Chapter 5: Practice Setting
Setting in Social Work Practice: Organizations and Communities
? Organizations are entities made up of people that have rules and
structure to achieve specified goals.
? Social services in the context of social agencies.
Social services include the wide range of activities that social workers perform to help people solve problems and improve their personal well-being.
A social agency is an organization providing social services that typically employs social workers in addition to office staff, and sometimes volunteers. Forms:
Public or private;
Nonprofit or proprietary (for profit)
? Social work practice in the context of communities
A community is “a number of people who have something in summon with one another that connects them in some way and that distinguishes them from others.
Some mutual characteristic, such as \and activities\Types:
Locality-based community; Non geographic community
The special circumstances of social work practice in rural communities. Low population density
Social problems faced by rural residents:
poverty, lack of transportation, inadequate child care, unemployment, substandard housing, and insufficient health care and so on.
Four special issues for rural social workers:
(1)true gene lists(work with different level case systems and use a wide of skills)
(2) Interagency cooperation.
(3) The importance of understanding the community, knowing its values and developing relationships with rural residents (informal relationship)
(4) Emphasizing strengths inherent in rural communities. (Informal supporting system)
Urban social work
Urban social work is practice within the context of large cities, with their vast array of social problems, exceptional diversity, and potential range of resources.
Five problems in urban areas:
(1)Social problems occur with greater frequency and therefore are more visible
in cities.
(2) Widespread occurrence of discriminatory behavior. (3) Migration problems.
(4) Financial shortfalls or unavailability of resources. (5)Greater amount of psychological stress
Skills necessary for urban social work (1) Paying attention to human diversity
(2) Understanding their agency environment
(3) Seeking resources in the external urban environment (4) Using advocacy
Micro practice: social work with individuals
? counselor ? educator ? broker ? facilitator ? advocate
Micro/mezzo practice: social work with families
? The primary purpose of family social work is to help families learn to
function more competently while meeting the development and emotional needs of all members. ? The task of family social workers
(1) Be responsive to the styles and values of families from other special populations.
(2) Break complex tasks into smaller specific steps.
(3) Assess the key skills needed for less stressful family interaction. (4) Explain and model appropriate skills.
(5) Assess individual learning styles and ways to teach adults and children (6) Establish homework and other means of ensuring generalization of skills from one setting to another.
(7) Promote and reward skill acquisition.
(8) Emphasize strategies that help develop the strengths of family members (9) Motivate the family to stay involved even when faced with challenges and setback.
? The importance of social networks for families.
Social network: the structure and number of people and groups with whom you have contact or consider yourself to be in contact.
Emotional support, instrumental support, informational support and appraisal support
Mezzo practice: social work with group Treatment group
Task group
Macro practice: social work with organizations and communities
? social action ? social planning
? locality development Macro skills
(1) Agency or public social policies may require change.
(2) Entail initiating and conducting projects within agency or community contexts
(3) Planning and implementing new social service programs within an agency or community.
Chapter 6: An overview of social welfare and social work history Early European Approaches to Social Welfare
? Feudalism
Lands owner vs. landless serf Medieval hospital Church
People have little mobility, free choice, potential for change.
Judeo-Christian thought: \heaven through mercy and charity\
? England after feudalism's demise
People gained mobility and independence but lost much of the safety and security the old feudal system had provided.
Government regains social control by passing some statute, such as: Keeping people from moving;
Forbidding able-bodied people from begging.
? The English Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601 Recipients are categorized into: 1. Dependent children 2. Impotent poor
3. The able-bodied poor
1662 Law of settlement established a new principle of social welfare provision: residency requirement.
? The Speenhamland System
The first Minimum income maintenance system
? The English Poor Law reforms of 1834
Government would not provide outdoor relief for able-bodied people.
Blame the victim
U. S. Social welfare History: Early Colonization to the mid-1800s
? Services reflected a mix of public and private collaboration.
Government assumed responsibility of administration aid but often called upon local churches for help.
Residency requirement was established.
? Focus on Mental Health and Mental illness
Moral treatment: humane treatment in structured institutional settings The Civil War Era
? Freeman Bureau: the first federal welfare agency 1870-1900
? Two trends: Industrialization; Urbanization
? Focus on children: early policies
Institutional care: almshouse and orphanage Foster care
? Settlement House, Charity Organization Societies, and Generalist social
work
? Settlement House were places where ministers, students, or
humanitarians 'settle' to interact with poor slum dwellers with the purpose of alleviating the condition of capitalism.
? Characters
1. Settle house approach address the problems in the context of environment. 2. Emphasize on advocacy
3. Emphasize on empowerment of people
? Charity Organization Societies Friendly visitor
Establish a base of scientific knowledge and apply it to the helping process Focus on curing individual
The Progressive period: 1900 to 1930 The Great Depression and the 1930s
? The Great Depression and New Deal Cash relief
Short-term work relief, Expansion of employment
? The Social Security Act of 1935
Social insurance (for old age, disability, death of a breadwinner, unemployment, and work-related injury and sickness)
Public Assistance (old people, children and blind people)
The 1960s and the War on Poverty
? More people of color are in poverty than white people.
? Public assistance roll were escalating even unemployment decreased. ? the public welfare amendments of 1962
Supportive social service to help welfare recipients to self-supporting.
? War on poverty
Head Start; Volunteers in Service to America
? A Return to Conservatism in the 1970s
? Conservative extremes in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Translation
? Social Workers have difficulties with empowerment strategies because
their agencies are part of a social system which routinely devalues certain minority groups. Making equal responses to all people who come to an agency may reduce discrimination. Since negative valuations are so widespread, agencies may unthinkingly implement them. Consequently, we discourage potential clients from using the agency and they do not receive the equal treatment available.
Chapter 7: Policy, Policy Analysis, Policy Practice, and Policy Advocacy Social welfare policy
? Policy: rules that govern people's lives and dictate expectations for
behavior.
? Social Welfare Policy: Laws and regulations that govern which social
welfare programs exist, what categories of clients are served, and who qualifies for a given program.
? Agency Policy: standards adopted by organizations and programs that
provide services.
Social Welfare Policy Development
? phase 1
Recognizing society's values about what is considered important or worthwhile.
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