effective Community Service

Michelle R. Dunlap

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2000
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781461641803
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

Community service and learning experiences are booming as we enter the 21st century. This practical guide assists college students and other constituents as they psychologically prepare for volunteering, service-learning, practicums, fieldwork assignments, and internships in a diverse and ever-changing world. Though created with the novice community worker in mind, this book will also assist professors, teachers, administrators, and agency personnel in understanding and preparing workers for community service and learning in schools, child care centers, soup kitchens, and shelters for the homeless. Written in a practical, conversational style, this book offers the voices, issues, concerns, and resources of more than 200 previous community workers. This book includes their struggles with the initial adjustment process, as well as ongoing gender, race, and class issues encountered in various service learning environments. Topics range from choosing a community service site to appropriate methods of bringing closure to the experience when it is time to say good-bye. This book in essence, provides hundreds of role models, scenarios, and worker perspectives that will help less-inexperienced workers prepare for the real-life, hands-on experiences of community engagement.

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I: Beginnings
• 1 How Do I Get Started? Getting Organized for Community Service and Learning
• 2 While You Are Getting Ready: Community Service and Learning in Context
• 3 What in the World Am I Doing Here? The First Visits
• Part II: Intermediate Issues
• 4 Looking in the Mirror: Images of the Self, the Hero, and the Mutual Learner
• 5 Is It Getting Better Yet? Building Trust and Nurturing Relationships
• 6 What Should I Do Now? Addressing Issues, Behavior, and Limits
• 7 To Touch or Not to Touch? Affection and Gender-Related Issues
• 8 The Melting Pot and the Vegetable Stew: Multicultural Issues
• 9 Expanding Horizons: Working with Individuals Who Have Special Needs
• 10 Did She Really Say That? Shocking Statements and Other Traumas
• Part III: Endings
• 11 Is It Time to Say Good-Bye? Arranging Successful Closure
• Afterword: Reviewing the Community Service and Learning Adjustment Process
• Appendix A: Sample Journal Reflection Questions
• Appendix B: Methods
• Appendix C: Guidelines Regarding Privacy and Confidentiality
• Appendix D: Sample Introductory Letter to Agency
• Appendix E: General Guidelines for Working with Children and Families
• Appendix F: Collectivistic Practices and Approaches
• Appendix G: Sample Placement Supervisor Evaluation of Worker
• Appendix H: Sample of Site Policy on Child Neglect and Abuse Reports
• Notes
• References
• About the Author