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

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