COLAND SYSTEMS TECHNOLGY COLLEGE, INC

Penas Bldg. Sinsuat Avenue,

Course Code: SW224

MODULE I

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL CASEWORK METHOD

Social casework as a scientific method of social work intervention was introduced into the
Philippines during the early part of this, the twentieth century. It was brought in by the American
residents who with the cooperation of some concerned Filipinos established the Associated
Charities of Manila Inc. in 1917. It was family welfare agency patterned after the Charity
Organization Societies in the United States. The Associated Charities employed “home visitors”
whose functions were similar to those of the “friendly visitors” of the COS. The friendly visitors
made personal visits to the poor so as to make careful investigation of the applicant, gave advice,
admonitions, and financial aid. The major service they offered was counselling.

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUNCES

The first COS in the United States was founded in 1877 in Buffalo, New York state. Other
cities followed and the employment of friendly visitors increased. These societies were voluntary
organizations. At first they operated in the belief that poverty was the fault of individual, that it was
the result of his moral failure. Hence the objective of friendly visiting was to counsel the individual
to do his best, to work very hard so as to earn enough for his or her family’s needs. Soon however
these visitors came to realize that frequently the cause of distress was not a character defect but
the social conditions under which these people lived. Among these conditions were illness of the
client or someone else in the family, numerous children, unsanitary, overcrowded housing, low
wages, undernourishment, low education, and lack of work skills.

SOCIAL REFORM

This awareness and recognition of the environment’s effect on the individual prompted the
COS to engage in the social reform, working for the legislation that would prevent destitution,
disease, and social disorganization. Yet, despite the improvements brought about by social reform
there were still many families in dire want and distress. Many of them had come to the cities from
the countryside and rural areas in search of better living and work opportunities. Many of others
were immigrants from Europe who fled to the new country on account of religious or economic
persecution. They were in the need of emotional support and understanding, also helper who
would listen to the and advise them on how to make effective use of community resources and
services such as clinics, hospitals, employment bureaus, legal aid, training facilities, and adult
education. There appeared to be misery and personal difficulties amidst plenty. The United States
was rapidly industrializing and urbanizing and well on the way to becoming the richest country in
the world. Yet, social reform did not solve all the individual’s problems. It was then decided by the
friendly visitors to continue working with individuals more closely on one-to-one basis. They also
became aware of the need to include individual family members in their services thus introducing
the beginnings of the family-centered approach.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

In the meantime the social agencies also found that the rehabilitation of the clients could
not be achieved by counselling alone. Substantial financial assistance was also needed in order
to maintain families during the period of readjustment, retraining, and rehabilitation, and in some
instances, for long periods. It often became necessary to extend a practical service to the client
and his family, besides counselling.

CASEWORK PROCESS

By the early 1900’s, Mary Richmond and other practitioners began to formulate a more
scientific problem-solving theory based on other observations and experiences. To enhance
social work practice, particularly casework, Richmond strongly recommended thorough
investigation into the life of the individual who was in need of help. The findings of what was to be
called later “data-gathering” would serve as the basis of “social diagnosis” – knowledge and
understanding of the client’s problem. Specifically, the worker will attempt to study these findings
so as to determine the underlying causes or contributory factors to the social and personal
difficulties on the client. This would be followed by the interpretation of the specific conditions
underlying the person’s behavior and reactions. Therapy or Social Treatment Planning, would
then be based on the results of the social diagnosis and an assessment of the person in-situation.
In those days treatment was frequently directed towards external improvements in the
environment, living conditions, and the type and location of work accompanied by counseling.

INFLUENCE ON CASEWORK PRACTICE

The early years of casework practice was characterized by concern for the economic and
sociological factors affecting the client and his condition. Soon caseworkers began to look more
closely into the emotional and psychological problems of the individual. This development was
influence by discoveries of Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis and dynamic psychology, and the
works of his followers, Otto Rank, C.G. Jung, Alfred Adler, and others. Another trend was the
employment of social workers in general hospitals. Their main function was to assist the physician
in his diagnosis and medical treatment by collecting data and information the patient’s earlier
illness and reporting on his economic and social conditions. As a result of these developments
caseworkers strove to increase their knowledge of human behavior as may be found in psychiatry,
psychology, and biology.

The First World War also made a definite and whispered impact on social casework theory.
This was the result of practitioners’’ working with war veterans or causalities and their families.
Sociological explanations gave way to psychological and psychiatric ones. Many caseworkers
had to modify their methods in dealing with persons in need. Introduced gradually during this
period were value assumptions and guiding principles of social work which were formally
conceptualized after the World War II.

One of the most important discoveries in casework practice during the 1920s and 1930s
was that to be effective the worker must accept the client and his values. Previous planning by
social workers for their clients often led to nowhere because the latter had not really been allowed
to participate in the planning for themselves. It was then decided that henceforth more
responsibility would be placed on the clients for making life decisions. This proved to be the
beginning of the social work principle of self-determination. The theory was advanced that
casework must work with and not for the clients.

The U.S. economic depression of the 1930s also caused the modification of some features
of casework. Many of the voluntary agencies reconsidered their functions in the community,
devised new techniques of helping people without delay, started to cooperate with the new
government agencies, and faced up to the new types of problems presented by their clients.

Social casework was also influenced by the events of World War II. Social agencies
observed an increase in personal problems in their clients aside from their material difficulties.
The disruptions of war caused many persons to suffer financially but it was mainly the emotional
and psychological problems that caused the greater discomfort and led to social dysfunctioning.
To meet this new challenge caseworkers began to reexamine the nature of their services to
individuals with personality problems. The counseling responsibilities of family agencies were
enlarged to include family members and not only the client person. Medical and psychiatric social
workers were especially in demand during the war and to this day. Material affluence can does
disturb the individual’s social and emotional equilibrium.

Today, caseworkers besides recognizing the influence of psychology and psychiatry in

CASEWORK PRCTICE IN THE PHILIPPINES

Casework was the very first professional method of social work intervention that was
practiced in the Philippines. It was introduced in 1917 by the Associated Charities of Manila, a
family welfare agency that employed “home visitors”. Psychiatric social work was also introduced
during the later part of the 1920s in Welfareville, then the seat of government child-caring
institutions. The superintendent Dr. Jose Vergara who was a physician had training abroad in
psychiatry and appreciated the value of psychiatric social work in working with children and youth.
In 1941 the Associated Charities was absorbed by the Bureau of Public Welfare to carry out its
public assistance program and it employed social workers who functioned as caseworkers.

Casework practice gained momentum after World War II as result of the many war victims
who suffered materially and emotionally. A War Relief Office operated under the Social Welfare
Commission which had replaced the Bureau of Public Welfare. Its workers were now known as
social workers. As maybe expected, its activities were focused on war relief. The Department of
Health contributed to the further use of social casework when 1954 it issued a circular requiring
national, provincial, city and emergency hospitals to employ social workers. A Medical Social
Service Unit was installed in the Bureau of Hospitals. This development promoted the practice of
social casework in medical and psychiatric settings in public as well as private hospitals and
clinics.

In 1951 the Social Welfare Administration (formerly SWC) has expanded and social
workers were assigned in every province and major city. It was often times engaged in disaster
and emergency relief which left little time for casework help. By 1960s the community organization
method became the “in” thing with government pushing for community development. In the 1970s
the continuing increase the number of the out-of-school youth as well as those behavioral and
social problems as well as the disabled and disadvantaged person brought social group for the
fore. For a while it seemed that the casework remained in doldrums because of increasing poverty
and consequently heavy caseloads. Aid was focused on material thing even by the private
agencies which were prompted to be family and child welfare oriented. Funds were set aside not
only for food, shelter, and clothing bust also for vocational training, tools and equipment like
sewing machine, educational aid, capitals loans or grant-in-aid for livelihood project, supplemental
feeding foe pre-school children and many other programs.

Like their American counterparts local practitioners were quick to recognize that material
assistance did not automatically solve the individual’s problem. During 1980s it was observed that
more and more clients were exhibiting graver emotionally disturbed and the mentally ill and many
other signs of psychosocial dysfunctioning. Casework practice was renewed in earnest, enriched
and strengthened.

Today casework remains the major method of social work intervention used by many
social work agencies. The focus is on person-situation configuration.