Income Maintenance and Social Work: A Broken Tie

Wyers, Norman L.

doi:10.1093/sw/28.4.261

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…For social work in particular, TANF may present an opportunity to reconsider its relationship to public welfare generally. Over the past thirty years, the role of social work within public welfare settings, as well as with those who are poor, has diminished (Gummer, 1979; Hagen, 1992;Specht & Courtney, 1994;Weyers, 1983). Gibelman and Schervish (1997), in a recent analysis of membership in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), report a dramatic withdrawal of NASW members from public service employment; specifically, only .8 % of working NASW members identified public welfare as their primary practice area.Despite the decline in social work's presence in public welfare, the profession has maintained some visibility…”

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confidence: 99%

Public Welfare and Human Services: New Directions under TANF?

Hagen

1999

Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Service

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With the passage of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the nation's welfare system for poor women and their children was fundamentally transformed. These profound changes have the potential to dramatically alter the nature of state and local welfare agencies and to create new and expanded roles for human service workers, including social workers, both within public welfare agencies and other community agencies. This article reviews the major provisions of TANF and its implications for state welfare agencies and recipients. Roles for human service workers fn public welfare are delineated for direct practice, management staff development policy analysis and advocacy, and research. This is the second of two companion articles addressing issues raised by TANF. In the last issue, the new work requirements and their implications for welfare employment programs were reviewed (Hagen, 1998). In this article, the implications of TANF for the roles of human service practitioners in direct practice, management, staff development, policy analysis and advocacy, and research are considered. To provide the context for this discussion, the major provisions of TANF are outlined.WITH THE REPEAL OF AID to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the passage of new federal legislation for public welfare, the nation has embarked on an entirely new direction in respondingor notto the needs of poor mothers and their children. Under the new welfare law, state and local public welfare programs have the potential for undergoing dramatic transformation and revisionand will, in fact, be required to do so if the objectives of the new Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) legislation are to be met. Among its objectives are to allow children to be cared for in their own homes and to "end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage" (42 U.S.C. 601 [a] [2]). While these objectives are not unlike those of prior AFDC legislation, the opportunities and constraints under which state and local welfare agencies must operate, and the expectations and limitations placed on adult welfare recipients have changed the context of public welfare significantly. TANF represents a radical change in welfare policy rather than the nation's more customary incremental approach. Or as Edelman (1997) puts it, "Congress and the president have dynamited a structure that was in place for six decades" (p. 56).The fundamental shift in federal welfare legislation sets the stage for not only examining the policy directions of state and local governments but also for analyzing the potential roles of human service practitioners. The changes in public welfare have the potential to create new and expanded roles for human service providers, including social workers, both within public welfare agencies and other community agencies. For social work in particular, TANF may present an opportunity to reconsider its relationship to public welfare generally. Over the past thirty years, the role of social ...

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confidence: 99%

Public Welfare and Human Services: New Directions under TANF?

Hagen

1999

Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Service

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“…These findings suggest that although agency administrators do not expect income maintenance workers to conduct intensive case work activities, they do expect them to be knowledgeable about community resources, to inform clients about the available resources, and to help clients utilize these resources when necessary. In a subsequent paper, Wyers (1983) noted that "it may be more appropriate to conceptualize the separation of social services from income maintenance as a separation of spec~$c types (italics in original] of services from the income maintenance function" @. 265).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…But these qualifications, which were established when the position was identified as primarily clerical in nature, are clearly inappropriate for a position that includes the provision of social services (Dattalo, 1992;Hagen, 1987;Wyers, 1983).…”

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confidence: 99%

Social Work Education and Social Services Experience as Job Requirements for Income Maintenance Workers

Sanchirico

1996

Administration in Social Work

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“…This limited concept of what welfare workers needed to know to perform their work would appear short sighted. Norman Wyers (1983) as cited in the literature review (Chapter 3) would certainly have challenged this simplified approach of the CASW. The reintroduction of BSW programs in the late 1960s did result in a significant increase in the number of social workers with a BSW or MSW.…”

Section: The Role Ofsocial Workersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the following quotation, Wyers (1983) provides a description of the work done by a public welfare worker and while this is from a 1983 article, it remains astonishingly relevant and accurate today. In this quote Wyers has captured the very essence and purpose of why this thesis was undertaken:…”

Section: Chapter Nines Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The profession of social work and the work of social assistance : partners or the parting of ways?

Tutak¹

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Income Maintenance and Social Work: A Broken Tie

Cited by 8 publications

References 8 publications

Public Welfare and Human Services: New Directions under TANF?

Public Welfare and Human Services: New Directions under TANF?

Social Work Education and Social Services Experience as Job Requirements for Income Maintenance Workers

The profession of social work and the work of social assistance : partners or the parting of ways?

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