Recognising social work as an essential profession in Malaysia

A social worker helps a family find solutions for their daughter to stay in school and for the mother to be able to support the family. Photo: Unicef

Arlene (not her real name) was five-months pregnant, on the phone seeking help from a social worker, when her abusive husband started hitting her.

The social worker from Women’s Centre for Change (WCC) in Penang immediately contacted the police who rescued Arlene and arrested her husband. The social worker then brought Arlene to the hospital for a medical check-up, and with a letter from both the hospital and police, was able to arrange for Arlene to go to her relative’s home in a different state during the movement control order (MCO) period.

Thankfully, Arlene and her unborn child are still safe, sheltered from her abusive husband.

Women who have been physically and sexually abused need to be protected. Photo: Unicef

Fifteen-year-old refugee Maya (not her real name) has been going to Yayasan Chow Kit (YCK)’s centre in Kuala Lumpur for a homeschooling programme for stateless children. After five years, she now runs a small baking-catering business.

Initially, her parents – daily wage earners with financial struggles – felt that Maya’s only hope for a secure future was to get married, even though she is underaged.

YCK intervened by organising a community session for refugee families on child marriage. At the session, a mother from Pakistan shared about her ordeal when she was married off as a child bride and even raped during her marriage. She revealed that getting married off as a child bride didn’t really secure her future. In fact, it negatively impacted her life.

The session saved Maya from an unfortunate fate. Instead of marrying her off, her parents allowed her to learn new skills to build a future for herself.

Maya and Arlene are two of many people who have benefitted from the work of social workers whose job is to protect the vulnerable and support families-in-need.

Often, social workers have to respond to a crisis and figure out, quickly, what needs to be done to protect the people who need their help.

They intervene in various settings: social welfare, courts, prisons, rehabilitation centres, schools, medical and public health services, mental health, child care, probation services, child abuse and domestic violence cases.

However, in Malaysia, social workers aren’t regarded as professionals and there is little regulation on the practice and therefore, little effort to recruit, register, license or train social workers to work either in the Department of Social Welfare or non-government organisations that cater to vulnerable groups that need help.

“Unfortunately, in Malaysia, many still confuse social work with volunteer work, which it is not, ” says Malaysian Association of Social Workers (MASW) president Dr Mohd Suhaimi Mohamad.

'Social work is an actual profession that serves to help people – individuals, families and communities – function in society,' says MASW president Dr Mohd Suhaimi. Photo: Dr Mohd Suhaimi Mohamad

“Social work is an actual profession that serves to help people – individuals, families and communities – function in society. Social workers need a high level of interpersonal skills, knowledge about those in need and their environment, as well as the values and ethics involved in providing professional social work services, ” he explains.

While compassion and kindness are important qualities for social workers to have, MASW Executive Committee member Teoh Ai Hua says that social workers need in-depth knowledge, understanding and training in their field.

He feels that it is ironic that society doesn’t pay much attention to social work or social welfare services.

“In the health service, health professionals must be trained and qualified before they’re hired. In education, teachers must be trained before being sent to the schools.

“But nobody asks if the social workers are trained or qualified – perhaps it’s because many associate such services with poverty and assume anyone can do the job. We must change that mindset. Social work is a real profession that requires qualified and properly-trained people, ” says Teoh who also serves in the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) – Asia Pacific as honorary secretary and represents the region in the IFSW Ethics Commission.

Teoh is also Chair of the Commonwealth Organisation for Social Work and honorary treasurer of the International Council of Social Welfare – South-East Asia and Pacific region.

'Social work is a real profession that requires qualified and properly-trained people,' says MASW Executive Committee member Teoh. Photo: Teoh Ai Hua

Long overdue

There are many challenges that social workers in Malaysia face, says Dr Mohd Suhaimi.

“The main challenge is the absence of laws that recognise social work as a profession. This results in limited resources being allocated in the planning of social welfare services and the hiring of social workers, ” he says.

A study by the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit revealed a ratio of one social worker for every 8,756 Malaysians, far behind the ratio of developed countries such as the United States (1:490), Australia (1:1,040), United Kingdom (1:3,025) and Singapore (1:3,448).

A caseload study conducted by the MASW in 2014 and 2015 on 29 social welfare officers in children’s services in KL and Selangor found that the each social worker had a caseload of between seven and 92 cases at any one time, with the average caseload being 53 per social worker.

The Social Work Bill was drafted in 2010 and for the past decade, the Social Welfare Department, Women and Family Development Ministry and MASW along with Unicef, have pushed for the tabling of the law to inject professionalism into social work and encourage competency-based international practices.

The proposed law would also ensure that all social workers are adequately trained and properly compensated. The law would also elevate the profession and encourage more to pursue social work as a career with a well laid out pathway.

However, the law has been yet to be tabled in parliament.

Earlier this year, women’s minister Datuk Seri Rina Harun said that she would see that the bill is tabled by the end of 2020. But she isn’t the first to pledge to get the bill tabled. In 2017, then Women, Family and Community Development minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim promised to table the act in Parliament. Last year, former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail also pledged the same after acknowledging that the shortage of social workers was among the main reasons for inefficient efforts to address social problems in the country.

Dr Wan Azizah also revealed that social workers often had to undertake tasks that were beyond their job scope, thus taking their focus away from their role as social protectors.

NGOs too, due to limited funding, aren’t able to hire sufficient social workers, notes WCC’s service manager Mangleswary Subramaniam.

“Because there is a lack of social workers, each would have to handle more cases. And, despite the gravity of their work, social workers are often not highly paid, ” she admits.

WCC has six trained social workers and two licensed counsellors. On average, each social worker handles 25 clients per month, including in-person, phone counselling, and follow-up interventions.

“WCC sees 500-600 new clients and receives 700-800 new calls for counselling or obtaining information, every year. But for the first half of 2020, we’ve already received 600 calls for a range of issues, ” says Mangleswary.

Currently, 47% of their cases comprise domestic violence, adult and child sexual assault. During the MCO, there was an 82% increase in domestic violence cases than previously, with domestic violence alone comprising 34% of the total cases handled during the MCO. Other most received calls, comprising 18% of cases handled during this time, were for financial aid, shelter and mental health support.

“Dealing with the disadvantaged, marginalised, disabled and elderly in society is not an easy task, and social workers need to be properly trained and also have the proper qualifications, ” says Mangleswary.

The Social Work Bill is important because it regulates social workers in the country and ensures their services are in accordance with the IFSW Workers’ code of conduct and ethics, she adds.

The enactment of the Social Work Bill, says Teoh, is crucial as it will also change public perception about social work and social workers.

“Young people would be encouraged to pursue social work if it is recognised as a career that has prospects. Then, more people can be helped. There are many universities and colleges in Malaysia and overseas where social work education, from diploma to PhD, is available, ” he adds.

Dedicated to help

Most social workers enter the field because of passion and job satisfaction from helping others, but it's not uncommon for them to feel burnt out because of the workload,' says YCK centre manager, Ratna Dewi. Photo: Yayasan Chow Kit

Most social workers enter the field because of passion and job satisfaction from helping others, says Yayasan Chow Kit (YCK) centre manager, Ratna Dewi Raja Kamal Vadiveloo.

But because of the workload, it is not uncommon for social workers to feel burnt out.

“There is an obvious shortage and as a result, many social workers may be overworked and underpaid. Their income ranges, depending on the organisation they’re with, ” says Ratna Dewi.

YCK looks after the needs of underprivileged, undocumented, stateless, migrant and refugee children below the age of 18, who live mainly in the Chow Kit area in KL. They provide homeschooling at its two centres – Pusat Activiti Kanak-Kanak (ages 7-12), and Kuala Lumpur Krash Pad (teenagers) – for those who can’t attend government schools because of documentation or citizenship issues. It also provides a safe house – Pusat Jagaan Baitul Amal (PJBA) – for abused, abandoned or unaccompanied children (up to age 12) where they can have a caring, nurturing, friendly family environment.

YCK has only six social workers across its three centres.

“We’ve a mix of refugee, migrant, undocumented and stateless children at the centre as YCK accepts all children regardless of their background – Malaysian and non-Malaysian, ” says Ratna Dewi. “They aren’t orphans or street children, but most have B40 parents who are daily wage earners or odd-job workers. They send their children to the centre to ensure they’re safe and occupied with positive activities since Chow Kit is a red-light district and children may be exposed to high-risk activities. They face many issues including urban poverty, lack of access to basic education, and a high likelihood of engaging in delinquent behaviour, ” she explains.

Ratna Dewi hopes that the Social Work Bill is given serious consideration by lawmakers as it will enable social problems to be addressed more comprehensively.

“More advocacy, training, and networking can be done, and it would attract more individuals to pursue the profession, ” she says.

According to Unicef whose mandate is to protect children from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation, social workers are an essential service.

In order to carry out this mandate, there needs to be a well-functioning child protection system and the most important component of this system is the social services workforce – both government and non-government social workers – yet, it is often under-resourced, under-staffed, and under-supported.

The recognition of social work as a valid profession that requires proper education, and the provision to register social workers will lead to better salary schemes for social work graduates, ” adds Dr Mohd Suhaimi.

In many other countries, social work is regulated through legislation. The Social Work Bill, once enacted, will mean only those with the necessary qualifications can be recognised as a “registered social worker".

A social worker from the Department of Social Welfare counsels (using pictures) a girl who has been abused by a family member. Photo: Unicef

“This is important because social work involves dealing with complex social issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, youth delinquency, addiction, mental health, migrant workers, refugees and undocumented persons, which require qualified and full-time professionals, ” says Teoh.

The number of social workers in the country is low compared to countries that have laws on social work. In the public sector, the number of positions for graduate level social development officers under the Social Welfare Department and the Health Ministry’s medical social workers is less than 900. Some social work graduates are employed in public agencies like the National Anti Drugs Agency, Social Security Organisation and the Department of Community Development. The number in NGOs is much less due to budget constraints.

“MASW estimates that over 8,000 social work graduates have been produced by local public universities since 1979 with about 400 students graduating every year. If we estimate only 15% of the graduates are working as social workers, that would be about 1,200, which is close to the social worker positions available in the country, ” Teoh says.

“We don’t have an exact figure on the number of social workers in the country since they don’t have to be registered currently. However, it is estimated to be around 1,200, ” he says.

“Developed countries may see a ratio of one social worker to 600 persons. If we use the current estimate of 1,200 social workers in the country, it means that we only have four social workers per 100,000 population (refer to chart). To meet the lowest of the developed countries, we need at least 9,800-10,000 registered social workers, ” says Teoh.

The number of clients that a social worker can reasonably serve at any one time depends on the nature of the cases.

“In child protection and juvenile justice work, the recommendation from the US, Britain and Australia is one social worker to 15 cases for those involving intensive work in assessment and intervention; and 15-30 cases involving coordination-monitoring work, ” reveals Teoh.

“In Britain, the average number of cases social workers handled in 2019 was 12-33 across different local councils according to government statistics from the annual children’s social work workforce census. The average caseload was 16.9, ” he says.