The unique aspects of rural social work practice are discussed, with emphasis on the relationship between rural values and primary social work methods and skills. Suggestions for meeting the professional development needs of rural social workers are presented.
Practice Issues, Delivery and Management of Services, Global and Cultural Perspectives, and Historical Perspective. Key issues and enduring themes in this review are identified and discussed to demonstrate applications to practice, in order to benefit rural clients and communities. This article also reveals gaps in the rural social work literature and encourages academic-practitioner collaboration in future submissions. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE •Enduring themes are rural culture and values, generalist practice model, lack of formal resources, natural helpers and helping networks, professional challenges and opportunities for rural social workers, and a dialogue on rural-urban differences. F amilies in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2009. Mary E. richmond, a pioneer in social casework practice, first published the journal as The Family in 1920. It later evolved into Social Casework and in 1990 became Families in Society, focusing on the art, science, and practice of social work. The journal has contributed to the literature base on rural social work by consistently publishing articles on the topic, particularly over the past three decades. Even earlier, in 1922, The Family published an article by Josephine C. Brown titled, "A City Case Worker in the Country" (Davenport & Davenport, 1984).The main purpose of this article is to summarize the rural social work literature represented in Social Casework and Families in Society, acknowledging the journal's commitment to contribute to the published literature on rural social work. The scope of the literature review is limited to Social Casework and Families in Society, to focus on the 90th anniversary recognition. A second purpose is to acquaint-and in some instances re-acquaint-educators, policymakers, agency administrators, and practitioners with the array of rural social work literature published in the journal. A typology is included in the Appendix to assist readers in identifying citations by category: research and Theory, Direct Practice Issues, Delivery and Management of Services, Global and Cultural Perspectives, and historical Perspective. 1 Several key issues in rural social work are presented and discussed in this review. These key issues, familiar to those in the rural social work field, emerge as enduring themes in the literature review: rural culture and values, generalist practice model, lack of formal resources, natural helpers and natural helping networks, professional challenges and opportunities for rural social workers, and a dialogue on rural-urban differences. These historical and current themes impact rural social work education, policy, administration, and practice.
Establishing a rural branch office of an urban agency is one response to confronting the problem of inadequate human services in rural areas. The authors present the problems, issues, and opportunities involved in establishing an agency branch office in a rural community. Decisions about branch services, location, funding, marketing, personnel, professional development, and relationship with the main office are discussed.
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