Social Welfare

The individuals who work with at risk populations are the first signs of social workers we have seen. Coverage of economic developments, the impact of volunteerism help us understand the context of social welfare movements and policies. By examining the forces of social change we can see how health care reform, welfare, and homelessness have changed our country. In the book Social Welfare the author explains the start of government policies and what people would be eligible. Social policy began from the English Poor Laws originating from the English.

After a system was generated the government assembled a list of who were the people that needed the most help, starting with children, the elderly and veterans as the majority of people who are eligible. The guidelines were set forward but the people who started receiving help started becoming broader. When the economy started to go down the governments aid is the only way for some people to survive but the only problem is that when some become accustomed of not having to work they will make this a lifestyle.

Idleness quickly spreads in poverty ridden neighborhoods where jobs are scarce and people are growing impatient of their economic situation. Veterans are a special class because they have served this country and given up their safety and well-being to protect ours. As veterans return home, some with injuries mental or physical they need to be assessed and treated. Not being able to find work or to provide for them, government policies state they should be helped as much as possible.

I feel that this helps many veterans but still leaves many of their families in a bind since the veteran will receive help but the family still has to fend for itself. Thereafter, the twentieth century being named the Century of the Child shows the positive statement that government policy has put forward towards child care. The government wanting to make a statement that the wellbeing of families should also come first for the children sake. The government was looking into the one-fifth of children living in poverty in the United States.

In the early twentieth century while the modern corporations dominated the economy the population doubled. As the Civil War brought on a wave of immigrants from Europe to the United States our economy was at a strain. With population changes expanding the countries proportion because of the large scale of immigrants entering the country. At the end of the Civil War the opening of the Oregon territories contributed to the westward movement. As the population grew from migration and immigration the cities also grew in size but the rural areas maintained the same.

This book lets you take a look back to when our country decided that if we did not help those in need we could not succeed as a whole. From the people who needed help came the very first social workers. The first social workers came from volunteers that wanted to help the less fortunate try and overcome poverty. The second book we have been reading A Therapeutic Education Intervention Program for Juveniles at Risk is a collection of surveys and graphs of from participants that provide insight to provided programs. The targeted population is juvenile clients who are currently in a treatment facility in Newark.

These individuals have committed crimes and as a result have been sent to juvenile detention. These surveys let us see how these participants came to commit crimes and what kind of lives they lead. This book gives us a look at their home life, their education is and their ethnicity. Many of these participants’ lives are completely open for us to see. Some of the problems brought to them during their lives seem to all lead to crime such as poverty and unhealthy parenting and behavior. Many boys have similar issues that keep them in the same place and life and seem to be a never ending circle they cannot break free from.