The core values of social work serve to provide consistency in the fulfillment of the social welfare delivery and in the general promotion of well-being and quality of life of all peoples. However, special attention or priority is given to those who suffer some forms of exclusions from receiving social services. Therefore, the core values in the pursuit of social work include compassion, service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence (Du Bois & Miley 2008; Segal, Gerdes, & Steiner 2005).
Compassion can be considered as an important value for all humankind but in social work, it occupies a special impetus to the functioning of the profession. It is the basis for someone to go out and become a voice to the voiceless and a friend to the people who need it most.
Service, as a value, directs social workers to go beyond purely performing a service for a pay and allow them to be generous with their time. Their work borders on charity and professional service. Without a special interest in pure service, much of the social work could not be properly accomplished.
Social justice, as a value for social workers, is a basis of their understanding of the need to ensure that everyone get serviced and that everyone get a share of what the community possesses in material and non-material assets.
Dignity and worth of the person is a value that provides the determination and drive for social workers to seek the marginalized in all forms without much regard as to whether such problem is self-inflicted or socially imposed. At the heart of social work is the belief that all humans have dignity and worth regardless of their acts and status in life.
Importance of human relationships, as a .value, makes it possible for social workers to do their job as most human situations they seek-to address require collaborating with so many others professionals and individuals with a stake in the issue. It is about relationships. After all, it is in the context of relationships where people find themselves broken and marginalized. A relationship is the context of social marginalization and inclusion.
Integrity is necessary in all human endeavors. In social work, nothing can be accomplished without integrity. A social worker will have difficulties to be accepted by the people to receive services and by those he / she needs to collaborate with to facilitate problem solving and empowerment of an individual or a group.
Competence is a very important value for social work because it separates social caregiving from social work professional practice. Through special training, a social worker becomes separated from all common sense, culture, and religious-based care.