SWC14 Fields of Social Work

Module 1

RA 4373 - An Act to Regulate the Practice of Social Work in the Philippines (June 19, 1965) “Social work
is the profession which is primarily concerned with organized social service activity aimed to facilitate
and strengthen basic social relationships and the mutual adjustment between individuals and their
social environment for the good of the individuals and of society by the use of social work methods.”

Amendments

RA 5175

An Act to Amend Republic Act Number Four Thousand Three Hundred Seventy-Three entitled “An Act to
Regulate the Practice of Social Work and the Operation of Social Work Agencies in the Philippines and
for Other Purposes” (August 4, 1967)

RA 10847

An Act Lowering the Age Requirement for Applicants Taking the Board Examination for Social Workers,
Providing for Continuing Social Work Education, and Upgrading the Sundry Provisions Relative to the
Practice of Social Work (May 27, 2016)

Other Definitions

… aims to “create more caring, just and inclusive social environments.

… fulfills the social welfare mandate to promote well-being and quality of life.

INTERNATIONAL DEFINITION OF SOCIAL WORK (2014)

“Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and
development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social
justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work.
Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social
work engages people and structures to address life changes and enhance well-being.” (IFSW/IASSW)

Social Worker

“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 the basic methods of casework, group work and community organization.
Social Welfare

“The organized system of social services and institutions, designed to aid individuals and groups to
attain satisfying standards of life and health.” - Walter Friedlander

“A nation’s system of programs, benefits, and services that helps people meet those social, economic,
educational and health needs that are fundamental to the maintenance of the society.” Ashman, 2007;
Zastrow, 2010

“Organized social arrangements which have as their direct and primary objective the wellbeing of
people in a social context; includes the broad range of policies and services which are concerned with
various aspects of people’s lives.” – International Conference on Social Welfare

Objectives of social welfare:

• Improve people’s quality life.

• Eliminate inequalities and impoverishment

• “achieve satisfying roles in life and personal relationships”

• “… develop their full capacities and to promote their well-being in harmony with the needs and
aspirations of their families and the community.”

Social Welfare encompasses the well-being of all members of human society, including their physical,
mental, emotional, social, economic, and spiritual well-being. Society responds to unmet needs through
the following:

1. Individual or group efforts of the people in the community.

2. Major societal institutions which have their designated roles and responsibilities for meeting human
needs.

3. Social agency (public or private auspices)

Social Welfare Categories

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 for the maintenance of a reasonable standard
of living.

Personal social services

Refer to service functions which have major bearing upon personal problems, individual situations of
stress, interpersonal helping or helping people in need, and the provision of direct service in
collaboration with workers from government and voluntary agencies.

Public assistance

Refers to material/concrete aids/ supported 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.

PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIAL WELFARE

Residual

It conceives of the social welfare structure as temporary, offered during emergency situations and
withdrawn when the regular social system – the family and the economic system –is again working
properly

Institutional

Sees social welfare as a proper, legitimate function of modern society. That some individuals are not
able to meet all their needs is considered a “normal” condition, and helping agencies are accepted as
“regular” social institutions.

CONCEPT OF SOCIAL SERVICES

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

➢ It may take the form of services to individuals and families, services to groups, services to people with
special problems as well as community services.

Goals of social welfare/services:

1.Humanitarian and social justice goals:

Rooted in the democratic ideal of social justice, and is based on the belief that man has the potential to
realized himself, except that physical, social, economic, psychological and other factors sometimes
hinder or prevent him from realizing his potential. It is right and just for man to help man, hence, social
services. Identification of the most afflicted, the most dependent, the most neglected and the most least
able to help themselves, and making them the priority target for the investment of scarce resources.

2. Social Control Goal.

Based on the recognition that needy, deprive or 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 threat 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 services.

3. Economic Development Goal

Places priority on those programs designed to support increases in the production of goods and services
and other resources that will contribute to economic development. Beneficiaries may be the abled-
bodied, relatively better-off members of the community.

Module 2

CONCEPT OF NEEDS, PROBLEMS, AND PROVISIONS

Framework

Society responds to a variety of human needs and problems through the institution of social welfare.

Concept of Needs

1. Needs represent an imbalance, lack of adjustment or gap between the present situation or status quo
and a new or changed set of conditions assumed to be more desirable. Need maybe viewed as the
difference between what is and what ought to be, they always imply a gap.

What is can be determine by a study of a situation.

Useful questions:

- Does a need really exist?

- Who has the need?

- How many individuals or families have the need?

- What is the people’s attitude towards their situation?

- Why does the need exist?

- In what way is the need significant-economically, socially, or aesthetically?

- What is the relative significant of the need?

- What would likely be the consequences one or more years from now if no efforts is made to meet the
need?
What ought to be can be determine from research findings and value judgments. The nature and extent
of need is an indication of the significance of the problem; the wider the gap, the greater the problem
when the subject is assumed to be important.

2. People’s needs are identified by finding the actual, the possible and the valuable thru situation
analysis. (actual= what is; possible= what could be; valuable= what ought to be) It is necessary to
analyze conditions and possibilities and choose the most valuable. Then program objectives should be
set that focus on changing people and conditions to be most valuable and possible.

3. People need to recognize the gap between the actual, the possible and the desirable, and place value
on attaining the desirable before they become motivated to change.People tend to passively resist
change. Reluctance to change is not altogether due to a natural resistance but to an apparent lack of
interest in change. People tend to feel comfortable with their established ways, even when new ones
are demonstrated. When the status quo is seen as the ideal, desirable or satisfactory situation, no need
is recognized.

4. Human behaviour and the status of things can only be judged by some standard, and that standard
can only be derived from the concept of what is valuable to attain. People tend to desire positive and
void negative conditions, hence those on the positive side represents conditions most people value as
desirable.

The needs of people maybe classified according to different forms and categories.

3 categories

1. Physical needs- food, clothing, housing, activity and the like. (Material needs according. to Mendoza,
T.)

2. Social needs - group status, affection, belonging and so on. (or non-material needs to include also
spiritual need, aesthetic needs, acceptance, achievements)

3. Integrative needs- the need to relate oneself to something larger and beyond oneself, a philosophy of
life and so on.

In addition, we also have:

1. Felt needs - felt or consciously recognized needs.

2. Unfelt needs - unrecognized needs; “all needs must be recognized”

Research indicates that most adults often are not aware of many of their most important needs. Hence,
it is not enough to base programs entirely on what people feel their needs.
CONCEPT OF PROBLEM

• The problem is simply a problem in the current life situation of the help seeker which disturbs or hurt
the latter in some way.

• This is the usually a difficulty in person to person or person task relationship.

• Another important perspective of the problem is partialization and focus. A piece of what is often felt
of a overwhelming problem is less threatening a person who has it manageable.

• Examines what makes a problem a problem. Whenever someone decides that a problem exists, there
is implied a consciousness of a physical, social, psychological, or intellectual situation. This situation
must have something about it that is undesirable and that is believed to be difficult; and it must be
solvable.

• To many sociologists, social problems are conditions considered to be undesirable by many people.
While the concept relies upon public judgments, exponents of the definition claim to be value-free. This
questionable position is maintained in Merton’s distinction between the manifest and latent problems.

a. Immediate Problem

The problem about which the client is most concerned about. This causes the current difficulty and in
term, the clients perceive the need for help (usually the presenting problem, but not all the time)

b. Underlying Problem

The overall situation created and tends to perpetuate the immediate problem.

c. Working problem

These are contributory factors that stand in the way of both remedy and prevention and must be dealt
with if change is to take place.

Presenting Problem - It is a problem that is a threat to the client’s or others’ welfare, and usually stated
or presented as it is being perceived or experienced by the client.

Partialization

It refers to the process of separating from so many problems identified by the client and/or worker the
specific problem or problems which are to be addressed first, and therefore will be the focus of the
helping relationship. Much related to this is prioritizing, which has the added aspect of a problem taking
precedence over other problems because of its importance.
CONCEPT OF PROVISION

Provision is how society meets the needs of its members.

A. Individual or group efforts

B. Major societal institutions and their roles and responsibilities for meeting human needs:

> The family, the church, the government, economic institutions (labour unions, cooperatives…

> The forces that bring about change in these institutions.

> The social agency as provision for helping people with their problems, as an integral part of a
communities institutionalized network of services to the people.

Module 3

The Social Welfare Agency

➢ A structure by which it organizes and delegates its responsibility and tasks and governing policies and
procedures that stabilizes and systematizes its operations

➢ The provider of the client needs to alleviate or solve problems. It is a human service instrumentality
which has been set up to help human beings who are experiencing some difficulty in the management of
their sown affairs either individuals, groups, or as communities.

➢ Established as a result of community’s concern to meet certain needs of people.

➢ It’s mission, goals, visions, programs and services are set up to address these needs

➢ Employs staff to carry out its functions; social worker represents both the agency and the

profession

The Social Agency

 The place which assists a person with his social problem.

 It is this organization which employs social workers to help the client.

R.A. 4373
  It uses the term “social work agency” implying that it is an organization specifically set up to
provide social work services.
 The unit, department, or division which delivers social work services is usually called a “social
service unit.”

Common Function

 Whatever the nature of their organization or their specific responsibility in the entire setup, these
social agencies or units have one thing in common: their function is to help people with problems of
social functioning.

Types of agencies

Social agencies are classified into 3 according to:

1.) Sources of Support

2.) Source of Professional Authority

3.) Special function or area of concern.

1.) Sources of support

The possible sources of support of an agency are: taxes, donations and contributions from individuals
and entities, or a combination of the two.

A.) Public Agencies

 Agencies supported from taxes.

 Also known as Government Agencies.
 Government agencies are created by law (e.g. DSWD)

B.) Private Agencies

 Agencies which derive their means of support from donations and contributions of private
individuals or groups.
 Also known as Non-governmental organizations, or NGOs.

C.) Semi-government Agencies

 Derive support from the government, usually through the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes.
 Best known among these is the Philippine National Red Cross.


2.) Source of Professional Authority

A.) Primary Agency/ Setting

• One which carries full authority and responsibility for its social welfare purpose and functions.

• It is manned by social workers, and uses one or all the 3 direct methods of social work interventions.

B.) Secondary Agency/ Setting

 One which is a part of another human service or social organization.

 Social workers derive their authority and responsibility from the host agency (e.g., schools, jail,
hospitals, courts, industries, etc.)

3.) Agency function or area of concern

 Each agency, public or private, defines certain areas of social need as the particular field in
which to give service and in which it develops expertness of knowledge and applies special
resources.

Generic characteristics common to all social agencies (Perlman)

1. The social agency is an expression of the values and will of a society or some group in that society as
to social welfare.

 It embodies a society’s decision to protect its members against social breakdown, prevent
maladjustment, and promote development.

2. Each social agency administers and operates a program intended to meet and alleviate the problem
area with which it is concerned.

 Ways and means include factors as: financial resources, knowledge and competence, interests,
support of community, consistency, etc.

3. The social agency has a structure by which it organizes, defines, and delegates its responsibilities and
tasks, and issues operating policies and procedures.

 Structure is the agency’s anatomy, framework that binds it together as one body so that it can
perform the function to which it was created.
 Policies refer to the guidelines for actions – manual as reference.

4. The social agency should be a living, dynamic viable organization which can be understood and
changed, and developed to meet changing needs and situations.

 Has relevance to community.

 Interdependent – operates in relation to other social agencies.

5. Every staff member in an agency speaks and acts for some part of the agency’s function, and the
caseworker represents the agency in its individual help.
  It is therefore important for social workers to know and understand the agency, both in
blueprint and in operation. (some loyalty to it).

6. The worker, while representing his/her agency, is first and foremost a representative of his/her
profession.

 The social agency is in itself an instrument of the social work profession, thus expected to
adhere and respect social work values and principles in its practice.

The Client

• It refers to a person, family, group or community as the focus of worker’s helping activity.

• The person who comes to a helping situation to seek help as voluntary client or require to use help as
involuntary client.

• S/he comes with concerns, unmet needs, and problems of social functioning, comes from a societal or
cultural milieu (set of life experiences and set of patterns of transactions with other people)

• A client brings in also his/her total SELF, biological, psychological, cultural, spiritual being (a unique
person in a unique situation)

Social Roles

A social role is the sum total of the cultural patterns associated with a specific behavior and attitudes
which a person assumes in a specific situation in his relationships with others.

There are three aspects in the performance of a role which affect the actual performance:

A.) Prescribed role

B.) Subjective role

C.) Enacted role

A. Prescribed role

➢ It is that which is expected by the norms and expectations of society.

➢ Thus, a man as a husband and father is expected to be the breadwinner and head of the family.
Although this value is now changing.

B. Subjective role

➢ It is that which the person ascribes (assigns) to himself in a specific role.

➢ Thus, if a man believes that as head of the family, he should be the breadwinner, he will act so, and
there will be no conflict between the prescribed and the subjective roles.

C. Enacted role

➢ It is that which the person performs as that’s what he thinks the role entails.

➢ If the person has the capacity to execute his roles faithfully, then he is functioning adequately.

➢ Should there be a discrepancy between the prescribed and subjective roles or the person’s inner and
outer resources to enact these roles, then there will be an imbalance in his role performance, which may
produce stress.

Social roles

 In making an assessment of a person’s behavior in relation to his problem, the worker should
not forget the socio-cultural context in which a specific role is played (e.g. urban, rural).
 Values play an important part in the performance of social roles.
 Social workers therefore should be alert to spot signs of the traditional values and attitudes
(hiya, SIR, bahala na).

Module 4

Family Welfare

It deals with any of the following which confront many Filipino Families:

• Poverty and its usually accompanying problems of ignorance, health, nutrition, sanitation and
housing
 problems;
• Unemployment or underemployment;
• Substance abuse and alcoholism;
• Family conflicts and destructive relationships including domestic violence and abuse;
• Human rights violations;
• Displacement due to armed conflict, cultural disasters, and housing demolition;
• Lack of parenting skills;
• Solo-parent or no-parent families because of overseas employment;
• Lack of access to community resources; and others.

Bureau of Family Welfare

• Created in 1968
• Now called the Department of Social Welfare and Development
• Caused the development and expansion if family welfare services in the country.

Family Welfare Services

 • Refer to a program or composite of interventive techniques, activities, or measures focused on
the prevention or resolution of problems of role functioning and relationships that threaten the
stability of the family as a social unit.

Programs and Services

• Parent Effectiveness
• Marriage Counseling
• Establishment of Community Support Programs
• Strengthening of Family Values and Preservation of Cultural Heritage
• Family and Environment Service
• Livelihood Programs
• Fertility ad Family Planning

Activities

• Engaging the family in a problem-solving relationship

• Mobilizing existing resources and if possible creating non-existing resources needed by the
family
• Working with individuals, groups, and other entities whose support and cooperation are needed
to effectively help a family
• Continuously/regularly assessing the adequacy and effectiveness of existing policies, programs
and services that relate to the family
• Supervising staff in their various activities in relation to the families being served.

Module 5

Child Welfare

• This field is concerned with the well-being of children and youth through the provision of
programs and services for their physical, social, psychological, spiritual and cultural
development.
• The focus is on strengthening the relationship between parents and child, the role of the family,
and the responsibility of the community in the child's development. It also includes supple
mental and substitute child-caring services to prevent the child's suffering from parental
deprivation.

Child Welfare Social Workers focus on children who are neglected, abandoned, destitute or orphaned
children, children with physical and other forms of disabilities, children in especially difficult
circumstances including children in exploitative and hazardous labor, street children. children trapped in
substance/drug abuse, physically and sexually abused children, children in situations of armed conflict or
dis placed due to natural disasters, children in indigenous cultural communities, children with parents
diagnosed as HIV positive, detained and convicted youthful offenders, and many more.

Two major types of child welfare services

• Direct service is rendered in the form of (a) assistance to children in their own homes in the
form of material assistance, formal and/or informal educational services, sports and recreation,
health services, skills training, job placement, guidance and counseling, day care, and
correctional services, and (b) child placement though residential care in an institution, foster
care, or adoption.
• Indirect service is in the form of (a) financing on a national or international level (such as
through sponsorship of programs and personnel and/or the provision of supplies, equipment
and certain facilities), and (b) coordination to facilitate linkages and avoid duplication among
agencies with similar or related services.

Social Work Activities:

a) doing admission interviews with the child, his family and/or significant others, culminating in the
preparation of case studies which present recommendations that will benefit the child and his
family
b) following through the recommendations given which may take the form of assisting the child in
his adjustment in the institution if this is what is called for or assisting the child and his family in
coping with detention and court procedures in the case of work with juvenile offenders: or
finding a suitable adoptive/foster home in the case of a child who is for placement, or assisting
youth with referral to appropriate community resources
c) actually, conducting individual counseling or group sessions with the child and/or his family
whenever the helping plans call for these
d) interpreting the child's needs and problems to the staff/other members of the helping team
such as the house parents, teachers, doctors, etc., in the case of residential institutions, or to
the judge and lawyers, etc., in the case of juvenile offenders, and working with these staffs as a
team
e) following up the adjustment of the child if he is with foster or adoptive parents
f) planning appropriate activities with the youth to meet their individual as well as group needs;
g) preparing the child for discharge/placement in the case of children in residential homes. or
helping the child and his family during the period of probation if this is the court's disposition on
the case, and then helping him prepare to make satisfactory adjustment in the community
h) recommending discharge of the client or closure of the court case if conditions call for it.
The provision of substitute child-caring services or Child Placement in the field of Child welfare involves:

a. Adoption: is a legal process whereby a child who is deprived of a birth family is provided with
substitute new ties, i.e. a new parent-child relationship is established and the adopted child enjoys the
same rights and privileges as that of a biological child.

b. Legal guardianship: a process undertaken to provide substitute parental care through the
appointment of a legal guardian for the child, including his property, until the child reaches the age of
majority.

c. Foster Care: refers to a substitute temporary parental care provided to a child by a licensed foster
family under the supervision of a social worker. The ultimate aim of foster family care is to reunite the
child with the biological family or to prepare the child for adoption or, in the case of older children, to
prepare them for independent living

d. Residential institutional care this provides temporary 24-hour residential group care to children
whose needs cannot, at the time be adequately met by their biological parents and other alternative
family care arrangements. Residential facilities provide an approximation of family life under the
guidance of trained staff, but it is used as a last recourse, resorted to in the absence of foster families

Module 6

Health

Like Social workers in other fields, the Social worker in the field of health, whether on an
administrative, planning, or implementation level, is concerned with continuously defining and solving
problems aimed at facilitating and strengthening social relationships and mutual adjustments between
individuals and their environment.

Social work practice in the field of health in the country is concentrated in Hospitals (public and
private) which provide social services to patients whose emotional and social situations directly or
indirectly cause, maintain, or aggravate their illness.

In 1954, President Elpidio Quirino issued Executive Order No. 578 and R.A. 747 mandating all
government hospitals with a 100-bed capacity to provide a medical social service.

The Department of Health, Bureau of Hospitals Circular 146, series 1955, ordered all chiefs of
government hospitals to organize medical social services units, and described the qualifications and
functions of social workers in hospitals.

This order, however, has not been fully implemented because of funding limitations.

Medical social services are aimed at the following:

a) better acceptance of and more favorable reaction to medical treatment;

 b) better understanding, on the part of medical personnel, of the patient's background, to facilitate
a faster and more accurate diagnosis of the patient's illness, and to enlist the family's
cooperation in the treatment and rehabilitation of the patient;
c) health education of the patient and their families;
d) utilization of community services that would facilitate rehabilitation and prevention of illness.
e) helping the patient and his family to deal with the psycho-social components of the physical
illness.

Medical Social Workers

Work directly with medical personnel and are considered members of the health team. They also work
with outside health and other agency personnel, since patients’ social situations,particularly in the
Philippines, often call for a variety of community resources.

Activities

• Eligibility studies

• interpretation to patient and nis family of hospital policies and regulations;

• data gathering on patient's personal and social situations to assist medical staff to arrive at a more
accurate diagnosis;

• performing coordinating and liaison activities between the patients and the medical staff, the patients
and the hospital administration, and the patients/hospital the and the community at large.

• mobilizing hospital as well as community resources to meet various patient needs

• use of appropriate forms of help to patient and his family during the period of medical treatment,
including individual counseling as well as group treatment activities with his family and/or together with
other patients

Many medical social workers are now also engaged in community out-reach programs and
services, supervision of other social workers, paraprofessionals, staff in- service training, consultatory
services to both hospital staff and community, and research.

In other countries like the United States, mental health is listed as a separate field because it is a
major, perhaps even a priority concern which has facilitated the development of a form of social work
practice which many practitioners find attractive (i.e., therapeutic or clinical practice, with a psychiatric
team, or sometimes private practice).

Three “Models" of Mental Work for Social workers:

 • Social work practice in a psychiatric unit of a hospital where social work functions are generally
like the functions of other hospital social workers except that the psychiatric social workers deal
with mentally and emotionally disturbed patients
• Social work practice in a mental health agency which may provide the social worker
opportunities to perform many of the functions of a medical social worker and, in addition,
opportunities to engage in preventive/educational activities like community mental health
seminars, child and family counseling, rehabilitation activities for various special groups like
former drug abusers, legal offenders, alcoholics
• Social work practice in agencies and institutions which serve the mentally and physically
challenged which requires special skills responsive to the clients situation, in addition to the
activities which, as stated as stated earlier, have to be done by social workers in the health
setting

Module 7

Forensic

“Knowledge needed in legal matters, an act or practice of formal debate or argument used in law
courts”

Forensic Social Work

Forensic Social Work is a branch of social work that deals with the practice of social work in criminal and
civil law settings, such as psychiatric hospitals, state and municipal agencies and by law enforcement
departments.

It is the application of social services to questions and issues relating to law and legal systems. This
specialty of the profession goes beyond clinics and psychiatric hospitals for criminal defendants being
evaluated and treated on issues of competency and responsibility.

It includes social work practice which is in any way related to legal issues and litigation, both criminal
and civil.

It includes services delivered by a social worker in the following:

➢ Child custody;

➢ Issues involving separation, nullity / annulment of marriage;

➢ Neglect, termination of parental rights, implication of child / spouse abuse;

➢ Violence against women;

➢ Juvenile and adult services, diversion / correction Children in Conflict with the Law;

➢ Mandated treatment community service, rehabilitation, recovery and reintegration

Roles of the Social Worker in Court

In the Philippine courts, the social worker may be a:

➢ Witness;

➢ Court employee; or a

➢ Consultant.

As witness, he /she is often called for cases involving the declaration of children as dependent,
abandoned, neglected or abused

As employee of the court, he/she may be tasked to undertake all court ordered diversion and to turn in
quarterly reports.

As a consultant, on the other hand, he / she may be called upon for expert referral to provide additional
facts.

Functions of Forensic Social Work

1. Provides expert testimony in courts of law based on requested information.

2. Systematically evaluates individuals so that the results of information gathered can be presented in
the court or to other legal authorities.

3. Investigates cases criminal conduct has possibly occurred and other law authorities. For example, the
Social Worker can testify their findings of home visits to a family where a child has been abused.

4. Recommends to courts of law and other legal authorities a way to resolve, punish or rehabilitate
those found guilty of crimes or negligence in court action.

5. Facilitates court ordered sentence or primarily monitoring the person and reporting progress to the
court.

6. Mediates between individuals and groups who are involved in disputes or conflicts that might
otherwise require extensive court room interventions to avoid adversarial nature of legal proceedings.

7. Testifies about the professional standards of social work to facilitate cases of possible misconduct or
malpractice.

8. Educates colleagues about the influence of law on their profession.

9. Facilitates the development of professional licensing regulations of social work.

Module 8

Corrections

A process of treatment by the court for persons convicted of offense against the law, during
which the individual on probation lives in the communities and regulates his own life under condition
imposed by the court (or other constituted authority) and is subject to supervision by a probation
officer.

Modern society’s response to those who violate the criminal law is not by eliminating the
offender, but assigning him a degraded supervised status for a specific period of time. The
administration of penalty in such a way that the offender is corrected, that is, his current behavior is
kept within acceptable limits at the same time his general life is modified.

Probation

Probation refers to a period of time before a person is actually sent to prison or jail. Instead of
pronouncing the sentence and sending them straight to a prison or jail, the judges give them an
opportunity to show that they want to rehabilitate themselves.

Either the party is given probation without pre-determined sentenced, or the judge will find the
defendant guilty, and temporarily suspended the sentence while the defendant is on probation. If
defendants do everything the judges instruct them to do, then they will not be sent to prison to finish
their sentence or given a new sentence based on the probation violation and initial crime.

Presidential Decree No. 968

• Known as the probation law of 1976

• Major goal is to established a more enlightened and more humane correctional system.

• Promotes reformation of offenders and reduce the incidence of recidivism.

• To provide a less costly alternative to the imprisonment who are likely to responds individualized,
community-based program.

Conditions of probation

Even though the person is not in jail, they may be subject to many if the same conditions of
serving time in jail including curfew rules, requirements to participate in rehab programs, and monthly
or more frequent drug testing by urinalysis.

While on probation, a defendant can be ordered to pay a fine, court costs, restitution, and any
court appointed attorney fees. The length of time that a person is on probation can range from one year
to up to ten years. Many states will cap the length of time that a person can remain on problem.

Probation Officer

A law enforcement professional who works with individuals who are serving probation instead
of jail time. They must keep in contact with offenders and their family members, juggle deadlines
enforced by the courts and ensure that those under supervision meet all the terms of their probation,
including drug testing if necessary. Probation officers must be able to listen to and communicate with
others, interpreting their moods and reactions.

They must also successfully manage their own time and teach other about the importance of
time management. It’s important that probation officers build relationship with community groups and
business /es that might provide support of their probationers. They must often motivate and assist their
clients in achieving their goals and staying on tract with their probation.

Parole

Is the release of a prisoner under supervision before the expiration of his sentence with the
provision that he might be returned to the correctional if he violates the conditions of his parole. It is
viewed as a privilege granted to a prisoner for good behavior and process while in prison and is
considered useful in rehabilitation outside the prison. Conditions of parole may include requiring a
defendant to stay in halfway house, reporting in person and continuing payments on fines and other
financial obligations.

Parole officer in two worlds (correctional)

PAROLE OFFICER INSIDE

• Assessing prisoners lives activities before and during the confinement.

• Determining job prospects.

• Preparing reports for parole boards.

PAROLE OFFICER OUTSIDE

• Held periodic meeting to discuss progress

• Helping to obtain training and jobs and even assisting drug dependent in finding rehab program.

PROBATION AND PAROLE OFFICERS’ QAULIFICATION

Aspiring parole and probation officers can obtain an accredited bachelor's degree in SOCIAL WORK,
Criminal Justice, Psychology, Sociology or another relevant field.
 Module 9

REHABILITATION

• The action of restoring someone to health or normal life through training and therapy.

• Restoring someone to former privileges or reputation after a period of disfavor

• Restoring something that has been damaged to its former condition.

Purpose of Rehabilitation Center

❑ To restore some or all of the patient’s physically, sensory, and mental capabilities that were lost due
to injury, illness or disease. Rehabilitation includes assisting the patient to compensate for deficits that
cannot be reversed medically.

❑ To return a patient back to normal, healthy condition, whether it is following and illness, injury,
surgery or certain disorders.

Persons Undergo Rehabilitation

• Drug dependents

• Socially Disadvantage Women

• Released Prisoner

• Former Patients of Psychiatric Institutions

• Older Persons

• Persons with Disabilities

• Alcohol Dependents

• Children in Conflict with Law

Some Rehabilitations in Pampanga

Central Luzon Drug Rehabilitation Center

 Brgy Sto. Nino 2011 Magalang, Pampanga

Bridges of Hope Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation

• 32-7 Flora Ave. Extn. Nepo Center Angeles City, Pampanga