Infusing Content About Discharging Legal Responsibilities into Social Work Practice Classes

ABSTRACT

In social work education, legal content may be best conveyed through infusion, rather than specialized law/social work courses. Infusion will occur differently in each social work education sequence (practice, human behavior, policy, and research). When infusing content about discharge of legal responsibilities into a practice class, the instructor should choose a common legal topic, and teach the relevant knowledge and skills. As the instructor generalizes from the topic presented, students learn that most legal topics affect practice in a complex manner. The example of legally mandated child maltreatment reporting is used to demonstrate knowledge, skills, and teaching methods. Implications are presented for social work literature, and for contact between social work faculty and field instructors.