Chapter 1: Social Welfare, Past and Present

SOCIAL WORK AND SOCIAL WELFARE: AN INTRODUCTION
by Ambrosino/ Shuttlesworth/ Heffernan/ Ambrosino

Chapter 1:
Social Welfare, Past and Present

Copyright © 2012 Cengage Learning, Brooks/Cole, Publishing

Social Work: A Competency-
Oriented Education

 Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
- Defines Educational Policy and Accreditation
Standards (EPAs)
- Developed 10 “Core Competencies” and 41
Related “Practice Behaviors”
 Every student should master the Practice
Behaviors and Core Competencies before
completing the program


Resources Aligned to EPAS 2008

 The Textbook –
- “Helping Hands” icons call attention to content that
relates to Practice Behaviors and Competencies

- “Competency Notes” at the end of the chapter
help put the Practice Behaviors and Competencies
in practical context

Resources Aligned to EPAS 2008 (cont’d)

 The Practice Behaviors Workbook developed
with the text provides assignable exercises that
assist in mastering the Practice Behavior and
Competencies

 Additional on-line resources can be found at:
www.cengage.com/socialwork


Chapter 1: Social Welfare, Past and Present

What is social welfare?
The full range of organized activities of public and
voluntary agencies that seek to prevent, alleviate or
contribute to the solution of a selected set of social
problems

EP 2.1.3a
Copyright © 2012 Cengage Learning. Brooks/Cole, Publishing


Relationship between social welfare
and social work?
Social work is the primary profession that works
within the social welfare system and with those
served by the system

EP 2.1.1a
Copyright © 2012 Cengage Learning, Brooks/Cole Publishing


The value base of social welfare -
Whose role is it to help those in need?
Historical differences in value perspectives:
• Judeo Christian humanitarianism
• Laissez- faire economic doctrine
• Residual and institutional perspectives

EP 2.1.3a, 2.1.8a
Copyright © 2012 Cengage Learning, Brooks/Cole Publishing


Role of English heritage in
the U.S. social welfare system
In England:
• Church and feudal system in early years
• Could no longer handle number of poor during
Industrial Revolution
• English Parliament responded by passing
Elizabethan Poor Law in 1601

EP 2.1.3a, 2.1.8a


Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601
• “Worthy poor” placed in almshouses (indoor relief)
• Able-bodied poor placed in prisons or workhouses
• Guided philosophy of aid to poor in U.S. until Social
Security Act of 1935

EP 2.1.3a, 2.1.8a


Impact of Elizabethan Poor Law on
U.S. social welfare policy
• Clear government responsibility for the poor
• Government authority to force people to work and
families to care for their dependents
• Local governments responsible for poor
• Strict residency requirements

EP 2.1.3a, 2.1.8a


Social welfare in Colonial America
• Philosophy of English Poor Law
• Poor “warned out”
• Indentured servitude and slavery
• Indoor relief - assistance in homes of others, in
poorhouses, or in prisons

EP 2.1.3a, 2.1.8a


After the American Revolution
• Outdoor relief - cash assistance in own home
• New organizations to assist the urban poor:
- New York Society for the Prevention of
Pauperism – “Friendly visitors”
- Society for Improving the Conditions of the
Poor
- Charity Organization Society

EP 2.1.3a, 2.1.8a


Caring for specific populations
• Dorothea Dix (military ill/insane)
• Jane Addams/Hull House – social reform
• Charity Organization Societies (“scientific charity”
and individual support)

EP 2.1.8b, 2.1.9b


Great Depression and New Deal
• First time federal government provided direct aid to
individuals
• Established historical precedent for health and
welfare services
• Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)
• Works Progress Administration (WPA)
• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

EP 2.1.8b, 2.1.9b


Social Security Act (1935)
• Most significant piece of social welfare legislation
ever passed in U.S.
• Provided for:
- Social insurance (Social Security)
- Public assistance (need-based, Aid to
Dependent Children - ADC)
- Health and welfare services

EP 2.1.8b, 2.1.9b


Post-Social Security Era
Great Society Programs in 1960s:
• Medicare and Medicaid
• Civil Rights Act
• Economic Opportunity Act (Head Start)

Conservatism in 1970s and 80s

EP 2.1.8b, 2.1.9b


Welfare Reform
• Rapidly expanding welfare costs
• Era of conservatism
• More women in workforce
• Welfare devolution
• Family Support Act of 1988 - emphasis on work,
job training, child care, health care

EP 2.1.8b, 2.1.9b


Clinton – “end welfare as we know it”
• Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996
• Ended AFDC as national entitlement program
• Replaced with Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF)
• Stringent work requirements, maximum lifetime
benefit limit of 5 years
• Limited benefits for unmarried mothers < 18

EP 2.1.8b, 2.1.9b


G.W. Bush Years
• Welfare roles reduced, but more working poor and
rapidly growing underclass
• Economic downturn means fewer jobs, most without
benefits
• Local communities feeling the brunt
• Federal priorities not geared toward helping those in
need
• Hurricane Katrina and beyond

EP 2.1.8b, 2.1.9b


The Obama Years
• Hope that government would address social
welfare needs of underserved populations
• Economic collapse in U.S. has worldwide impact
• Federal government launched broad-scale
economic stimulus package
• Landmark health care reform legislation passed
• U.S. budget deficit reaches $1 trillion

EP 2.1.8a, 2.1.8b, 2.1.9b

Chapter 1: Social Welfare, Past and Present

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Chapter 1: Social Welfare, Past and Present