DIASS

Airell Nathaniel Malasaga

 SOCIAL WORK: WHEN TO MAKE
DIFFIRENCE
 It is through a greater appreciation of the discipline of social work that you will be
motivated to engage even in the simplest act of kindness and concern toward
others. Social work does not need to be institutional, nor be a grand gesture of
charity.
 An individual who is engaged in social care sees himself or herself in various
settings envoling personal interactions and services that include "caring,
supporting, assisting, tending and enabling [all of which are] offered to people to
promote and further their well-being, but which do not fit under the umbrella of
'health care" (Horner, 2006).
 Thomas and Pierson (2001), as cited in Horner (2006), defined social care as a form
of "assistance given to people maintain themselves physically and socially... [that
is] distinguished from other forms such as health care and care given by one
member of a family to one another.“
 You will notice that a certain set of social worker skills and values are also being
honed in Nurses, physicians, or medical staff so that they may later become more
effective healthcare providers. To further prove the point, Homer (2006) explain
that the general public (which includes you) may understand social care as those
"activities as caring for older people in a residential care home, or providing home
care, or working in a daycare setting with people with learning disabilities [which
are] allied as it is to other caring professions, such as nursing."
 DEFINING SOCIAL WORK
How do professional social workers and organizations define their discipline? What
are some of the key concepts that you can relate to social work?
 The International Association of Schools of Social Work and International
Federation of Social Workers (2001) defined the social work profession as a
promotion of "social change, problem solving in human relationships, and the
empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being" (as cited in Horner,
2006). Observe the word cloud that follows and ponder on other ideas that you can
associate with the practice of social work.
Synonymous to and often interchanged with social work is the term social welfare, which may vary in
how it defined (i.e., as an institution or as an academic discipline). Social welfare "encompasses social
work [and that they] are primarily related at the level of practice." (Zastrow, 1996)
 There are what we call social welfare institutions (social welfare programs and
social service organizations) that are established "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" (Zastrow
1996). These institutions are created through policies and legislation, whose
programs and services may be provided by voluntary (private) or governmental
(public) sectors of the society.
 In an academic sense, social welfare may be defined based on its role as an
academic discipline the study of agencies, programs, personnel, and policies which
focus on the delivery of social services to individuals, groups, and communities
(Zastrow, 1996). Schools emphasize the importance of studying social welfare
especially in societies where the values of social justice and equality are highly
regarded. While the discipline of social work borrows some important principles of
human rights and social justice from theories of human behavior and social
systems, social workers are concerned with "people who are vulnerable, who are
struggling in some way to participate fully in society." Horner (2006) adds that
"social workers walk that tightrope between supporting and advocating on behalf of
the marginalized individual, whilst being employed by the social, economic and
political environment that may have contributed to their marginalization."
 Students like you may eventually wish to formally study social work and pursue a
degree in it so that you will be better equipped with the knowledge and skills
relevant to the discipline. Smith (2002) considers social work "a very practical job"
and since it is "about protecting people and changing their lives [and] not about
being able to give a fluent and theoretical explanation of why they got into
difficulties in the first place... new degree courses [on social work] must ensure that
theory and research directly informs and supports the practice" (Horner, 2006).
 There are major historical and contextual functions of social work and social
welfare that Gambrill (1997) proposed. These are the following:

 1. Relief of psychological distress and material need. Through social welfare,

people are able to cope better and function effectively in their social
environment.
 2. Providing for basic survival needs. These include "adequate nutrition,
clothing, shelter, and medical care." It also involves the creation of
"opportunities to enhance psychological well-being and social productivity"
(Federico, 1990, as cited in Gambrill, 1997).
 3. Social control. Social control refers to "encouraging adherence to social norms
and minimizing, eliminating, or normalizing deviant behavior.“
• Informal social control those internalized beliefs and norms and influence in face-
to- face exchanges such as ridicule, praise, and ostracism.
• Formal social control includes laws and regulations and actions by governmental
representatives such as police and social workers.
4. Social reform. Emphasizing the necessity of having social reform, social workers
have always believed that the lack of food, housing, employment, and educational and
recreational opportunities are the real causes of social problems-not the unworthiness
of individual persons. These inequities, according to social workers, need to be
properly addressed so as to create a just and more conducive environment for all
citizens.
 Think of the human body as a symbolism for society, with the bodily organs and
systems representing the various parts and structures of this society. How can the
body achieve a healthy and stable condition? What do people do when they are
sick? What do others do when they crave to fulfill a need? What happens to a body
which fails to receive the needed help to make function properly?
 Social services are provided so that the members of society can function effectively
within a society. When these members achieve a stable condition, they are able to
properly fulfill their roles in this society. Therefore, social services contribute to the
attainment of stability. George and Wilding (1984) affirmed this by citing the ways
on how social services contribute to political stability:
 1. By exhibiting apparent efforts to alleviate problems that might result in serious
discontent and that could be used to criticize the current economic and political
structure
 2. By defining social problems as caused by individual, family, or group factors
rather than by structural and economic factors
 3. By promoting values and behaviors that support political stability
 4. By supporting authority and related hierarchical systems
 5. By replacing class conflicts with group conflict
 Historical Context in the Philippines
 You may find social work as a career less appealing compared to those that are titular in
nature such as medicine, engineering, or law. But the idea that social work is as
relevant, and perhaps as noble as those professions, cannot be dismissed. Social work
has been crucial as can be seen throughout the history of Philippine society. Despite the
relative youth of social work as a profession, social workers continue to assert their
contribution in shaping society. Through social work, these professionals affect change
by motivating people to become self-sufficient and useful to society.
 Social work as a profession rooted from informal caring and charitable acts provided by
families and communities, which then addressed human and social needs (Price, 2014).
In the case of social work in the Philippines, an understanding of the colonial and
political history of the country is necessary to put the development of the practice in
context. "The 'colonial rule' brought to the Philippines a form of social welfare which
was functional, residualized, and individualist," and much of which took the form of
community-based social work (Yu, 2006, as cited in Price, 2014).
 Social Work during the Colonial Period

 Social work in the Philippines is a combination of church work and

charity. Colonial influences "helped construct the Philippine
approach to social work, though these influences now operate
alongside (and at times in conflict with) community-focused
initiatives aimed at promoting social and economic development"
(Price, 2014). The predominant religion in the country had a strong
influence in the development of social work in the Philippines,
primarily because of the principle of Christian philanthropy or
charity. During the Spanish colonial period, hospitals and
orphanages were established by the church, the religious orders, and
other individuals who saw the act of giving as "a route to salvation"
(Price, 2014).
 By the time the Americans came, charitable activities gradually extended to public
coordination and provision of welfare services. Social work as profession became
more pronounced through the influence of aid workers coming from the United
States (U.S.) and through the Filipino social workers who were trained in the U.S.
(Almanzor, 1966; Yu, 2006, as cited in Price, 2014).
 Meanwhile, the Philippines saw an economic growth upon the establishment of the
Commonwealth government. These events brought public welfare legislation and
programs into a wider and broader scope, which even extended to rural areas. There
came a call for greater professionalization and increased coordination among
entities engaged in social work.
 During the brief Japanese interlude in the Philippines from 1942 to 1945, the
country experienced a huge blow to the economy. The war damaged the supply of
even the most basic necessities, thus affecting millions of Filipinos. Thus, during
this time, emergency relief work became the focus of all governmental, religious,
and charitable institutions.
After Independence

 A year after the establishment of the Third Republic, a Social Welfare Commission
under the Office of the President was founded in 1947. This signified the "formal
recognition of social welfare as a responsibility by the state" (Lee-Mendoza, 2008,
as cited in Price, 2014).

 Price (2014) provided a list of the significant milestones in the development of

social work in the Philippines during this time. These include the following:
 the establishment of social work schools initially in and around Manila;

 the formation of the Philippine Association of Social Workers in 1947 by overseas-trained workers;

 the funding by the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for training children and
family social workers to boost professionalization; and

 the enactment of Republic Act 4373 in 1965, which regulated the practice of social work and the
operation of social work agencies.

Many of the social workers in the 1950s and 1960s were "engaged in 'casework' rather than group or
community work, mostly working in hospitals and mental health settings, assessing eligibility for free
treatment and financial support" (Lee-Mendoza, 2008, as cited in Price, 2014).

The United Nations (UN), with its development agenda, had taken a growing focus to the Philippines and
this was evident in the active presence of UNICEF in the country. Because of this, "funds were directed
to national initiatives, which aimed to tackle poverty and raise overall living standards" in the country
 Government welfare agencies that existed until 1976 were reorganized and
clumped together to constitute the then Department of Social Services and
Development. Emergency relief work and daycare were still active during these
times, but efforts toward development also included working with communities to
develop businesses and skills for employment (Price, 2014).

 The period after the 1986 EDSA People Power marked the shift from welfare and
relief to a development approach. In 1987, the reorganized Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD) offered five areas of concentration: family and
community, children and youth; women; disabled and elderly people; and
emergency assistance/disaster relief (Price, 2014). The early 1990s became a great
period for social workers as DSWD became the largest employer of social workers
in the country and there came a growing focus on low income municipalities and
other socially depressed barangays (Price, 2014).
 When Republic Act 7160 (or the Local Government Code of 1991) was enacted,
the government saw the need for a more decentralized accountability and autonomy
in providing social work and social welfare services. Some of the tasks from the
national level were relegated to the "level of municipality, with some services, such
as maintaining local health and day care centers, devolved to the barangay" (Price,
2014). Local government units (LGUs), nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),
faith-based charitable providers, and some private institutions (such as private
hospitals and industrial social work settings) became more involved, committed,
and unified in providing social services. All of these players, according to Price
(2014), were still "subject to the oversight and 'vision' of the DSWD, which also
employs some social workers in research and monitoring roles."
Contemporary Social Work in the Philippines
How is social work perceived as a profession? If you are going to pursue social work
in college, you will expect the following to be part of the curriculum since these same
dimensions are also evident in social work practice:

1. Social Casework: conceptualized as assistance toward individual adjustment

2. Social Group Work: group activities organized for welfare purposes

3. Community Organization
 These dimensions are modeled after American social work. Many of the social
workers in the Philippines, according to Price (2014), "characterize their practice as
responding to poverty... that this very often underlies the issues which they seek to
address."

 Although social workers may specialize in a particular aspect or area of the

profession, it is a reality in the Philippines that most social workers perform
multiple tasks. Social work in the Philippines is generalist in its approach, which
means that social work education in the country trains a social worker to perform
various functions. Trainees for social work are exposed to a wide array of problems
and issues in various social work contexts. They are made to understand and
perform the different facets of the profession to provide a more holistic solution to
problems related to social work.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING