Bilingual School Social Work
The need for Bilingual School Social Workers:
Bilingual Social Workers are essential workers because they are professionals who bring an added skill to their service. As bilingual professionals, social workers can communicate with clients who do not speak English or with younger clients' parents who do not speak English. It is often the case that bilingual social workers are members of culturally and linguistically diverse communities, having first-hand knowledge of the challenges of underprivileged minorities. This personal background can enhance their cultural competence and provide a better understanding of their clients' contexts and challenges.
According to 2020 Census data, 62.1 million Hispanics live in the United States. This group represents 18.9 percent of the U.S. population, the nation's second-largest racial or ethnic group after non-Hispanic whites. In recent years, the U.S. has experienced a significant influx of immigrants, some of whom are refugees.
In the context of the unprecedented growth of diversity in the U.S., social workers increasingly work with diverse clients and families across first-line systems such as schools, hospitals, local-level administration, and court systems. When working with culturally diverse families, knowing a foreign language or, ideally, the clients' native language becomes essential for communicating with these clients for several reasons.
Reasons Why Bilingual School Social Work Matters:
1. Overcoming the Language Gap
2. Mother tongue, the language of emotions
2. Mother tongue, the language of emotions
Overcoming the Language Gap:
The clients may not have developed English communication skills, or if they speak some English, their native language is still the vehicle to share their ideas more proficiently. A bilingual social worker can offer an added set of skills to help remove the linguistic roadblock thatseparates clients from accessing services and resources, knowledge, or a better understanding of how to improve their lives.
2. Mother tongue, the language of emotions
2. Mother tongue, the language of emotions
2. Mother tongue, the language of emotions
Releasing Emotions the Way They Come: The first language a person speaks plays a central role in developing perceptions, forging one's identity, and processing emotions. Clients who speak English, sometimes find it easier to revert to their native language when sharing strong feelings and deep emotions. Reflections or processing emotional states can be draining mental work. A bilingual social worker can facilitate and empower the client by providing them the option to switch to their first language should they need it, and removing the cognitive load of thinking about the words to use in a second language. Traumatic past experiences, anger, deep pain, and emotional dysregulation can make a second language less accessible for a client who is experiencing a crisis. Knowing the client's first language makes it essential for coregulation, regaining control, and staying calm.
3. Cultural Broker
2. Mother tongue, the language of emotions
4. Cultural Competency
Acting as a Cultural Broker:
The bilingual social worker is also a critical cultural facilitator and social educator.
The social worker can help clients unfamiliar with mainstream culture and systems learn about processes, expectations, and constructive ways to problem solve, achieve goals, self-regulate, and improve their outcomes in life.
4. Cultural Competency
5. Helping building trust and strong relationships
4. Cultural Competency
Intercultural Competency:
A bilingual social worker's background can be a valuable capital to develop intercultural competency with other linguistically diverse clients. Even when a bilingual social worker does not speak a client's first language, the social worker's experiences within a cultural and linguistic subgroup can provide a reference point to relate to the client who belongs to a different cultural and linguistic subgroup. As a bicultural professional, a bilingual social worker is accustomed to moving between cultures and is equipped with cultural sensitivity.
5. Helping building trust and strong relationships
5. Helping building trust and strong relationships
5. Helping building trust and strong relationships
Helping building trust and strong relationships:
The bilingual social worker has bilingual speaking abilities that help her/him communicate with students and parents. This important commonality along with the respect for the families cultural background, while providing them with resources or other levels of service support, are essential elements to help making strong connections between schools and families. The personal and genuine relationships SWs strive to achieve with students and families are the base for changes.
6. Confidentiality
5. Helping building trust and strong relationships
5. Helping building trust and strong relationships
Confidentiality:
The bilingual social worker has bilingual speaking abilities that do not require the need for translators or other parties involved. This direct communication without facilitator helps keeping the information more secure and confidential.