Guardian Article: Social Work Is Not Just A Job It Is Important To Help Clients In Need.
Social work needs a human face
Once family courts have finally ruled on removing children from their parents, social workers should be free to nurture them
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- David Akinsanya
- guardian.co.uk, Monday 9 August 2010 17.00 BST
‘If we are serious about caring for kids whose parents can’t or won’t do so, we need to build relationships for them.’ Photograph: Michael Hart/Getty ImagesI feel lucky to have grown up in care during the 1970s and 1980s. I had been placed there as a baby, and had been labelled “unfosterable” by the time I was 10, so I spent most of my time in a small residential unit and, later, in a community home with 18 teenagers. In those days, being a social worker was more of a calling than a career. Social workers didn’t move on and up as often as they do now. My social worker, Jenni Randall, started working with me when I was eight, and when she finally moved on she insisted we remain in touch. The relationship would be frowned upon today; she would be accused of blurring the professional line. But it was this relationship that saved me.
When I was 15 and still at school I was dumped into a “semi-independence unit” – a pilot scheme that was supposed to prepare young people for life after care. Four of us, aged 15 and 16, were put into a council house on a sink estate and left to fend for ourselves, except for a weekly visit from a social worker. I started stealing cars and, on one occasion, broke into the local swimming pool in the middle of the night because I fancied a swim. I was sent to borstal.
This could have been the end of me had it not been for my relationship with Jenni, who continues to give me support to this day. When I was in borstal I decided to go on the straight and narrow, not for my own sake, but because it upset me to see Jenni travelling to the institution. On one visit I had been beaten up, and Jenni cried when she saw the state of my face. I didn’t know that anyone cared about me, but she demonstrated that she did. She remembered my birthdays and helped me in practical ways, too, making sure that I kept hold of the flat I had been allocated so that I would have somewhere to go when I came out.
I now do respite care with looked-after kids. The first child I supported was a 13-year-old boy called Jerry. He would stay with me at weekends and Christmas. All through his young life he was moved from place to place; I lost count of the social workers he had. By the time he was 21, he was in jail. On his 21st birthday, he got a letter from social services saying that he was now on his own.
Over the years I have seen many young people who, like Jerry, are moved from foster home to foster home, perhaps with short stints in residential care in between. There is no continuity of care and this makes them feel worthless.
Jerry is 24 now, and left prison last week. I went to meet him on his release. Apart from me, not one of the people who had cared for him had been in touch since he was 16. I know people don’t go into social work to become service providers, tied to their computer screens, but this is what many have become.
Of course children must not be left with abusive or neglectful parents – the whole idea of an “at risk” register appals me. Barnardo’s is right to highlight, as it did this week, that the family courts are at present taking far too long to act.
However, we must not lose sight of what happens to children once they are removed from their parents. If we are serious about caring for kids whose parents can’t or won’t do so, then we need to build relationships with them. It is a great shame that many local authorities no longer invest in residential care, which went out of fashion as a result of a string of child-abuse scandals. When children are taken from their families now, there are too few assessment centres and they are expected to fit into foster families immediately after what may have been a traumatic experience.
I doubt there is a lot of therapeutic care going on in foster homes, which would allow the feelings of loss, anger and sadness to be dealt with. Professional care is needed during this time so that a child can be properly matched with a family. Instead, it seems kids just move from one crisis to another. In the process they can feel they themselves are the problem, not the system.
So far, this government hasn’t said anything about their intentions for looked-after children – and with all the talk of cuts this silence is worrying. We need investment in social work so that it can once again have a human face, and so that social workers can nurture and build relationships with these vulnerable children.
Toronto Sun Article: Gay Jamaican Man Obtains Refugee Status Because Of Virulent Homophobia In Jamaica.
A openly gay man who is married to his partner has won a bid for refugee status due to concerns his life may be in jeopardy if he is deported to his native Jamaica.
Marlon Cunningham, 45, who lives in Toronto, had his refugee case thrown out in September 2009 after a member of the immigration and refugee board failed to consider all the evidence at his hearing.
Cunningham filed an appeal to the Federal Court of Canada and was granted another hearing last week.
Justice Frederick Gibson said the IRB member didn’t consider information on the treatment of homosexuals in the Caribbean.
The member “erred in discounting reports of violence against homosexuals in Guyana,” Gibson said in his decision.
“The failure to consider relevant evidence would be sufficient to grant a judicial review,” he wrote.
Cunningham married a fellow Jamaican in July 2009 and is active in the Jamaican-Canadian community, court heard.
“He faces risk if returned to Jamaica,” Gibson wrote.
He said a failure to acknowledge new evidence or take it into account can lead to Cunningham facing “a personalized risk of persecution or a risk to his life.”
He faces “cruel and unusual treatment or punishment if returned to Jamaica,” the decision said.
The board has recognized that gay men and women are targeted in Jamaica.
NY Times Article: Mexican Supreme Court Orders Mexican Government To Recoginze Gay Marriages.
Mexican States Ordered to Honor Gay Marriages
By DAVID AGREN
Published: August 10, 2010
MEXICO CITY — The Mexican Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that each of the country’s 31 states must recognize same-sex marriages registered in Mexico City, potentially giving gay and lesbian couples full matrimonial rights nationwide.
Eduardo Verdugo/Associated Press
Revelry in Mexico City last week as the Supreme Court upheld a same-sex marriage law. The court went further on Tuesday.
The court had already ruled this month that Mexico City’s same-sex marriage law, which took effect in March and has resulted in hundreds of same-sex marriages, was constitutional.
But on Tuesday, the court went a step further, ruling 9 to 2 against a complaint from the attorney general’s office, which had said that other jurisdictions should not be required to honor marriages that were performed in Mexico City.
While the court made it clear that state governments were not obligated to enact same-sex marriage laws of their own, it did require them to recognize the legality of such marriages performed in Mexico City.
“What’s going to happen to a same-sex couple” who marry in Mexico City “when they cross the border” to another state, asked Justice Arturo Zaldívar, who voted with the majority, during Tuesday’s discussions. “Does this marriage disappear? They go on vacation and they’re no longer married?”
The possibility of having to recognize same-sex marriages from Mexico City had provoked outrage from state governments belonging to the right-leaning National Action Party, which governs nationally, and drew accusations that the left-leaning Mexico City government was establishing civil-registry regulations for the rest of the country.
The court decision leaves uncertainty about which marital rights must be recognized by state governments.
But Arturo Pueblita Fernández, a constitutional law professor at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City, said that fundamental spousal rights would apply to same-sex couples across the country, including alimony payments, inheritance rights and the coverage of spouses by the federal social security system, which provides health and pension benefits to most of Mexico’s working population.
The court must still decide whether another part of the law, which allows same-sex couples married in Mexico City to adopt children, is constitutional. If it is, it is unclear whether such adoptions would have to be recognized throughout the country as one of the rights of same-sex couples.
The adoption issue could be decided as early as Thursday.
Opponents of same-sex marriage, including the leader of Mexico City’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, have voiced their displeasure with the law.
In a message read after his Sunday homily, Cardinal Rivera called the court decision to uphold the law “aberrant.”
Vancouver Sun Article: British Actor Dev Patel Says He Wants To Break The Stereotype That Asian Men Are Just Geeks & Dorks.
Asian actors only play terrorists or geeks, says Dev Patel
Dev Patel in The Last Airbender.
Photograph by: Paramount Pictures Entertainment, Handout
Hollywood is institutionally racist, according to Dev Patel, the Slumdog Millionaire star, who claims Asian actors are limited to roles as terrorists, taxi drivers or geeks.
When the film about the Mumbai slums became the surprise hit of last year, winning eight Oscars, it was expected that Patel’s career would take off.
But the 20 year-old from Harrow, north-west London, has been frustrated by the lack of decent roles on offer and is currently jobless.
“Because Slumdog was such a big hit, there was a lot of pressure in terms of what I did next,” he said. “For my second film, I wanted a role that would stretch me, but all I was getting offered were stereotypical parts like the goofy Indian sidekick.
“Asian actors tend not to be sent Hollywood scripts that are substantial or challenging. I’m likely to be offered the roles of a terrorist, cab driver and smart geek.
“I want to show that I have versatility. You have to remember that, before Slumdog, the last film about India that went big at the Oscars was Gandhi, as played by Ben Kingsley. The fact that me and Freida have any kind of platform in Hollywood is a big step forward.”
Freida Pinto played Patel’s love interest in the film and is now his real girlfriend. The Indian-born former model has had more success than Patel, winning a role in Woody Allen’s latest film.
But he said he hoped to overcome any prejudice. “I’m buzzing with adrenaline and raring to go, but I have to be realistic. Being an Asian actor, it’s never going to be easy. Hopefully the industry is changing and the casting directors will be less focused on colour so that people like myself can get through the door.”
Patel was plucked from the relative obscurity of Channel 4’s teenage drama, Skins, to make his film debut in Slumdog Millionaire. Directed by Danny Boyle, it became a box office success and won the best picture Oscar.
The film Patel chose for his second role has been mired in accusations of racism. The Last Airbender is based on a children’s television cartoon in which the main characters are Asian. The pounds 100?million Hollywood adaptation, released in Britain this week, has white actors in the leading roles while the Asian actors – including Patel – are limited to playing villains.
When the film premiered in America last month, there were protests at the cinema.
The actor still lives at home with his parents and travels on public transport. He said: “One time I was on the Tube and I picked up a free newspaper. Inside was a big article with the headlines, ‘Dev Patel, the new rising star’ along with a picture of me. This woman got on and started reading the piece. She looked up at me and did a classic double take.”
News One Article: Are Black Men To Blame Because Porn Star Montana Fishburne & Former Actress Maia Campbell Are Prostitutes?
Maia Campbell And Montana Fishburne: Black Girls Lost
Post by Casey Gane-McCalla in Entertainment on Aug 10, 2010 at 5:32 pm
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Recently, two privileged girls have made the news by turning to prostitution and pornography.
To many, the sight of Maia Campbell and Montana Fishburne being turned into prostitutes is disturbing. But what is even more troubling are the thousands of young women who aren’t famous, yet turn to prostitution out of the belief that it will bring them just that.
Montana Fishburne is the daughter of famous actor Laurence Fishburne, and Maia Campbell is a child star who appeared on the 90’s LL Cool J show “In The House.” Despite having everything in their favor, both women managed to go down the wrong road; a road where they are being taken advantage of by unscrupulous men.
Earlier this year, Campbell first made the news when she was caught on camera singing incoherently and revealing her breasts. Rumors started spreading around that she was on drugs. Later, she appeared in another video where she was again high and spoke about being a prostitute. The clip also included her telling a man that she would receive a beating “if her real man saw this.”
While many don’t know what exactly happened to Campbell, the motives have been made clear by Fishburne’s daughter, Montana. Once news broke of her appearing in an adult film, Montana said: “I want to become famous off a sex-tape just like Kim Kardashian and Pamela Anderson.” But both of them had the excuses of their sex-tapes being “private recordings” that somehow leaked.
Montana’s friends and family claim that the person responsible for all this is her boyfriend Jeremy Greene. He has been accused of beating and pimping her on “the track” before introducing her to porn. Montana’s friend has also claimed that her relationship with Greene led to her family cutting her off.
In his own twisted world, Jeremy Greene is proud of being a pimp. While in Hip Hop circles pimping may be cool, in the real world pimps are people who prey on women with issues and exploit them. Pimps often abuse women both physically and psychologically to keep them in submission. Many claim that the spots seen in the adult film on Montana’s butt are burns. If so, the abuse is reaching a dangerous point despite Montana denying those claims.
Both Maia and Montana are deeply troubled individuals. Rather than getting the help they need, they’re now surrounded by men who do nothing but prey. Many in urban culture sadly choose to glorify and emulate pimps like Bishop Magic Don Juan and Pimping Ken when they shouldn’t.
It’s a shame what happened to Maia Campbell and Montana Fishburne, but it’s a greater shame that this happens to young, troubled girls all over the world on a daily basis. While some people may blame their parents, mental issues or the girls themselves, the men who exploit them are the primary offenders.
Prostitution is seen as something that affects poor people, immigrants and drug addicts. We live in a world where women are degraded and treated as sex objects far too often. Maybe if Montana Fishburne had more self esteem she would take acting classes and work hard as an artist to achieve her fame, rather than taking the quick way to infamy with a porno flick.
In order to prevent more cases like Maia and Montana, families must spend more time with their children. Women who don’t have father figures often turn to pimps who fulfill that role. When women believe their only value to society is sexual, they become easy to exploit by pimps and porn pushers. We need to fix that as a people.
The media loves to see famous people fall and degrade themselves, which is why these two have received so much attention. Rather than providing guidance to these women, and using them as examples to learn from, web sites have just put them to shame and further exploited them.
In the end, Montana and Maia are Black girls lost who need our support and not condemnation and ridicule. To date, no one in the entertainment community has offered a word of support for them publicly. Their examples should lead to discussions on Black female self esteem and ways we can keep all of our daughters off the track, the pole and pornographic films.
Gayblackcanada 