SOCIAL WELFARE, SOCIAL SERVICES, & SOCIAL WORK

SOCIAL WELFARE

In its broadest sense, "social welfare" covers practically everything that men do for the
good of society. Gertrude Wilson characterizes social welfare as an organized concern of all
people for all people.l Walter Friedlander defines it as "the organized system of social services
and institutions, designed to aid individuals and groups to attain satisfying standards of life and
health. According to Elizabeth Wickenden, social welfare includes those laws, programs,
benefits, and services which assure or strengthen provisions for meeting social needs
recognized as basic to the well-being of the population and the better functioning of the social
order. These provisions may be directed toward strengthening existing arrangements; mitigating
the hardships or handicaps of particular individuals and groups; pioneering new services;
stimulating a better adaptation of the social structure including the creation of new programs as
needed; or a combination of all these approaches to social needs. The Pre-Conference Working
Committee for the XVth International Conference on Social Welfare defines social welfare as all
the organized social arrangements which have as their direct and primary objective the
well-being of people in a social context. It includes a broad range of policies and services which
are concerned with various aspects of people's lives — their income, security, health, housing,
education, recreation, cultural traditions, etc.
We find in the foregoing definitions essentially one idea that social welfare encompasses
the well-being of all members of human society, including their physical, mental, emoüonal,
social, economic, and spiritual well-being. Thus, social welfare history, from the pre-historic
times of mutual aid to modern-day organized services, gives us accounts of what society has
done and continues to do, to respond to the various needs of its members.

Society responds to unmet needs or problems through the following ways;

1. Individual and group efforts. These refer to systematic and voluntary efforts
undertaken by individuals and/or groups in response to the unmet needs of
people in a community.

2. Major societal institutions which have their designated roles and responsibilities
for meeting human needs. The family, the church, the government, cooperatives,
and labor unions arc major Institutions. Social forces bring about changes that
can affect the effectiveness of these institutions in performing their social welfare
functions. Institution-building should therefore be a serious continuing effort
because of its crucial implications for the welfare of human society.

3. Social agency.​ Whether tinder public Or private auspices, a social agency is a

major provision for helping people with their problems. It is an integral part of a
community’s institutionalized network of services for its members The
 professional social worker in the Philippines is usually employed by a social
agency.
There are two views or conceptions of social welfare: the residual and the institutional. 5 The
residual formulation 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. Social welfare activities of this kind, because of
their residual substitute characteristic, often carry the stigma of "doles," or "charity." The
institutional formulation, in contrast, 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 agencies are accepted as "regular" social institutions. Our own
Philippine Constitution (1987) reflects the institutional in the following words:

The State shall promote a just social order that will ensure the prosperity and
independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through policies that
provide adequate social services, promote full employment, and raising
standards of living, and improve quality of life for all.

In the Philippines today, many institutions and agencies under the government as well as
private auspices, combine the two views because of the nature of the people's needs and
problems Social welfare involves the contribution of many people with different •competencies.
Representatives of different professions and occupations work in the field of social welfare -—
doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, nurses, social workers, priests, psychologists,
sociologists, nutritionists, guidance counselors, para-professionals, etc., all having their own
roles and functions to play. Social welfare would also cut across the concern of various
agencies, institutions, and organizations with particular areas of interest and/or responsibility,
such as those in health, nutrition, education, housing,' labor and industry, community
development, social insurance, family planning, and so on.

Social welfare programs usually fall under the following categories:

1. Social security: ​This reférs 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 the maintenance
Of a reasonable standard of living. Examples are compulsory employer liability (with or
without insurance), provident funds, and social insurance.

2. Personal social services. These refer to service functions that have a major bearing
upon personal problems, individual situations of stress, interpersonal helping or helping
people in, 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 the treatment of deviants.
 3. Public Assistance. This 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. In many foreign countries, public assistance is simply called "Welfare."

SOCIAL SERVICES

The collective concern of society for the well-being of its members, in turn, is expressed
in the provision of concrete social services. "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. These social services may take the form of services to
individuals and families, services to groups, services to people with special problems (the
handicapped, the mentally retarded, etc.) as well as community services. In the sense that
"social welfare" would be a meaningless term unless there are concrete demonstrations of its
"concern for the well-being of human society' through actual social services, then the two terms
are inseparable and for this reason, often used interchangeably.
Why is there a need for social services? At all times everywhere, there are people who
have needs and problems beyond their own capacity for a solution. Social welfare (and
therefore, social services) has been accepted as a legitimate function of modern industrial
society in helping people fulfill themselves. Many of the problems people face today, after all,
are traceable to the rapid social change that has been taking place, including the adverse
effects of urbanization and industrialization. This includes problems of people in the rural areas
---- a major concern of social welfare in the country today -- for, after all, rural underdevelopment
is undoubtedly linked to urbanization and industrialization. Richard M. Titmus sees social
problems as structural or basically located in the economy. "Since we cannot name and blame
the culprits 'and Oblige them to make redress, we must either provide social services or allow
the social costs of the system to lie where they fell."7 He considers social services as partial
compensation for the "socially generated disservices" and "socially-caused diswelfare."
There are many motivations or reasons for providing social (welfare) services. However,
among the many legitimate and vitally important goals of social welfare which often compete for
scarce resources are the following:

1. Humanitarian and Social Justice Goals​. This goal of social welfare is rooted-in
the democratic ideal of social justice and is based 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 the 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 the recognition that needy, deprived,
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 threats to life, property, and political stability in the
community which is 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 Goal The economic development goal places a priority

on those programs designed to support increases in the production of 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:
a. Certain types of 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 underemployed; integrated social services for farmers, etc.;
b. Certain social services which prevent or relieve the burden of
dependence on adult workers of such dependents as the very young as
well as the very old, the sick, the disabled, etc., which could hamper their
produ$vity. Examples of these are daycare centers, old age homes,
health clinics, rehabilitation centers, etc.;
c. Certain social services 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 that enhance or develop self-reliance
and therefore promote people's own capacities for problem-solving.
Having defined social welfare and social services, what, then, is social work?

SOCIAL WORK

Social work is the profession that is concerned with man's adjustment to his
environment; a person (or groups) in relation to a person's (or they are) social situation. This is
referred to as a person's "social functioning," which results from the performance of his various
social roles in society, e.g., son, father, husband, employee, employer, patient, committee
chairman, citizen. Some people have difficulties in the performance of any, or several, or even
all of their social roles, and therefore have inadequate or ineffective social funcüoning. Why do
people experience these difficulties? In general, social functioning:
a. personal inadequacies or sometimes pathologies which may make it difficult for a
man to cope with the demands of his environment;
b. situational inadequacies and conditions which are beyond man's coping
capacities; and
 c. both personal and situational inadequacies.
Personal inadequacies may be due to physiological factor-like poor physical constitution,
wrong attitudes and values, poor or unrealistic perception of reality, ignorance, and lack of skills.
Situational inadequacies, on the other hand, refer to the lack of resources and opportunities in
society, the existence of resources or opportunities which, however, are beyond the reach or
coping capacities of people (such as the availability of employment, but only for highly skilled or
trained workers), and the existence of an unjust or exploitative situation such as in the
workplace, or in the community.
All social worker efforts are therefore focused on either helping a person adjust to or
cope with his environment (If it is his inadequate coping capacities that prevent him from the
performance of his social role), or modifying or changing his environment/situation (if this is the
source of his problem) or both. Social work is not a hit-or-miss or trial-and-error method of
helping people, but a professional service that makes use of scientific knowledge and skills as
bases for engaging people in problem-solving, whether individually, in groups, or as
communities. It makes use of both human and material resources in the soluåon of social
functioning problems. The United States Council on Social Work Education has this definition of
social work: "Social work seeks to enhance the social functioning of individuals, singly and in
groups, by activities focused upon their social relationships which constitute the interaction
between man and his environment. These activities can be grouped into three functions:
restoration of impaired capacity, provision of individual and social resources, and prevention of
social dysfunction.
On June 27, 2001, the International Association of Schools of Social Work and the
International Federation of Social Workers jointly announced this new international definition of
social work which, it is believed, is applicable to social work practitioners and educators in every
region and country of the world: "The social work profession promotes social change,
problem-solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to
enhance well-being. Utilizing • theories of human behavior and social systems, social work
intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human
rights and social justice are fundamental to social work." The IASSW and the IFSW provide a
commentary on this definition, stating that "Social work in its various forms addresses the
multiple, complex transactions between people and their environments. Its mission is to enable
all people to develop their full potential, enrich their lives, and prevent dysfunction. Professional
social work is focused on problem-solving and change. As such, social workers are change
agents in society and in the lives of the individuals, families, and communities they serve. Social
work is an interrelated system of values, theory, and practice."
Social work, introduced in the 1930s as a systematic method of helping people in the
field of public welfare in the Philippines, came to be officially recognized as a profession with the
passage of a law by Congress in 1965 elevating social work to a profession (see Appendix 1).
There are now many schools of social work in the country (87 as of June 2001) and trained
social workers to find employment in a variety of fields and settings which are engaged in social
welfare activities. These include traditional social work settings such as hospitals, public
assistance agencies,' and institutions for different needy groups, as well as the more recent
social work fields like housing and resettlement, labor and industry, women and development,
social development planning, and so on. These fields will be discussed more lengthily later on.
 Certainly, the term "social work" is still mistakenly used in referring to acts of charity or
philanthropy, and "social worker" is often, used in our society to refer to charitable individuals
who find the time or provide material resources for the needy. This misinterpretation is
unavoidable but, with the professional social workers' active demonstration of their roles and
functions, the time may come when the public will be able to make the distinction.

Goal of Social Welfare

The goal of social welfare is to fulfill the social, financial, health, and recreational
requirements of all individuals in a society. Social welfare seeks to enhance the social
functioning of all age groups, both rich and poor. When other institutions in our society, such as
the market economy and the family, fail at times to meet the basic needs of individuals or
groups of people, then social services are needed and demanded.
In less industrialized societies, people’s basic needs have been fulfilled in more direct
and informal ways. Even in this country, fewer than 150 years ago most Americans lived on
farms or in small towns with extended families and relatives close by. If financial or other needs
arose, relatives, the church, and neighbors were there to “lend a helping hand.” Problems were
visible and personal; everyone knew everyone else in the community. When a need arose, it
was taken for granted that those with resources would do whatever they could to alleviate the
difficulty. If, for example, the need was financial, personal acquaintance with the storekeeper or
banker usually was sufficient to obtain needed goods or money.
Clearly, we are now living in a different era. Our technology, economic base, social
patterns, and living styles have changed dramatically. Our commercial, industrial, political,
educational, and religious institutions are considerably larger and more impersonal. We tend to
live in large urban communities—away from families or relatives—frequently without even
knowing our neighbors. We have become much more mobile, often having few roots and limited
knowledge of the community in which we live. Vocationally, we have specialized and become
more interdependent on others, and as a result, we have diminishing control over major aspects
of our lives. Our rapidly changing society is a breeding ground for exacerbating former social ills
and creating new problems, such as the expanding number of homeless people, higher crime
rates, recurring energy crises, terrorism, and the destruction of our environment. Obviously, the
old rural-frontier methods of meeting social welfare needs are no longer viable.

It is the business of social welfare:

● To find homes for parentless children.

● To rehabilitate people who are addicted to alcohol or drugs.
● To treat those with emotional difficulties.
● To make life more meaningful for older adults.
● To provide vocational rehabilitation services to persons with a physical or mental
disability.
● To meet the financial needs of the poor.
● To rehabilitate juveniles and adults who have committed criminal offenses.
 ● To end all types of discrimination and oppression.
● To provide services to veterans, including those suffering from traumatic brain
injury or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
● To provide child-care services for parents who work outside the home.
● To counteract violence in families, including child abuse and spouse abuse.
● To fulfill the health and legal exigencies of those in financial need.
● To counsel individuals and groups experiencing a wide variety of personal and
social difficulties.
● To provide services to people with AIDS and to their families and friends.
● To provide recreational and leisure-time services to all age groups.
● To educate and provide socialization experiences to children who have a
cognitive disability* or an emotional disorder.
● To serve families struck by such physical disasters as fires and tornadoes.
● To provide adequate housing for the homeless.
● To provide programs that support and enhance the normal growth and
development of all children and adults.
● To provide vocational training and employment opportunities to the unskilled and
unemployed.
● To meet the special needs of people of color, migrant workers, and other minority
groups.
● To empower individuals, groups, families, organizations, and communities to
improve their circumstances.

Social Welfare as an Institution and as a Discipline

The term social welfare has different meanings, as it is both an institution and an
academic discipline. The National Association of Social Workers (the primary professional
organization for social workers) gives the following definition of social welfare as an institution:

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 society.

Examples of social welfare programs and services are foster care, adoption, daycare,
Head Start, probation and parole, financial assistance programs for low-income parents and
their children, services to the homeless, public health nursing, sex therapy, suicide counseling,
recreational services such as Boy Scouts and YWCA programs, services to minority groups,
services to veterans, school social services, medical and legal services to the poor, family
planning services, Meals on Wheels, nursing-home services, shelters for battered spouses,
protective services for child abuse and neglect, assertiveness-training programs, encounter
groups, and sensitivity training, public housing projects, family counseling, Alcoholics
Anonymous, runaway services, services to people with a developmental disability, and
rehabilitation services.
 Social welfare programs and social service organizations are sometimes referred to as
“social welfare institutions.” The purposes of social welfare institutions are to prevent, alleviate,
or contribute to the solution of recognized social problems in order to directly improve the
well-being of individuals, groups, families, organizations, and communities. Social welfare
institutions are established by policies and laws, with the programs and services being provided
by voluntary (private) and governmental (public) agencies.
The term social welfare institution is applied to various levels of complexity and
abstraction. It may be applied to a single program or organization—for example, foster care or
Planned Parenthood. Or the term may be applied to a group of services or programs. For
example, child welfare services is a social welfare institution that includes such services as
adoption, foster care, juvenile probation, protective services, runaway services, day care, school
social services, and residential treatment. The highest aggregate level to which the term social
welfare institution is applied includes all of the social programs and organizations in a country
that are designed to prevent, alleviate, or contribute to the solution of recognized social
problems.
Another meaning of social welfare derives from its role as an academic discipline. In this
context, social welfare is “the study of agencies, programs, personnel, and policies which focus
on the delivery of social services to individuals, groups, and communities.” 3 One of the
functions of the social welfare discipline is to educate and train social workers. (Some colleges
and universities call their professional preparation programs for social work practice “social
work,” and others call their programs “social welfare.”)

Social Welfare’s Relationship to Sociology and to Other Academic Disciplines

Social welfare has often been confused with “sociology” and

“human services.” In addition, many people are confused
about how social welfare and social work related to
psychology, psychiatry, and other related disciplines. The
next few sections seek to clarify these relationships.
Several academic disciplines seek to develop a
knowledge base about social problems, their causes, and
their alleviation. The most common disciplines are social
welfare, sociology, psychology, political science, economics,
psychiatry, and cultural anthropology. Figure 1.1 shows the
relationship of these disciplines to social welfare.
Each of these disciplines has a distinct focus. The
following definitions highlight the similarities and differences
among these disciplines:

Sociology: The study of human social behavior,

especially the study of the origins, organizations, institutions, and development of human
society.
Psychology:​ The study of mental processes and behavior.
 Psychiatry:​ The study of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illness.

Political science: The study of the processes, principles, and structure of government
and of political institutions.

Economics:​ The study of the production, distribution, and consumption of commodities.

Cultural anthropology: The study of human culture based on archeological,
ethnographic, linguistic, social, and psychological data and methods of analysis.

The previously given institutional definition of social welfare is applicable when

the relationship between social welfare and social work is examined. Social welfare is a
more comprehensive term than social work; social welfare encompasses social work.
Social welfare and social work are primarily related at the level of practice. Social work
has been defined by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) as follows:

Social work is the professional activity of helping individuals, groups, or

communities to enhance or restore their capacity for social functioning and to
create societal conditions favorable to their goals.
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; providing counseling and psychotherapy for
individuals, families, and groups; helping communities or groups provide or
improve social and health services; and participating in relevant legislative
processes.
The practice of social work requires knowledge of human development
and behavior; of social, economic, and cultural institutions; and of the interaction
of all these factors.

The term social worker has been defined by the NASW as:

Graduates of schools of social work (with either

bachelor’s or master’s degrees), who use their knowledge
and skills to provide social services for clients (who may be
individuals, families, groups, communities, organizations, or
society in general). Social workers help people increase their
capacities for problem-solving and coping and help them
obtain needed resources, facilitate interactions between
individuals and between people and their environments,
make organizations responsible to people, and influence
social policies.

Almost all social workers are working in the field of

social welfare. There are, however, many other professional
and occupational groups that may be working in this field, as
illustrated in Figure 1.2. Professional people providing social welfare services include attorneys
who offer legal services to the poor; urban planners in social planning agencies; physicians in
public health agencies; teachers in residential treatment facilities for the emotionally disturbed;
psychologists, nurses, and recreational therapists in mental hospitals; and psychiatrists in
mental health clinics.

Social Welfare’s Relationship to Other Institution​s

Social welfare overlaps with such institutions as the family, education, religion, and politics. One
of the functions of the family is raising and caring for children. Social welfare assists families by
providing services such as counseling, daycare, foster care, and adoption. Certain educational
courses have both educational and social welfare aspects; for example, social science and
physical education courses provide socialization experiences and are important in the social
development of youth. Churches have long been interested in people’s social well-being and
have provided such social welfare services as counseling, financial assistance, daycare, and
recreation. The overlap between politics and social welfare primarily involves the political
processes that occur in regard to the funding of social service programs. Some social welfare
programs (for example, public assistance) are controversial political topics. Securing the
necessary funding for essential social welfare programs is a crucial component of the social
welfare system in any country.

Social Welfare’s Relationship to Human Services

Human services may be defined as those systems of services and allied occupations and
professions that concentrate on improving or maintaining the physical and mental health and
general well-being of individuals, groups, or communities in our society. Alfred Kahn has
conceptualized human services as composed of the following four service categories:

1. Personal services (casework, counseling, recreation, rehabilitation, religion, therapy)

2. Protection services (consumer protection, corrections, courts, fire prevention/firefighting,
housingcode enforcement, law enforcement, public health services)
3. Information/advising services (consulting, consumer information, education, financial
counseling, hotlines, and library services)
4. Maintenance services (child care, unemployment assistance, institutional services,
public welfare programs, retirement plans, and Social Security programs)

Kahn indicates that there is a tendency to use the term human services for what in the
past has been called social welfare.8 Actually, human services is a broader term because it
includes services (such as library services, law enforcement, housing-code enforcement,
consumer protection, and fire prevention, and firefighting) that are usually not considered social
welfare services. The term social welfare is thus more limited because it focuses on
conceptualizing and resolving social problems. Human services is a broader term that
encompasses social welfare programs. The two terms relate at a program level.