Week 4 Assignment: Policy Selection and Background
Assignment Description
Government policy impacts social justice problems. Some
policies may create social justice problems just as they attempt
to correct them. To successfully address social justice problems,
social workers must have the knowledge and skills to locate,
access, analyze, and interpret public policy.
Based on your analysis of the social justice problem in the Week
2 assignment, select a current enacted policy that is presently a
law to analyze using relevant local, state, or federal policy
resources. Your analysis must also address the problem that
affects your chosen diverse cultural group (for example, based
on race, religion, disabilities, gender orientation, socioeconomic
status, or access to services). This will be the policy you analyze
for not only this assignment, but the Weeks 6 and 9 assignments
as well. Be sure to incorporate constructs that have been
covered in this course into your analysis. You will com
Use Federal Policy: The Controlled Substances Act (CSA)
The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 is one of the most
significant federal policies that criminalizes substance use. It
classifies drugs into schedules and makes possession, use, and
distribution criminal offenses. Research shows that this punitive
approach has disproportionately harmed Black and Hispanic
communities and has not reduced drug use or overdose rates) .
Assignment Instructions
To complete this assignment, select a local, state, or federal
policy that targets the form of oppression and discrimination
you described in Week 2 (for example, the Americans With
Disabilities Act (ADA), Veterans Millennium Healthcare Act,
Affordable Care Act (ACA), Adoption and Safe Families Act,
Medicare, Medicaid, Temporary Aid to Needy Families Act,
Social Security Act, or a relevant state or local policy, such as
state or local affordable housing policies or health and safety
policies related to COVID-19).
Then, complete the follow
e Describe the programs and services provided through
the policy, using scholarly literature for support.
o What are examples of the programs and services
that are being offered as a result of your chosen
policy?
o Who is the target population for these programs
and services?
e Describe how the policy connects to the chosen social
justice problem, using scholarly literature for support.
o Connect the policy to the social justice problem
you selected by giving a brief description of the
problem. Is it a new problem, something that has
recently arisen, or an old problem that has never
been resolved?
e Describe the historical issues and context that led to the
creation of the social problem and policy development.
o Include information about the voting outcomes
for the policy and the legislative leaders who
influenced the policy historically and in the
present.
o Include the impact these historical features have
had on the policy's implementation.
Guidelines
e Use scholarly, peer-reviewed literature to support your
claims.
Review the Policy Selection and Background rubric for
information on how your work will be graded.
Remember that your instructor will be providing
feedback on your assignments. Use that feedback to
improve the content of your final assignment submission
in Week 9, Policy Analysis and Recommendations.
Additional Requirements
The assignment you submit is expected to meet the following
requirements:
Written communication: Written communication is free
of errors that detract from the overall message.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted
according to current APA style and formatting
standards.
Cited resources: A minimum of five scholarly sources.
Most literature cited should be current, with publication
dates within the past five years.
Length of paper: 4-6 typed, double-spaced pages.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.