Scope of Social Work

1. Social Work provides material assistance to persons who are dependent, or in economic distress, or simply belong to the bottom level of the population.

2. It helps persons whether as individuals, families, groups or communities to adjust, to improve, and/or change for the better their economic and social environment.

3. It is concerned not only with the material or economic problems but also with the psychosocial ones, whether these problems be the cause or effect of poverty, illness or crime, or appear independently.

4. It seeks to provide the economically deprived with opportunities for improving their own economic and social situation.

5. It seeks to develop the capability of persons to participate in problem-solving and decision-making, especially in matters directly affecting them.

6. It helps them to translate their decisions into action.

7. It also works for the development of economically viable and socially developed communities and of a knowledgeable, dynamic and self-reliant citizenry imbued with a sense of nationhood.

8. It sees to it that the clientele population has access to work and employment opportunities, improved health services, and better education facilities.

9. Where there exist conditions of dire economic poverty, social injustice, violations of human rights, and human exploitation, social work must join hands with others to achieve social reform and social change.

References:
Brown, E.L. (1942). Social Work as a Profession. Arno Press
De Guzman, L.S. (1992). Introduction to Social Work. New Day Publishers

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Important Goals of Social Welfare

1. Humanitarian and Social Justice Goals - This goal of social welfare is rooted in the democratic ideal of social justice and is based on the belief that man has the potential to realize himself, except that physical, social, economic, psychological, and other factors sometimes hinder or prevent him from realizing his potentials. This concept submits that it is right and just for man to help man, hence, social services. This goal involves the identification of the most afflicted, the most dependent, the most neglected, and those least able to help themselves and making them the priority target for the investment of scarce resources.

2. Social Control Goal - This goal is based on recognizing that the needy, deprived, and disadvantaged groups may strike out, individually and/or collectively, against what they consider to be an alienating or offending society. Society, therefore, has to secure itself against the threats to life, property, and political stability in the community, which are usually presented by those who are deprived of resources and opportunities to achieve a satisfying life. Social services to dissidents and to juvenile and adult offenders exemplify the social control goal of social welfare.

3. Economic Development - This economic development goal prioritizes programs designed to support increases in producing goods and services and other resources that will contribute to economic development. The immediate beneficiaries of such programs may be the able-bodied, relatively better-off members of the community. Examples of social services which pursue economic development goals are:

• Social services which directly contribute to increased productivity among individuals, groups, and communities, such as counseling services for the youth and for the adjustment of workers to industrial settings; labor welfare services and facilities; services for the rehabilitation of handicapped workers; skills training for the unemployed and the underemployed, integrated social services for farmers;

• Social services prevent or relieve the burden of dependence on adult workers of such dependents as the very young and the very old, the sick, the disabled, etc., which could hamper their productivity. Examples of these are daycare centers, old age homes, health clinics, and rehabilitation centers;

• Social services which prevent or counteract the disruptive effects of urbanization and industrialization on family and community life and help identify and develop local leadership in communities. Examples of these are family life education services, leadership training programs, and various types of community services which enhance or develop self-reliance and therefore promote people's own capacities for problem-solving. 

Reference:
Lee-Mendoza, T. (2008) Social Welfare and Social Work. Central Book Supply

Social Services

Social services refer to the programs, services, and other activities provided under various auspices, to concretely answer the needs and problems of the members of society.

There is a need for social services at all times, everywhere, because people have needs and problems beyond their own capacity for solutions.

The term social services referred to a variety of programs, among which were social/public assistance, child welfare, corrections, mental hygiene, public health, education, recreation, labor protection and housing, and many more.

Categories of Social Welfare Programs

1. Social Security - refers to the whole set of compulsory measures instituted to protect the individual and his family against the consequences of an unavoidable interruption or serious diminution of the earned income disposable for maintaining a reasonable standard of living. Examples are compulsory employer liability (with or without insurance), provident funds, and social insurance.

2. Personal Social Services - refers to service functions that have more bearing upon personal problems, individual situations of stress, interpersonal helping or helping people in need, and the provision of direct services in collaboration with workers from government and voluntary agencies. Examples are programs for counseling, therapy, and rehabilitation; programs for providing access, information, and advice; institutional services; child protective services; and programs for treating deviants.

3. Public Assistance - refers to material/concrete aids/supports provided, usually by government agencies, to people who have no income or means of support for themselves and their families for reasons such as loss of employment, natural disasters, etc. 

Social Welfare

Social Welfare is the primary field of social work practice. The term itself has both broad and narrow concepts. Social welfare is a set of institutions and agencies established by society to provide various kinds of social support to people who may need them. These are established either in response to society’s wish to serve or to help individuals to survive.

In the United States, social welfare is an organized system of social services and institutions designed to aid individuals and groups to attain satisfying standards of life and health and personal and social relationships which permit them to develop their full capacities and to promote their well-being in harmony with the needs of their families and communities.

In the Philippines and other countries similarly situated social welfare refers to an aggregation of specialized programs, institutions, and services intended to meet certain residual needs (like food, shelter, and clothing) not serviced by other types of sectoral action, and receiving some degree of financial support, supervision or recognition from either the public or private sectors or both.

The Social Welfare Act of 1968 which created the Department of Social Welfare is more specific. It states that the function of the DSW is to provide a comprehensive program of social services designed to ameliorate the living conditions of distressed Filipinos, particularly those who are handicapped by reason of poverty, youth, physical and mental disability, illness and old age, victims of national disasters including assistance to members of cultural communities to facilitate their integration into the body politic. This is where social welfare stands today.

Reference:
Lee-Mendoza, T. (2008) Social Welfare and Social Work. Central Book Supply

History of Social Welfare/Social Work in The Philippines

THE PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD

Social Welfare work in those times centered on mutual protection and economic survival.

THE SPANISH PERIOD

The Spaniards brought the teaching to do good to others for the salvation of their souls, and which for many years was the underlying philosophy behind all social welfare activities.

1565 – Don Miguel Lopez de Legaspi established the first hospital in Cebu to attend to the wounded and the victims of diseases.

1882 – Hospicio de San Jose was founded to house the aged and orphans, the mentally defective, and young boys requiring reform, but later limiting admission to children who were discharged, later to be adopted or employed.

1885 – Asilo de San Vicente de Paul, an asylum for girls, was established, offering religious instruction, primary education, and training in housework to its inmates.

The hospitals, asylums, orphanages, and schools were maintained using subsidies and grants from the Spanish government. However, these were not sufficient, and donations from philanthropic individuals were also solicited.

THE AMERICAN PERIOD

1899 – Americans occupied the country and introduced a new educational system, new health methods, and religious freedom.

1902 – The Civil government created an agency, the Insular Board, to coordinate and supervise private institutions engaged in welfare work.

February 5, 1915 – The American government created the Public Welfare Board with the passage of Legislative Act No. 2510, essentially to coordinate the welfare activities of various existing charitable organizations.

January 1917 – The first government entity to operate as a welfare agency, and an initial step in child welfare services, was set up.

1900 – An attempt was made to alleviate the condition of deaf children at the Philippine Normal School.

1910 – A school for the deaf and blind was organized.

1905 – The Philippine chapter of the American Red Cross was established to take charge of disaster relief in the country and to administer Red Cross funds from the United States.

1907 – La Gota de Leche was established to furnish child-caring institutions with fresh cow’s milk from dairy farm in Pasay, Manila, supervised by a veterinarian. This agency later opened free consultation clinic for mothers.

1913 – Associacion de Damas Filipinas was organized by civic-spirited women to help destitute mothers and their children.

1921 – Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner was created. It absorbed the functions of the Public Welfare Board which, while charged with coordinating and intensifying the activities of child welfare organizations and agencies, was unable to cope with the mounting problems in the health field, which was manifested by the high infant mortality rate in the second decade of the century.

1922 – The Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner prepared solicitation forms which it required the public to demand of any person appealing for donations and charities. This was done to protect the public and organizations from unscrupulous persons collecting funds. This practice, however, was not legally sanctioned until 1933.

1924 – The Associated Charities had become independent agency under the supervision of the Public Welfare Commissioner, and was partly financed by the government, and partly by private contributions.

– The Philippine Legislature passed a law (Philippine Legislative Act No. 3203) relating to the care and custody of neglected and delinquent children and providing probation officers for them.

1933 – The administration of social welfare in the Philippines was marked by significant developments when Frank Murphy became the Governor-General. Scholarship grants for professional training in social work in the United States were made available.

– The Legislature appropriated funds for the operations of government child and maternal health centers, which were established in every town with at least two thousand populations.

The economic depression in the 1930s created serious economic problems. The Associated Charities could not cope with the number of applicants for relief and other social services, despite appropriations made by the Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner, under its director, Dr. Jose Fabella.

Josefa Jara Martinez, who obtained a diploma in Social Work in 1921, worked for the Public Welfare Board, where she introduced the scientific approach to social work.

The Murphy administration’s social welfare programs marked the first time the government assumed full responsibility for relieving the distressed due to any cause.

THE COMMONWEALTH PERIOD

1940 – The Office of the Commissioner of Health and Public Welfare was abolished and replaced by a Department of Health and Public Assistance Service, which took over the activities that used to be performed by the Associated Charities, which, by then, had ceased to exist.

THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION

Social Welfare activities during the period consisted mainly of giving medical care and treatment, as well as food and clothing, to the wounded soldiers, prisoners and civilians.

THE POST-WAR YEARS

1946 – The Bureau of Public Welfare re-opened but lack of funds limited its operations.

October 4, 1947 – The Bureau became the Social Welfare Commission and was placed under the Office of the President.

August 1948 – President Quirino created the President’s Action Committee on Social Amelioration. It is a comprehensive program of health, education, welfare, agriculture, public works, and financing.

1946 – The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was created by the United Nations General Assembly to further maternal and child health in economically underdeveloped countries.

1948 – UNICEF became active in the Philippines, establishing basic health care services to mothers and children, consisting of medical care, feeding programs, and health education.

January 3, 1951 – The Social Welfare Commission and the President’s Action Committee on Social Amelioration were fused into one agency called the Social Welfare Administration.

THE SOCIAL WELFARE ADMINISTRATION

Division of Public Assistance

• Assistance was given as material aid like food, financial aid, transportation aid, medical aid, institutional care,      and work relief.
• Service was rendered in the form of rehabilitation services and administration and supervision of rehabilitation projects and workshops.

Child Welfare Division

• Casework and guidance services for children are under this unit.

Division on Rural Welfare

• This was created by Administrative Order No. 7 on September 5, 1951.
• It deals with the mounting social problems in rural areas.
• “Self-Help” became the underlying philosophy for rural community development projects.

1965 – Republic Act 4373, “An Act to Regulate the Practice of Social Work and the Operation of Social Work Agencies in the Philippines”

– The law requires completion of a Bachelor of Science in Social Work degree, one thousand hours of supervised field practice, and the passing of a government board examination in social work for licensing or registration as a social worker.

– It is the formal recognition of social work as a profession in the Philippines.

THE SEVENTIES

September 8, 1976 – The Department of Social Welfare became the Department of Social Services and Development, shifting emphasis from the traditional, often institution-based social welfare to community-oriented programs and services.

June 2, 1978 – President Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 1397, converting departments into ministries, thus the Ministry of Social Services and Development. The organizational structure, functions, and programs remain the same.

The sixties and seventies marked the existence of voluntary organizations and the establishment of even more agencies.

THE EIGHTIES

The Self-Employment Assistance was upgraded to make it more responsive to its client’s needs. Case Management System was launched. Social Welfare Indicators monitor the level of well-being of the MSSD service users.

January 30, 1987 – President Corazon C. Aquino signed Executive Order No. 123, reorganizing MSSD and renaming it the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The Department was evolving from mere welfare or relief agency to a greater development task. The approach taken by the agency during this period is described as preventive and developmental, participative and client-managed.

THE NINETIES

The DSWD continued the five program areas of concern during the early nineties. It also prioritized Low-Income Municipalities (LIMs) and other socially-depressed barangays. The aftermath of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption was the use of Crisis Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), a form of crisis intervention used with victims of disasters and other crisis situations.

October 10, 1991 – R.A. 7160 Local Government Code was passed. Implementing functions and its programs and services were devolved to its local government unit. The Department, however, retained its specialized social services consisting of four categories: (a) Center/institution-based services; (b) community-based programs and services; (c) locally-funded and foreign-assisted projects; and (d) disaster relief and rehabilitation augmentation.

Today, countless social agencies, organizations, and institutions under private sponsorship provide many different social services. NGOs play a very important role in supplementing the needs of the rising disadvantaged sectors in our society.

R.A. 4373 (the Social Work Law, 1967) provides that no social welfare agency shall operate and be accredited unless it shall first have registered with the Social Welfare Administration, which shall issue the corresponding certificate of registration.

R.A. 5416 (1968) empowers the Department to (1) set standards and policies; (2) accredit public and private institutions and organizations; and (3) coordinate government efforts in social welfare work to avoid duplication, friction and overlapping of responsibility in social services.

Reference:
Lee-Mendoza, T. (2008) Social Welfare and Social Work. Central Book Supply

Six Processes of the Social Work Practice

1. Social Casework helps the individual client to effect better social relationships and social adjustment that make it possible for him to lead a satisfying and useful life.
2. Social Group Work helps people to participate in the activities of a group for their intellectual, emotional, and physical growth, and for the achievement of goals considered desirable by society.
3. Community Organization is the process of planning and developing social services to meet the health and welfare needs of a community or a larger unit.
4. Social Welfare Administration is the process of directing and organizing a social agency.
5. Social Welfare Research, inquiry into the validity of the structure and methods of Social Work.
6. Social Action is the organized group process for solving general social problems and furthering social welfare objectives through legislative, social, health, and economic progress.

Social Work Practice

Social work practice refers to the activities carried out by the social worker in varied institutional settings, communities, and private practice. The social worker addresses various human problems involving individuals, families, and groups.

The generic of Social Work Practice is also known as the “The Integrated Method of Social Work Practice,” according to Thelma Lee-Mendoza. It is used in the context of professional Social Work Methodology. It is being advocated in place of the separate practice of methods of social casework, social group work, and generalist practitioner, rather than a specialist in any of those three (3) methods.

The integrated method of Social Work practice should be distinguished from “integrated programs” (or services), which denote a comprehensive agency program for multi-problem clients, usually including economic assistance, skills training, informal education, health and nutrition, family planning, and counseling. It is also different from “Integrated Learning,” which is used, for example, in relation to the student being expected to integrate knowledge from different courses and apply these in work with people. It should also be distinguished from the “Integrated Development Approach,” which is frequently used to refer to the process of joining both social, as well as economic concerns in policy formulation and progress development.

The Social Worker

According to the Social Work Law, the Social Worker is a practitioner who by accepted standards of training and social work professional experiences, possesses the skill to achieve the objectives as defined and set by the social work profession through the use of basic methods of casework, group work, and community organization.

The Social Worker has knowledge and techniques of social work designed to enable individuals, groups, and communities to meet their needs and solve their problems of adjustment to changing patterns of society. Through coordinated actions, the Social Worker can help improve economic and social conditions. The Social Worker must be connected with an organized social work agency supported partially or wholly by government or community-solicited funds.

To be able to practice social work, the graduate, after finishing the Bachelor of Science in Social Work (BSSW) degree, must pass the licensure examination annually given by the Board for Social Workers of the Professional Regulation Commission, the government’s overall regulating body for the professions.

Social Work: Defined

Republic Act 4373, otherwise known as the Social Work Law, defines social work as a profession that is primarily concerned with organized social service activity aimed to facilitate and strengthen basic relationships in the mutual adjustment between individuals and their social environment for the good of the individual and the society, and by the use of social work methods.

In 1977, the Philippine Association of Social Workers came up with its own definition of social work as "the profession which fosters, facilitates, and strengthens basic social relationships in order to achieve the full development of the individual and society by the use of social work methods."

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) defines Social Work as the professional activity of helping individuals, groups, or communities enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and creating societal conditions favorable to this goal. Social Work practice consists of the professional application of Social Work values, principles, and techniques to one or more of the following ends: helping people obtain tangible services; counseling and psychotherapy with individuals, families, and groups; helping communities or groups provide or improve processes. The practice of Social Work requires knowledge of human development and behavior; of social, economic, and cultural institutions; and of the interactions of all these factors.

Social Work is concerned and involved with the interactions between people and the institutions of society that affect the ability of people to accomplish life tasks, realize aspirations and values, and alleviate distress. These interactions between people and social institutions occur within the context of the larger societal good. Therefore, three major purposes of social work may be identified: to enhance the problem-solving, coping and developmental capacities of people; to promote the effective and humane operation of the systems that provide people with resources and services; to link people with systems that provide them with resources, services, and opportunities. 

References:
Lee-Mendoza, T. (2008) Social Welfare and Social Work. Central Book Supply
Bauer, J.B. (1979) Educating the Baccalaureate Social Worker: Report of the Undergraduate Social Work Curriculum Development Project, by Betty L. Baer and Ronald C. Federico. Ballinger Publishing Company

Social Work: An Introduction

SOCIAL WORK is a value-laden profession. Its philosophical evolution and historical development as a voluntary humanitarian activity trace it to its present status as a profession. As charity work, it was primarily motivated by the religious teachings of the Jews and Christians. Its religious base, the belief that man was created after the image and likeness of God, provides the philosophical foundation of the profession, that man was imbued with inherent worth and dignity and therefore deserves every other human being’s respect. 

As a creature of God, every man is a unique individual yet depends on others for his self-realization. This makes him a social being. Man is also believed to possess the capacity to grow, to develop, and to change – attributes that provide the rationale for social work goals and activities. Because of these fundamental beliefs and assumptions, social work is committed to the value that “it is good and desirable for a man to fulfill his potential, to realize himself, and to balance this with equal effort to help others do the same.”

The seven guiding principles of the profession: acceptance, non-judgmental attitude, individualization, purposeful expression of feelings, controlled emotional involvement, confidentiality, and client self-determination – flow logically from the major premises of social work. These values dictate how the worker should regard and relate to the persons that need help.

References:
Lee-Mendoza, T. (2008) Social Welfare and Social Work. Central Book Supply