The Evolution of Social Welfare

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The Evolution of Social Welfare Social Work

• Kimberly Hinds
• kimberly.hinds_at_uwimona.edu.jm
• Department of Sociology, Psychology
• Social Work
• UWI Mona---September 19, 2005

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You can either light a candle or curse the
darkness ---Chinese Proverb
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INTRODUCTION

• A/c to Johnson, the profession we know as social
  work had its genesis in response to the
  prevailing social conditions of the early 20th
  century. It was a time when new immigrants, with
  their new lifestyles were displaced, poor and
  seeking employment. This became a grave concern
  to the larger society. The early belief about
  social work practice was indicative of efforts to
  work with the new immigrants in a manner that
  would enable them to live moral lives and thus
  avoid poverty.

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INTRODUCTION CTD.

• A/c to Zastrow most social welfare agencies
  which appeared in the 1800s were
• (1) Private
• (2) Developed at the initiation of the clergy
  and other religious groups.

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Similarities between Social Welfare Agencies in
1800s

• Came out of religious convictions (clothe the
  needy, heal the sick, feed the hungry etc).
• These services were provided by the clergy and
  affluent do-gooders
• Many of these do-gooders had no formal training
  and very little understanding of human behaviour
  and how to begin to help.
• Many social welfare agencies focused on meeting
  the basic physical needs of individuals (food,
  shelter).

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Similarities Ctd.

• Attempted to cure emotional and personal
  challenges with religious warnings/reprimands.
• The first record of an established social
  welfare agency is the Society for the Prevention
  of Pauperism est. by John Griscon in 1820. It
  was similar to the COS in that it sought to
  investigate the habits and circumstances of the
  poor and make suggestions by which they could and
  should help themselves.
• The Society for the Prevention of Pauperism like
  the COS encouraged the poor to save and
  economize. There was this prevailing belief that
  the poor were lazy, worthless and could do
  better

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SETTLEMENT HOUSES

• Working with neighbourhood residents, their aim
  was to improve their living conditions.
• Sought to empower people via collective action
  and to bring about change in the system.
• Viewed individuals e.g. the poor as caught in a
  situation that they had no control over.
• The first settlement house was est. in 1884 in
  London, known as Toynbee Hall.
• Settlement house workers were mainly ministers
  daughters.

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SETTLEMENT HOUSES

• They were from the middle class or upper middle
  class and unlike COS workers lived in the
  impoverished communities as their clients so as
  to experience the harsh realities of poverty.
• They sought to improve housing, health and living
  conditions, find jobs, teach English, hygiene and
  occupational skills.
• Settlement houses played critical roles in
  drafting legislation and in organizing to
  influence social policy.

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• Jane Addams is the most noted proponent of the
  settlement house movement she started Hull House
  in Chicago.
• A/c to Zastrow, the settlement house leaders
  believed that by changing neighbourhoods they
  would improve communities and through altering
  communities they would develop a better society.
•  Settlement houses were the precursor for what is
  now called in contemporary social work as social
  group work, social action and community
  organization.

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The Charity Organization Society

• To provide direct services to individuals and
  families (Forerunner of casework and family
  counseling approaches.
• To plan and coordinate the efforts of private
  organisations to address the urban social
  problems (Forerunner of community organisation
  and social planning approaches)
• The London COS est. 1869 partially in response to
  the urban poverty and squalor coming out of a
  rapidly industrializing society.
• They came about because the do-gooders
  programmes started to overlap

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COS Continued

• The USA then followed with its COS in the larger
  cities. e.g. Buffalo, New York 1877
• They were est. to help the poor, the ill, the
  unemployed, persons with disabilities and
  orphans.
• Had a concept of the deserving poor
• Original name was the Society for Organizing
  Charitable Relief and Repressing Mendicicity

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HERE IS MORE!!!!

• In 1870 it referred to itself as the COS.
• In 1910, it changed its long title dropping
  Repressing Mendicity ----now known as Society
  for Organizing Charitable Effort and Improving
  the Condition for the Poor.
• In 1945 it became the Family Welfare Assoc.
• Jamaica adopted its own model in the form of the
  Kingston Liguanea Charity Organisation in 1882
  w/ help from Enos Nuttall.

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WHAT DID THE COS DO?

• Conduct thorough investigations of each applicant
  for services and financial help.
• Maintained a central client registrations system
  to avoid duplication
• WHO WERE THESE WORKERS?
• Middle and upper class do-gooders
• Mostly women

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HOW DID THEY CARRY OUT THEIR WORK?

• They used volunteers, friendly visitors
• These do-gooders generally gave sympathy and
  encouraged them to seek employment
• They saw a need and went to fill that need, not
  based on any theoretical framework. (Blankets,
  food etc.)

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NEGATIVES OF COS

• Being poor was viewed as a personal shortcoming.
• Responded mainly to the physical needs (food,
  shelter)
• Concept of deserving and
• undeserving poor
•  

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POSITIVES OF COS

• B/c of system set up to avoid duplication of
  services to individuals and agencies many
  professional beggars and fraudulent charities
  were exposed.
• Rejected giving alms , more in favour of casework
  and improvement of social conditions.
•  

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WAKE UP!!!!

• TAKE A FIVE MINUTE BREAK!!!
• WHEN YOU COME BACK WE ARE MOVING ON TO THE
  HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL WORK IN JAMAICA
  AND THE CARIBBEAN

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL WORK IN JAMAICA
THE CARIBBEAN
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INTRODUCTION

• Throughout the Caribbean, specifically the
  English-speaking Cbean, social services are
  offered by a combination of government and
  private agencies.
• The pattern of how these agencies and services
  evolved and the establishment of a recognised
  collection of persons called social workers was
  influenced by how these similar services and
  professional groups developed in Britain, the
  colonial power, which in the case of Jamaica
  governed the country from 1655-1962.

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John Maxwell---Social Worker

• The Evolution of Social Welfare Services and
  Social Work in the English-speaking Caribbean
  attempts to give an overview of the historical
  development of social welfare services and the
  practice of social work in the West Indies,
  specifically the English-speaking countries.

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Maxwell divides this overview into 3 significant
historical stages.

• Pre-20th century which covers the period from
  European colonisation to the abolition of slavery
  in 1838 and also the post abolition period from
  1838 to the end of the century. (end of slavery,
  no meaningful social and economic provisions to
  facilitate the transition for a people
  conditioned to centuries of restrictive
  dependency Maxwell). During this era, the sole
  form of social welfare provision was by way of
  the was fashioned after the British Poor Law of
  1602, which provided for the deserving
  poor----sick, aged, children not able-bodied
  poor.

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STAY WITH ME!!!!

• (2) 1900-1938. -Characterised by the development
  of the of the voluntary /NGO sector, it marked
  100 years after slavery and the West Indian Royal
  Commission in 1938 headed by Lord Moyne to look
  into the social and economic conditions in the
  British West Indian colonies and make
  recommendations for improvements. Also during
  this period there was a 5 year period of strikes
  and labour uprisings.

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OTHER ISLANDS POST SLAVERY

• Guyana- a Poor Relief Act introduced in 1839
  stipulated who should maintain whom, and in all
  other cases the central govt. accepted full
  responsibility for poor relief in the colony.
• Barbados - A Poor Mans Board was set up in 1880
  to provide casual relief and the Poor Act of 1897
  made provisions to put destitute children in alms
  houses.

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SOON FINISH!!!!

• Post 1938 - the WWII period to the present. This
  period saw the development of the govt. social
  service sector, the increase presence of the NGOs
  and the emergence of social work as a
  professional field.

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THE SOCIAL WELFARE SERVICES IN JAMAICA
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DID YOU KNOW?

• The Kingston COS, formerly the Kingston
  Liguanea Charity Organization Enos
  Nuttall----1882, went into abeyance shortly after
  it was established and then was re-born in 1900.
  There was also a Manchester COS

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I BET YOU DIDNT KNOW

• The social welfare services of today and the
  evolution of social work from a charitable
  voluntary activity to a professional occupation
  is a 20th century phenomenon.
• In Jamaica, the period 1900-1940 saw the
  emergence of a lot of the voluntary social svc.
  Sector. The main govt. services having
  materialized within the last 60 years.

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FYI

• Personnel employed by the government in many of
  the Caribbean islands for the delivery of poor
  relief services in the late 19th century are
  regarded as the first public service welfare
  employees. In Jamaica, their functions included
  identifying, screening and paying out of benefits
  to the indigent poor ( that is the destitute,
  the penniless, the poverty-stricken),
  recommending these persons for medical care etc.

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VOLUNTARY SOCIAL SERVICES

• The voluntary social services. can be
  categorized under the headings of
• Benevolent and Relief Organizations
• Services for Children
• Youth Services
• Services for the Aged
• Services for the Disabled
• Agencies for Women
• Community Development

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THE COUNCIL OF VOLUNTARY SOCIAL SERVICES

• Listing of voluntary organisations functioning in
  Jamaica.
• Much wider cross-section of organisations and
  their activities

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PROFESSIONAL SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

• Following on the social service scene was the
  establishing of social work education for the
  persons staffing these agencies.
• 1961 UWI introduced a two year Professional
  Certificate in Social Work at the Mona Campus
• 1963- A four month residential paraprofessional
  course was started at the Extra- Mural Dept at
  the Social Welfare Training Centre, now the
  School of Continuing Studies, which is still
  offered.

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• 1970 University of Guyana, 1981- The College of
  Bahamas and University of Belize started offering
  training and/or undergraduate degrees
• 1989- Full scale B.Sc
• 1989- Certificate in Social Services was
  introduced to cater to persons without degree.

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LAST ONE!!!!

• Early 1990s Barbados (Cave Hill) and Tdad
  started offering the B.Sc.
• 1993 MSW at Mona .At the time only two
  concentrations were offered, now there are four.

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WHATS NEXT????

• LIGHT THE CANDLEDO NOT CURSE THE DARKNESS!!!!!

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THANKS FOR LISTENING!!!
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REFERENCES

• Bryan, Patrick (2002). Philanthropy Social
  Welfare in Jamaica An Historical Survey. (Sir
  Arthur Lewis Institute of Social Economic
  Studies, UWI, Mona).
• Council of Voluntary Social Services (1987). A
  Handbook of the Social Services in Jamaica. (The
  Council of Voluntary Social Services, Kingston,
  Jamaica).
• Johnson, Louise (2004). Social Work Practice- A
  Generalist Approach. Pearson Education, Inc.
• Maxwell, John A. (March 2002) The Evolution of
  Social Welfare Services and Social Work in the
  English-speaking Caribbean. Article in The
  Caribbean Journal of Social Work, Volume 1
  (Association of Caribbean Social Work Educators)
• Zastrow, Charles (2003) - The Practice of Social
  Work Brooks/Cole Publications