Major areas of concern

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.