- Also called:
- welfare service or social work
News •
Family welfare
Social philosophers and caseworkers generally regard family life as the ideal context for the promotion of social welfare. Family welfare programs seek to preserve and strengthen the family unit through both economic assistance, where available, and personal assistance with a variety of services. Personal assistance services include marriage counseling in most developed countries and in urban centres of developing countries; maternal, prenatal, and infant care programs; family planning services; family-life education, which promotes both the enrichment of family relationships and the improvement of home economics; “home-help” or “homemaker” services providing household assistance to families burdened with chronic illness, handicaps, or other dependencies; and care of the aged through such programs as in-home meal services, transportation, regular visitation, and reduced-cost medicines.
Child welfare
A paramount concern in all family welfare programs is the welfare of children. Whenever possible, children’s services are rendered within the setting of home life. Income assistance to parents may help ensure the basic security of the family structure. Maternal, prenatal, and child health-care programs are important in all societies but especially so in those affected by widespread disease and malnutrition; infant and maternal mortality rates are in fact the most basic indexes of child welfare. The increasing number of working mothers worldwide has given rise to day-care services ranging from simple custodial supervision to educational and health-care programs. In some countries, industries are required to provide such facilities for their employees, in recognition of the changing economic pressures on family life.
While the family unit is imbued with great value by most child-welfare programs, these programs must also address the special needs of unwed mothers and their children, broken families, and children whose families, although intact, are sources of abuse and neglect rather than love and nurture. Attitudes vary greatly among the world’s societies toward pregnancy out of wedlock. Historically, social and even physical persecution have been common in some communities, but most modern societies recognize a responsibility toward the welfare of unmarried mothers and their children. In industrial countries, and in some developing countries through private charity, services typically include medical care and delivery and counseling regarding the decision to keep the baby or to give it up for adoption. In many countries institutional homes provide for the care both of unwed expectant mothers and of mothers and babies after delivery, in a setting sheltered from the often rigid strictures of family and community. Procedures of adoption vary considerably worldwide, but arrangements are frequently carried out by social service agencies in cooperation with legal authorities.
Whereas orphans once made up the majority of children living in institutional homes, the number of children who lose both parents through death has been greatly reduced by medical advances. Institutional and foster care are now provided mainly to children whose home lives have been disrupted, permanently or temporarily, by marital discord, financial hardship, parental irresponsibility, neglect, or abuse. While foster care might be considered preferable because it offers the intimate atmosphere of family living, some children, such as those severely affected by parental abuse or emotional disturbance, may adjust more comfortably to the more impersonal environment of an institution. Although it cannot be determined conclusively whether the increasing incidence of reported child abuse is attributable to falling standards of parental care or to improved detection and reporting, much effort has been invested in supervision, social education, and cooperation between personal social services and health care, education, police, and housing authorities.
Youth welfare
The underlying aim of most social welfare services for young people, apart from those services that address immediate basic needs, is to prepare them for the assumption of responsible roles in the adult world. The majority of programs provide adult-supervised leisure-time group activities, which may range from cultural and social events to athletics to hiking and camping. Participation in such programs is high in most European countries. The former Soviet youth organizations, called Pioneers and Komsomol, were the largest in the world. Some programs, such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or Girl Guides, Young Men’s Christian Associations, and Young Women’s Christian Associations, have spread nearly worldwide, stimulating the formation of similar groups tailored to local needs. In addition to group activity, youth welfare programs also provide counseling and guidance services on a more individual basis to help meet the personal, social, educational, and vocational needs of young people.
While the above services are intended to provide constructive outlets for the energies of young people, there remain many destructive influences in society. Social services have directed increasing attention to the problem of delinquency in an effort to provide alternatives to the traditional juvenile court/institutional methods of control. In some urban areas so-called street workers approach the problem at its source. Recognition of the importance of peer groups in youth behaviour has led to the use of group therapy in many correctional institutions and in communities as a preventive service or as an adjunct to parole.
Welfare of the elderly
The elderly now constitute the largest single client group using personal social services worldwide. In all advanced industrial societies the proportion of infirm elderly is on the increase, and, although they constitute only a small minority of the retired population, their claim on social services is disproportionately heavy. Because social care for the elderly is often labour-intensive, most countries give full support to the promotion of family care and the expansion and rationalization of informal care on a voluntary or quasi-voluntary basis. Services include transportation, friendly visiting, home delivery of hot meals, nurse visitation, and reduced-cost medical supplies. Senior centres sponsor group activities such as crafts, entertainment, outings, and meals on a regular basis. Nursing homes, variously funded, provide medical and custodial care for those who are unable to live independently. Paradoxically, the majority of elderly people lead independent lives, seldom utilizing personal social services. Indeed, fit elderly people are increasingly in demand as a source of voluntary service.
Group welfare
The settlement movement arose in response to the collective needs of deprived urban communities. Settlement houses today, and similar community centres and other organizations, seek to promote the common welfare of local groups that may differ in language, national origin, race, or religion. Whereas, in the United States, attempts were formerly made to Americanize such groups by supplanting foreign traits of language and custom with American ones, the emphasis of educational and training programs has changed; language and other assimilating skills are taught, but the preservation of cultural diversity is also promoted. In addition to educational and cultural programs, settlements may offer legal advocacy, recreational activities, and health clinics.
Throughout the 20th century the resettlement of massive numbers of refugees forced from their homes has placed great demand on social welfare services. In Europe and North America various church denominations have taken an active role in relief and other welfare work for such groups as well as for migrant and transient elements within the general population.
Welfare of the sick and disabled
Serious illness and disability account for many of the problems addressed by social services. In addition to the need for adequate primary care, the ill and disabled also frequently face disruption or loss of income, inability to meet family responsibilities, the long-term process of recovery or adjustment to handicaps, and ongoing care in the form of medication, therapy, and the observance of dietary or other precautions.
In some countries, medical social workers are local-authority social workers who have been attached to hospitals, local general-practice health centres, and child guidance agencies. They provide the counseling and other supportive services required by the physically ill and the disabled and their families. Especially in countries where free medical care is not available to the poor, the responsibility for means-testing gives the workers an additional, advisory role with respect to their clients’ financial problems. Personal social services make arrangements for domiciliary care in the form of regular visits from home-helpers and occupational therapists; special appliances and home adaptations are supplied either by personal social services or by health services. In the case of severely disabled people personal social services run day-care centres to provide relief for family care providers and small residential homes for the most dependent disabled when they no longer require hospital care.
Welfare of the mentally ill
The social aspects and consequences of mental illness were recognized early in the history of social work. The speciality of psychiatric social work developed initially as an adjunct to hospital care in urban areas. Such services have also been provided under military auspices, particularly in wartime. In developed countries today the psychiatric social worker serves at all levels of patient care; social casework may contribute to diagnosis and the course of treatment; educational and counseling services help other family members cope with the problems of hospitalization, treatment, and aftercare; close work with housing authorities and employers can facilitate the readjustment of patients into community life by means of foster care, halfway houses, sheltered workshops, and regular employment.
Personal social services have been a major contributor to the development of community care for the mentally ill and the mentally handicapped. In the industrialized world generally, though less so in Russia, policy calls for a reduction in the number of patients hospitalized on a long-term basis; this goal can be achieved only by returning patients to their families or accommodating them in neighbourhood hostels providing adequate support and supervision. The bulk of this responsibility has fallen on local authorities and voluntary agencies, which provide the professional staff and volunteers. Treatment programs are also increasingly designed to prevent hospital admissions and to avoid compulsory admission in all but exceptional cases.
