This is a brief history of the National Assembly and four important resources for those who want to take a deeper dive into the history of social welfare and human services, and its leading founders in the United States.
The National Assembly was formed by leaders of social service agencies in the early s to discuss and address common concerns. Human Spirit Initiative HSI , created by Kay Horsch and developed by a crew of mostly volunteers, tells the stories of social entrepreneurs of the past century—the people who founded the movements that have become a part of the fabric of American society. Visit the HSI Website.
Jack Hansen has assembled information from far and wide about the development of social welfare in America. Amid the rapidly changing social and economic conditions, Family Service Association of America FSAA examined the range and emphasis of a typical family service agency in New developments since its report on scope and direction included:.
In the tumultuous s, race relations and poverty took center stage. The nation awakened to the future needs of its rapidly increasing older population. There was a new focus on the growing issues of homelessness, drug addiction, and crime. Child and family service agencies were grappling with significantly increased rates of divorce, out-of-wedlock pregnancies, domestic violence, juvenile delinquency, and drug and alcohol use and abuse.
Many thought leaders were questioning the moral fiber of the American people. Did organized religion provide adequate leadership and guidance? Was the family as the basic social institution failing in some of its most vital functions? The federal government instituted social welfare legislation and programs not seen since the New Deal.
The infusion of federal funding forever altered the course of human service organizations. During President John F. These provided a greatly increased role for social workers to provide counseling, job training, and outpatient treatment. FSAA added a mental health consultant to its staff to help craft a preventive approach to mental health care.
President Lyndon B. Johnson introduced a plethora of Great Society programs—and federal funding to back them up. The Economic Opportunity Act, Civil Rights Act, Older Americans Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and other legislation launched countless new programs to address poverty, racial inequality, health, education, housing, urban decay, and other urgent social problems. In addition, federal funding helped train a new generation of social workers to meet the escalating demand.
Federal money was funneled to the states, which contracted for services from public and private organizations, both for-profit and nonprofit. Local community action agencies became a force, contracting with family service organizations for services. FSAA agencies began accepting government contracts, often creating new programs to address specific needs. This was a fundamental shift not only in the way organizations were funded, but in how they developed and operated their services.
Some felt that under no circumstances could public funds be used. Agencies should not take public funds to solve a temporary problem, they concurred. Rather, agencies should have a deep commitment to the job they agreed to perform. The FSAA board focused on the safeguards necessary in using public funds. Agencies should be prepared to reject public funds if conditions were not appropriate.
The board also recognized the dangers of over reliance on this new source of funding. It was already clear that United Way funding would be an ever-diminishing proportion of agency revenue. Government funding, too, could come and go.
These new sources of funding broadened the potential ways of serving people. The proliferation of government funding and new social welfare programs birthed many new social service agencies. Existing agencies began to offer multiple programs in response to government funding. The proportion of FSAA member agencies offering one or more specialized service in addition to family counseling increased from 79 percent in to 89 percent in The most marked change occurred in the number of agencies offering group treatment, from 11 percent in to 40 percent in Historically responsive to changing social conditions, family service agencies applied new knowledge about behavioral health care to meet the changing patterns of family living.
With the divorce rate at a record high, the family service field and the American public wanted solutions. In addition, the White House Conference on Children and Youth heightened interest in family counseling. Marital counseling and family life education increased tremendously. Member agencies responded enthusiastically, and many affirmed that their participation challenged and stimulated their local staff members. Child and family service agencies were pioneers in homemaker services; this field too experienced tremendous growth through the s and s.
FSAA took a leadership role in the National Council for Homemaker Services, formed in as a joint effort between several dozen voluntary organizations and federal bureaus. Many FSAA member agencies added homemaker services during the next few decades.
Of these, many spun off into community—wide visiting nurse associations. Government funding did not come without strings attached. Agencies were burdened with newly restrictive and often onerous regulations. There were also new requirements for accreditation and quality assurance. Agencies now emphasized fiscal, administrative, quality, and governance standards. Long the recognized body in family service accreditation, FSAA intended these new requirements as a valuable tool to strengthen the structure and quality of all member agencies.
In meeting these requirements, agencies were held to a certain discipline; accountability and transparency were essential. Accreditation increasingly became the selling point in a competitive funding environment.
FSAA continued to raise the bar on standards. FSAA and other national leaders cautioned in the late s that small private agencies risked extinction. An FSAA conference for large agency executives sounded a warning as valid today as it was more than 40 years ago: Agencies must consolidate to achieve economies of scale and maximize impact.
They simply could not compete with the government, which had massive resources to hire experienced specialists and consultants. Across the country, local United Way organizations were assessing community needs and, in many instances, recommending merger between organizations to increase efficiency and provide more comprehensive services.
In addition, child and family agencies were demonstrating an increasing overlap in programming. Both types of organizations added multiple services in this decade. This was partly due to the surge in federal funds for programming, but it was also based on a new recognition that children must be treated within the context of the family unit.
In fact, agencies were losing their market differentiation. Local United Way organizations and other major donors were urging that agencies with a common mission come together. The White House Conference on Aging heightened awareness of the needs of the rapidly growing older adult population. FSAA sent four delegates to the conference, which led to passage of the Social Security amendments, Medicare, fair housing legislation, and the Older Americans Act of FSAA added two professionals to the national staff to manage the project.
Forty member agencies from 31 communities participated. The funding supported training, innovation, and improved quality in counseling, home care, and other specialized programs for older adults. It also stimulated closer cooperation at the local level between voluntary and public agencies. National and regional training institutes promoted cross-fertilization of evolving new concepts and skills. In addition, close working relationships were established with other national agencies active in the field of aging, including the National Council on Aging, Veterans Administration, Social Security Administration, U.
The demonstration project successfully integrated work with the elderly and their families into the mainstream of agency program and practice. As funding drew to a close, FSAA integrated the work into numerous national association departments.
Member agencies participated in the pilot project, using a team approach with a professionally—trained caseworker who supervised agency-trained assistants. Historically, the family service field had been concerned with those at the economic fringes of society.
But with the government accepting responsibility for basic human needs and with the growing affluence of the s and s, family agencies had the freedom to expand programs and serve new clientele of any income level. Evolving social work techniques now were combined with new sources of revenue, such as fees for service and insurance reimbursements.
Skip to main content. It provides health services to members of the merchant marine and funds a loose network of hospitals through the Marine Hospital Fund. The bureau is the forerunner of today's Food and Drug Administration. Over the years, the MHS expands its activities far beyond the original limited focus on aid to seaman.
Relocated to Washington, D. This activity evolves into today's U. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. It is the federal government's first attempt to regulate drug sales. The American Medical Association calls the controversial grant program an "imported socialistic scheme.
The legislation creates the Aid to Dependent Children program, which provides funding to the states for aid to needy children in single-parent families. This open-ended welfare program is greatly expanded over the years and generates a range of social pathologies in the low-income population, such as illegitimacy and long-term dependency on government.
Concerned about socialized medicine, the American Medical Association is successful in preventing the agency from attaining cabinet status.
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