Sometimes, during heated discussions and debates about social policy, the underlying reasons for the policy go unnoticed. Advocates and policymakers may become so committed to their perspectives and to winning the debates that they lose focus on the larger context surrounding an issue. The purpose of policy is to improve the lives and well-being of individuals and groups in our society. As you assume the role of a social work policymaker, consider the importance of keeping the needs and experiences of vulnerable populations at the forefront of your mind in your advocacy efforts. This can help to assure effective policy practice.

For this Assignment, you will analyze a state, federal, or global social welfare policy that affects an at-risk, marginalized, oppressed, underrepresented, or over looked group population. Finally, consider the impact of social policy from the perspective of the group you selected.

Assignment (5-7 double-spaced pages, APA format). In addition to a minimum of eight scholarly references, which may include electronic government documents and reputable websites, your paper should include:

• A description of the current policy approach for addressing the social issue you selected
• A description of the current policy goals for addressing the social issue you selected
• A description of the population the current policy approach covers
• An explanation of the funding levels for the current policy approach and whether they are sufficient to address the issue
• An explanation of how this policy may affect at-risk, marginalized, underrepresented, overlooked, or oppressed populations. Identify a specific at-risk population.
• An analysis of whether or not the policy meets the needs of the population groups most affected by the policy.
• Recommendations for alternative policies that would address the gaps identified in the policy. Please be specific in recommendations.

You need to find a peer reviewed journal article, that has been published within the last 5 years. A peer reviewed journal article is an article published in a peer review journal only after it has been reviewed by numerous experts in the field.  This review is to make sure the article is not rubbish and provides useful information.  

If you using websites, remember many websites that information comes from are suspect in terms of factual and unbiased information. In a nutshell, never use Wikipedia, About.com, Answers.com, or similar websites.  Though some .com sites are acceptable, most students have trouble identifying whether they can be trusted, so an easy guideline to follow is to avoid them. Websites ending in .gov, .net, .edu, .org, and so forth are typically more trustworthy than a .com source.

Your written assignment is point heavy (190 points).  It will be a very intensive paper and there are specific sections which need to be addressed.  To help provide an organized paper, APA headings must be used.  Below I included information on how to format the headings.  

APA HEADINGS

APA Style uses a unique headings system to separate and classify paper sections. There are 5 heading levels in APA. The 6th edition of the APA manual revises and simplifies previous heading guidelines. Regardless of the number of levels, always use the headings in order, beginning with level 1. The format of each level is illustrated below:

APA Headings: Level  Format

  1. Centered, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Headings

  2. Left-aligned, Boldface, Uppercase and Lowercase Heading

  3. Indented, boldface, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the period. 

  4. Indented, boldface, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the period. 

  5. Indented, italicized, lowercase heading with a period. Begin body text after the period.