Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Some Casework Concepts for the Public Welfare Worker
    Some Casework Concepts for the Public Welfare Worker
    Some Casework Concepts for the Public Welfare Worker
    Ebook93 pages1 hour

    Some Casework Concepts for the Public Welfare Worker

    By Alan Keith-Lucas

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This book is based on actual cases carried by members in a course for public health workers given at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It identifies and discusses what is meant by casework, the idea of movement, empathy, avoiding self-involvement, not disarming the client, purposiveness in interviewing, and what it means to be a caseworker.

    Originally published in 1957.

    A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe University of North Carolina Press
    Release dateJun 15, 2018
    ISBN9781469644073
    Some Casework Concepts for the Public Welfare Worker

    Related to Some Casework Concepts for the Public Welfare Worker

    Related ebooks

    Social Science For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Pandemic’s Remote Learning Legacy: A Lot Worth Keeping

      Mar 16, 2021

      Educators are seeing pandemic innovations worth keeping – some may even help solve chronic problems of quality and equity.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Show Trials For Social Workers

      Oct 28, 2021

      SOCIAL WORK IS NOT SOMETHING ONE enters into lightly. It requires commitment, intelligence, emotional strength and the zeal to do the right thing but also the humility to know that solutions will never be perfect. Social workers are the life support

      8 min read

    • Article

      Not In My Backyard: The Reality of Human Trafficking and 5 Steps to End It

      Feb 18, 2020

      — ‘Human trafficking’? That can’t possibly be a real thing happening around me… Or could it?  Those were the questions running through my mind as I sat on my friend’s couch in Sydney, Australia back in 2008 listening to her tell me about a new nonpro

      6 min read

    • Article

      PDA or PD-nay?

      Apr 29, 2022

      PDA or PD-nay?
      5 min read

    • Article

      Embracing Cultural Diversity

      May 20, 2023

      May 21, commemorated as the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, is a reminder of the richness and beauty of the world’s different cultures; and that we need to preserve, value, and embrace differences in human family and it

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Power Of Prevention

      Aug 15, 2023

      The Power Of Prevention
      5 min read

    • Article

      Racial Microaggressions May Reveal Deeper Beliefs

      Sep 15, 2017

      Whites who are more likely to make microagressions against black people are also more likely to hold some degree of negative feelings towards black people as a whole, whether they know it or not, a new study suggests. “Our study results offer validat

      4 min read

    • Article

      Your Social Circle Stymies Your ‘Fake News’ Radar

      Sep 21, 2018

      Your social group can have a huge impact on how you view the world. But new research shows that the people you hang out or work with might also affect how well you can identify fact from fiction. Many people have difficulty authenticating online info

      2 min read

    • Article

      Screen Teen

      Sep 11, 2019

      Screen Teen
      6 min read

    • Article

      Diversity

      Mar 19, 2019

      Diversity
      21 min read

    • Article

      Doing Away with Anxiety

      Dec 24, 2021

      Doing Away with Anxiety
      1 min read

    • Article

      Here’s When America’s ‘Moral Combat’ Over Sex Began

      Dec 15, 2017

      The true origins of our political and religious divides, argues religious historian R. Marie Griffith, lie in sharp disagreements that emerged among American Christians almost a century ago. Ever since the emergence of the religious right as a politi

      2 min read

    • Article

      ‘Somebody Cares’: How Schools Are Helping With Student Well-being

      Mar 24, 2021

      As educators in the United States consider student mental health, what are they finding works best to help young people persevere?

      7 min read

    • Article

      Don MIND THE GAP

      Apr 12, 2022

      Don MIND THE GAP
      5 min read

    • Article

      Alextbh.

      Jan 2, 2020

      Alextbh.
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Some Casework Concepts for the Public Welfare Worker

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Some Casework Concepts for the Public Welfare Worker - Alan Keith-Lucas

      CHAPTER 1: WRITING AND USING THE MATERIAL

      THIS book is the outcome of a course which, for one reason or another, was attended exclusively by practicing public welfare workers of whom only two had had any formal social work training. Officially the course was listed as Extension Course Social Work 210 or Social Casework I. The material for the course, with the exception of four canned cases—that is, actual cases carried by public welfare workers but not by members of the class—was cases on which the members of the class had themselves worked within the past few months. The canned cases were used as a starter until the class’s cases could be collected, arranged and mimeographed. The method of presentation, the reasons for which are explained in the final chapter, was to have a panel of five class members answer certain prescribed questions about each case and then to throw the case open for general discussion. In all, nineteen such cases were discussed.

      In the course of these discussions certain principles about casework began to be formulated. Some of these principles have been discussed in casework literature, notably in Herbert Aptekar’s Basic Concepts in Social Casework (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1941). Others evolved from the material discussed, and one at least—that of not disarming the client—seems to be a contribution of this particular class to casework terminology.

      I realize fully that the conceptual framework here presented is not, in fact, an approved classification and that many other words could be used to convey the same or similar meanings. It is, however, a framework which proved useful in a particular setting and provided the class with something of a medium for the exchange of ideas.

      After the class was over, several of the students expressed the conviction that they had, in participating in the discussions, understood a number of basic principles which they believed to be simple, practical and down-to-earth and which were of present help to them both in evaluating their own progress as welfare workers and in giving them something to work on in the future. Several expressed the wish that these could be made available to other workers in the field.

      To do exactly this would be impossible. Only actual participation in such a discussion and relating it to one’s own work can carry this kind of conviction. Nevertheless, it has been done as well as I know how to do it. It should be clear, however, that this is not a comprehensive exposition of social casework, or even of social casework in a public welfare setting. It is simply a résumé of what one group of public welfare workers found it profitable to discuss in twelve two-hour sessions and what they would like to share with their co-workers and with other interested people.

      The use that can be made of material of this kind will vary, of course, with the purpose for which it is used and the relationship of the user to the public welfare field. While it has been suggested by those who have read it in manuscript that it may be of use to board members, to the interested public who may want to know more of what casework is about and even to the more experienced worker who could do with a refresher course in the principles of casework, it may be of most use to those preparing for the field, to those responsible for staff training courses or practitioner courses in a school of social work, and, first and foremost, to welfare workers themselves.

      How can the welfare worker who does not have professional training make use of material such as this? Not, I think, as an easy reference to some of casework’s conceptualization or as a substitute for formal professional learning. For those in the field this is a test-book, not a textbook. The important question for the practicing worker is not Do I understand the concept of empathy (or ambivalence, or purposiveness) ? It is rather Does my work reflect the self-discipline and understanding that is discussed here? If not, how can I better matters? I would suggest, in fact, that workers either alone or in groups might want to select one or more of the admittedly overlapping concepts presented and test their own work against the principles set forth. Only as each idea means something in practice can it be said to be learned.

      I should like to thank a number of people who read the book in manuscript and made many useful suggestions. These include, from the Bureau of Public Assistance, Miss Thomasine Hendricks, Mrs. Corinne Wolfe and Mr. George Narensky; the Commissioner of one and the Staff Training Consultants of three state departments of public welfare, Dr. Ellen Winston, Miss Ellen Bush, Mr. Curtis Ezell and Mrs. Elizabeth de Schweinitz; two local welfare superintendents, Mrs. Sarah Inman of York County, South Carolina, and Mr. Albert King of Iredell County, North Carolina; a welfare worker, Mrs. Inez Reed of Camden, South Carolina, three teachers of social work, Miss Mary Taylor of the University of Michigan and Dr. Arthur Fink and Mr. Everett Wilson of the University of North Carolina School of Social Work; a teacher of sociology and undergraduate social work, Dr. David Stafford of Guilford College, and two of my own students in an undergraduate course, Miss Eleanor Smith and Miss Marcia Smith.

      It in no way detracts from the valuable help all these have given me to say that my deepest indebtedness must be to the students in the course. No one can teach such a course without learning a lot himself, and no such course is possible without the wholehearted engagement in it of its students. In a very real sense this book is dedicated to and owes more than I can express to the welfare workers of the two Carolinas whose enthusiasm, devotion to their jobs, willingness to engage in self-criticism and basic integrity, as well as their practical knowledge and sound common sense, transformed what might have been a time-consuming chore into a most heartening and, indeed, exciting experience.

      CHAPTER 2: WHAT DO WE MEAN BY CASEWORK?

      WHAT DO WE MEAN by the word casework ? If one asks this of a group of public welfare workers one gets all sorts of answers. To some the word has come to mean something that good public welfare workers, and especially those who have been to a school of social work, do or would like to do over and above certifying Mrs. A. for a grant or getting Mr. B. to a hospital—something intangible, rarefied and somewhat mysterious for which there is never enough time, but which, if given, will somehow cause clients to want to be independent or stop quarrelling with their wives. To others it seems to mean being always ready with the appropriate service for an individual client’s needs—vocational rehabilitation, psychiatric care, a foster home—anything as long as it isn’t public assistance which isn’t casework at all. People are apt to talk about something called casework services which can be counted and are, in their opinion, the only real job of the public welfare agency despite its rather routine duty also to provide public assistance grants.

      This is not at all what I, or this book, or indeed many other people, mean by casework. Casework, as the word is used here, is simply the way in which the agency, through its workers—or the worker, in the name of the agency—makes available a service which the agency is empowered to give. This service may be public assistance. As a matter of

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1