I’m participating in a high school’s Career Day in two weeks, and a friend suggested I dispel myths about what social workers are and what they do. I thought one way to do that would be to use whatever references kids might have based on movies and TV. So far the only thing in recent memory I can think of is Mariah Carey in “Precious.” I know there was also the show “Judging Amy” but I’m certain none of these kids would have seen that.
Suggestions?
It may be too old for today’s kids to have seen, or even understand; but I’ll offer it anyway: Mare Winningham’s character played a social worker in the 1985 film, St. Elmo’s Fire.
There was a social worker given the task of looking in on an amnesiac vampire on the UK Being Human recently.
But as always tvtropes is the go to
The social worker in the Sesame Street movie Follow that Bird? She tells Big Bird he has to go live with other birds.
TV Tropes takes the fun out of these threads.
The social worker verse of “Gee, Oficer Krupke!” from West Side Story (at about 4:25). It’s not a positive portrayal, but you could work with that, dispelling the stereotype…
Ha! They didn’t even have my reference. They are SO foiled!
If it helps narrow the field of references to choose from, the kids I’ll be speaking to are largely minority and from low-income families.
So that eliminates Big Birds I suppose.
How about some episodes of Law and Order? I’m sure some involved social workers.
There was a scene in Buffy the Vampire Slayer with a social worker who needed to determine if Buffy was taking good care of her sister.
Puppets Who Kill was a TV show about a social worker, but it is probably unknown outside of Canada.
Lilo and Stitch (the movie, I’ve never seen the TV show) involved Cobra Bubbles, a social worker assesses the family after the parents die, and may put Lilo in foster care because he doesn’t think her older sister can care for her. He’s also a former CIA agent who previously interacted with aliens at Roswell. By the end of the movie, he seems to have become a friend of the family. Not sure if this is at all useful, but it’s the only example I can think i of.
A Thousand Clowns. The female lead, played by Barbara Harris, was a social worker.
Are you kidding? Gigantic yellow birds are among the most marginalized of minority groups out there.
He’s a Canary-American, yo.
Surprised no one has mentioned Comedy Central’s cartoon series, Ugly Americans yet. That show is probably the most accurate and hilarious depiction of social work out there.
You can watch some clips and familiarize yourself with it at the official comedy central site.
The Norm Show was a late-nineties, early-noughties show where Norm MacDonald played a tax evasor forced to become a social worker as community service.
There’s The Maxx, where Julie is a freelance social worker. Full episodes on mtv.com.