Social Work Commons^™

Restraint Economics And The New Right: A Structural Analysis Of The Political Economy Of Social Services Cutbacks, John Butcher

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Restraint by government in the area of social service spending in the 1980's has become an issue of grave concern for social service practitioners, planners, and administrators. The emergence in North America of neo-conservative economic policies has engendered a body of critical and provocative literature which examines the effects of "restraint economics".

Recent work in geography has sought to locate the supply-side trend within a framework of macro-level processes. These suggest that a declining public commitment to maintaining the social safety net is linked to broader structural changes in the workplace and spatial shifts of capital and industry (Dear & …

Focal Point, Volume 01 Number 01, Portland State University. Regional Research Institute

Research and Training Center - Focal Point

This is the first issue of a bulletin published by the Portland State University Research and Training Center to Improve Services for Seriously Emotionally Handicapped Children and Their Families.

The specific thrust of this initial publication is to introduce you to the center and its primary activities. There are three major center projects: Families as Allies, Youth in Transition and Therapeutic Case Advocacy. Each of these projects is described in separate articles in this issue of the newsletter. In addition, we have a lead article by Thomas Young titled "Re-Thinking Emotional Disturbances in Children." This article should be thought provoking …

Revival Of Welfare Reform, Seung Ja Doe

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

It is a well known fact that poverty is prevalent among single mothers and children. Currently, the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program fails to provide for all children and single mothers in need of public assistance. Previous attempts to "reform" the welfare system have been unsuccessful. However, in the time when the poor's right for social welfare is increasingly threatened, ideas for welfare reform need to be revived. The author advocates for a threedimensional agenda for welfare reform: universal assistance to families with children, reinforced support for children with absent parents, and targeted employment programs for single …

The Latent Functions Of Welfare And Need-Satisfaction Of The Disadvantaged, Zeev Ben-Sira

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In a study carried out among a representative sample of Jewish Israeli adults, a paradigm of need-satisfaction by direct welfare assistance has been developed and, to a great extent, empirically supported. Multivariate analysis revealed that, despite the fact that it is recognized as indispensible in facilitating basic living conditions, direct welfare assistance, whatever its kind, predicts frustration rather than need-satisfaction. The data ascertain that attributing to the welfare assistance the latent functions of preserving consumers' inferiority and of pursuing the agencies' and the welfare workers' interests rather than those of the consumers, constitute a major factor in the resulting feeling …

Income Tax And Inequality: What Constitutes Welfare State Expenditure?, Gordon W. Ternowetsky

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This paper examines 1981 taxation returns for the Province of Saskatchewan and Canada as a whole. The analysis examined the extent to which legal tax breaks benefit the rich and act to reinforce income inequality. The question of what constitutes government social spending is also raised. It is argued that tax breaks are a form of social expenditure that result in a tremendous drain on government revenue. The findings show that if progressive taxation was enforced, even for the few very rich Canadians (those earning over $200,000 a year), governments in 1981 would have an extra 1.1 billion dollars available …

Administrative Offices Of Aging In State Bureaucracies: Agency Location And Organization Effectiveness, Barrie Blunt, Scott Ingram

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This study considers the effects of state level reorganization on organizational access to the governor and state legislature, its ability to coordinate service delivery, its access to budgetary funds and resources, and its visibility and prestige. The findings are based on a nation-wide survey of all State Aging Units. Conclusions suggest that reorganizing an Aging Unit does have an impact on the aforementioned variables.

Welfare Fair Hearings And Client Advocacy: A Role For Social Workers, Jan L. Hagen

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

As a legally mandated grievance mechanism, welfare fair hearings provide a formal recourse for applicants and recipients of welfare dissatisfied with agency decisions. Fair hearings may be viewed as an example of one agency's attempt to foster fairness and to control administrative discretion. However, as a mechanism for redressing grievances, welfare fair hearings have a number of severe limitations. Social workers practicing with potential and actual recipients of public welfare are in a position to reduce these limitations through client advocacy.

Breaking Even: Preface To The Revised Edition, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Breaking Even: Financial Management in Nonprofit Human Services (Temple University Press. 1980) was the first book-length discussion of nonprofit financial management ever published in English. This preface was prepared, along with several new or rewritten chapters and additional changes for a possible revised edition of the book. The publisher decided not to do a second edition and the original first edition continued to sell in its small market niche for 25 years.

Automating The Social Work Office: Science Fictions And Practical Realities, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Social work was not originally an office-based profession but has become one in the past few decades. In the process, the information technology of social work practice has changed relatively little. Social work practice has yet to develop unique computer applications, comparable to developments in medicine, law, architecture, education and other fields. Most interest in computer applications in social work to date has been clerical and made use of off-the-shelf applications. The potential of currently available technology for office automation in social work offers the prospect not only for important productivity improvement, but also for a means to dealing with …

Assessing Child Maltreatment: The Role Of Testing, Joel S. Milner

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Due to the recent development of test instruments designed to assist professionals in the evaluation of child maltreatment cases, social service professionals must become familiar with issues related to test construction and use. The purpose of the present paper is to provide the reader with a discussion of issues related to test selection and use. This article, however, is not Intended to be a substitute for a basic understanding of the test validity and reliability. The paper begins with a review of different prevention modes and discusses how each mode uses test data. Next, test use as it relates to …

Private Human Services In Welfare Society, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This paper is an effort to propose a moderately optimistic future for the personal care sector of human services. It is proposed that the best available future scenario for personal care services between now and the year 2019 is to concentrate on privatization of service delivery on a small-scale basis. Government, in this model should be limited largely to three roles: 1) source of venture capital; 2) regulation of service delivery; and 3) income maintenance for the poorest populations. In this future, the main burden of personal care services will be carried by the private sector. Dramatic improvements in the …

From Social Welfare To Welfare Society: A Humane World Beyond Social Welfare?, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

In the 1980's, the relationship of social welfare activities to the future has been dramatically altered. Until the conservative ascendency of the Reagan government, the future of social welfare was defined largely in terms of the incremental welfare state, characterized by gradual expansion of tax supported programs and benefits, with periodic policy refinements and extensions of benefits and coverages to new populations. Since 1980, all sorts of "doom and gloom" has been spread--mostly linked to short-term developments. This paper is an effort to propose a moderately optimistic alternative future for one segment of the social welfare system--personal care services. In …