Chapters 2 and Three Major Movements Flashcards
Learning Outcomes
Trace the emergence of social work as a profession (late 19th Century)
Early Social Welfare Organizations
Three major movements that led to the development of social work as a profession.
Social Work Pioneers associated with each movement.
Three historical movements in the 1800s paved the way to the development of social work as a profession.
1) The Charity Organization Society Movement (COS)
2) The Settlement House Movement
3) The Child Welfare Movement
Charity Organization Society Movement (COS): A Working Definition
- Privately administered and funded organizations/charities that were the forerunners of modern social services agencies. * Represents coordinated community efforts to deal with social problems and needs
- Staffed by “volunteer workers”
- Volunteers were mainly wealthy and upper middle class Caucasian women (some men)
Purpose of the COS
- To address poverty and human suffering through the provision of “Material Aid” to the poor and needy in their homes.
- This represents some of the first documented “home visits” and “direct services” to clients
- Material Aid = Food, clothing, medicine, and medical supplies. (everything but money)
COS Beliefs About the Poor
- Believed the poor was poor because of their own doing (their own efforts or “lack of”)
- Believed the poor had internal flaws such as lazy, bad habits, and poor values
- To address the flaws, “Moral Uplifting” was provided. (Provided before the material aid).
Imposed their personal values and beliefs)
Leaders of the COS Movement
The very first COS was established in London, England in 1869
The very first COS office in the United States opened in Buffalo, New York in 1877
Founder: Steven Humphreys Gurteen
He also helped to establish other COSs in the U.S
Mary Ellen Richmond
- One of the primary leaders of the COS movement in the U.S.
- Developed the first teaching programs to train the COS volunteers and paid employees in various settings to be “professional” social workers.
- The first professional social workers were initially called “Friendly Visitors”.
The three training manuals were.
1) Friendly Visiting Among the Poor (1899)
2) Social Diagnosis (1917)
3) What is Social Case Work? (1922)
Friendly Visiting Among the Poor (1899)
Focused on practical techniques used in doing charitable work with poor people (direct practice, home visits)
Topics included health, childcare, religious involvement, and financial management.
She believed the poor could be helped and reformed by using structured, planned methods.
Social Diagnosis (1917)
Recognized as the first book to address “professional” social work practice because the book outlined ways to diagnose and assess problems and needs.
The book outlined assessment techniques.
She established a helping process involving “diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment.”
What is Social Casework? (1922):
Text which defined the Case Work Method
Social Case Work focused on social work practice with individuals and families.
The provision of direct, face-to-face intervention
Primary Clients Served by the COS
Services were provided almost exclusively to White families.
The COS believed that it was wiser to focus on the problems of poverty among Whites, leaving problems among the “colored” for the future.
Black churches and community residents combined their resources and developed their self-help networks. (Banks/Social Welfare Institutions)
The Settlement House Movement: Second Movement Leading to The Development of Social Work as A Profession
The first Settlement House Movement began in London, England in 1884 at Toynbee Hall. Samuel A. Barnett founded Toynbee Hall (1884)
Settlement Houses: A Working Definition
Settlement houses were neighborhood-based facilities where ministers, teachers, college students, or humanitarians ‘settled’ to interact with one another to address poverty another community-based social problem.
The Settlement House Workers, lived among the poor in slums (24/7).
The facilities were financed through voluntary contributions and grants.
Settlement House Movement in America
Stanton Coit established the first settlement house in the United States.
Jane Addams was the primary leader of the Settlement House Movement in America
She (along with Ellen Gates Starr) is credited for establishing Hull House in Chicago in 1889.
Hull House was the most famous settlement house in America.
