Currently, I am working at a children’s protection shelter, where we primarily use email (Outlook) and Teams for communication. We do not normally use any other apps or tools when working with the kids and their families. Teams enables communication between the child and parent in some cases, while email is mainly used for communication between employees. Additionally, we use various Office tools for certain work tasks, such as make directives.
Before this position, I worked in youth work, where I used many different digital platforms. As a youth worker, I use Snapchat to communicate with the youth who want to contact me. Most of the time, the first contact comes from the students. For example, they ask me when I am going to visit their school or ask about the activities I have planned for that day. Additionally, during my last days before I delete my account, they send me multiple snaps to say goodbye, which was a nice way to conclude the semester and my job whit those youth’s. I believe Snapchat was the easiest way for many students to reach out to me. It was “easygoing” and convenient for the youth, although it meant I had to be prepared to answer questions whenever I was at work.
In youth work Discord was a new platform for me, but I found it to be simple and comprehensive. We created our own communities where we played with studies and organized live events on topics such as student mental health, postgraduate studies, summer work opportunities and a student loan. It served as a good platform for hosting events. Although, many students had different daily schedules, which made it difficult for us to find a time that worked for everyone interested in joining. Overall, I think Discord was effective platforms for hosting smaller group events.
In social work nowadays, I believe it’s important to utilize apps and tools, particularly when working with children and young people. Even though ePlatforms are very useful, it’s important to prioritize “face-to-face” interactions in social services. For example, the events we organize for the youth on Discord weren’t as popular as “face-to-face” events. I believe that COVID-19 has also led younger people to appreciate real-life contact more. However, I’ve noticed that ePlatforms are great way to engage in youth work because almost every young person uses some apps or platforms. It’s an effective way to report activities and information, as well as communicate with individual young people.
This subject present both positive and negative aspect within the social sector. Eplatforms can be very effective tools in some areas. However, as we progressively rely on virtual services to carry out tasks more efficiently, there will always be groups of people whom we cannot reach through these ways. When most daily tasks are managed online, it’s important to remember that there exists a segment of the population unable to utilize virtual services at all. For example, the elderly, immigrants, and other minority groups. Additionally, even when we can reach most of the people who will benefit from virtual social services and eplatforms, there will still be a small group who need these same services in another ways, and they are equally deserving of services whit quality. Ultimately, as providers of social services, we must use many different methods and remember to use working methos that serve every individual client in the best possible way.
Successful use of a digital platform in my industry requires a clear objective for its use, it must be reliable andeasy to understand, and both the customer and the worker must understand why it is being used.
Tools which I could use at work in Children protect shelter
TikTok:
Nowadays I have seen many TikTok accounts belonging to workers at children protection shelters, social workers or child protection experience specialist who are clients, parents, or children (youth) themselves. In these accounts has been important information, for example social workers talks about child protection laws, adult responsibilities and the rights of children and families. Children protection shelters share their everyday life, which showing that children living there lead mostly normal lives. For example, their daily lives consist of hobbies, completing school tasks, and cooking. Experience specialists also share their experiences with these services. If we have enough workers to create these types of accounts, it could be a very interesting and rewarding way to disseminate information in these fields.
ChatGPT:
I think this platform can be useful if I must reach out quickly some information, for example activities for the kids or find the latest research in my field.
Pinterest:
If this can be use without creating an account, it could be a creative way to find some inspiration. For example, youths who want to style their room or find inspiration for their hobbies.
Mural:
I believe that this could be an essential platform for creating information for workers or children or both. For example, creating presentations together with children for community days where every child and adult is present. The topic can be something very important or fun.
DeepL Translate:
Because I work with many different nationalities and we often do not share a common language, I must use translation applications. In some cases, we have translator, but they can only be used in limited situations and for short time. Therefore, for most of the day, I communicate with parents and children using translation applications. I have noticed that without these applications, the quality of work with these families would be inferior. I believe that DeebL translate could be more reliable and better than Google Translate. However, in that case, every coworker would need to learn how to use the new translation tool.
Self evaluation
This task forced me to reflect on my previous work and made me realise how many options I had in my current job. I have too often thought that in child protection you can’t use social media tools, but the assignment made me realise how many of them are in use nationwide.