Forgotten Beginnings Raines Social Work 1999 (original) (raw)

Social Work, Health and the Home: New Directions in Historical Research

In April 2011, George Campbell Gosling and Profesor John Stewart co-organised a workshop on the theme of 'Social Work, Health and the Home' at the Centre for the Social History of Medicine in Glasgow. The workshop brought together a wide variety of speakers and contributors, including research students, early career researchers and well-established academics. Each drew upon new research from historical and social policy and social work perspectives. A special session focused on the Scottish case, in which research was presented by Dr Chris Nottingham on the social work profession and child protection and by Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) research student Stephen Plunkett on the introduction of community care. These presentations formed the basis of a wide-ranging and lively discussion, which included two expert commentators: Honorary Professor George Irving, a former Director of Social Work, and Chris Robinson of the Social Work Inspection Agency. The idea of Scottish distinctiveness was questioned and discussed; in particular, the role of the Church in social work was seen as being different in Scotland. Beyond the special focus on the Scottish situation, three core themes emerged in the workshop. The first of these was social work as a profession. Should we think of social work as a profession or a set of activities? This theme was most directly addressed by Professor Malcolm Payne, who separated ‘work, profession and discipline’ as distinct aspects of social work to be researched and discussed. The first session encompassed the 18th and 19th centuries, where we can see recognisable activities taking place before the beginnings of the social work profession in the 1890s. Dr Graham Bowpitt, Reader in Social Policy at Nottingham Trent University, drew attention to the use of rational methods and social science approaches to deliver ‘spiritual regeneration’ and serve as a form of evangelical outreach in the foundations of social work. Dr Georgina Brewis of the University of London’s Institute of Education and Lynn Bruce of the University of Glasgow both discussed the place of university settlements and projects in the first decades of the 20th century. George Campbell Gosling considered the various responsibilities of the hospital almoner in the pre-NHS era. Sir George Irving, who was once an almoner’s assistant, recognised the account of the role as more centred on means testing and social enquiry than social work as we know it today. John Stewart considered the place of the psychiatric social worker in the mid-20th century, working alongside psychiatrists and psychologists in the ‘classic’ child guidance team, and Mike Burt, former social work lecturer at the University of Chester, examined the move from a focus on ‘ascertainment’ to one of ‘assessment’ as social work struggled to find a secure position within the local authority between the 1950s and 1970s. The second core theme was the relationship between social work and the family. Malcolm Payne noted at one point that in the past, much of the discussion would have focused on social work in institutional settings, but ours was primarily on social work in the home. This was evident from the opening paper, as Dr Alysa Levene of Oxford Brookes University examined the role of home visiting in the charity work of the late 18th century. This was followed by Stephen Byrne, a research student at Oxford Brookes, who argued that the late 19th century saw the established notion of ‘collective responsibility’ for child protection, on the part of the whole community rather than the family alone. John Stewart’s paper located psychiatric social work within ‘the family constellation’ by means of the practice of home visiting. How suitable was the child’s environment? Gosling, by contrast, identified that the hospital almoner investigated the family situation with both social need and the ability to make a financial contribution to the hospital in mind. Meanwhile, Dr Pamela Dale of the University of Exeter placed social work activities with unmarried mothers within a wider context of health and welfare programmes in the 1940s. The third core theme of the workshop was an introspective one, as the discussion returned repeatedly to the various uses of history. The key question was: ‘Is it our intention to use social work as a way of understanding the social world of the past, or is it to use history to inform our understanding of social work today?’ Given the presence of researchers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, it is not surprising that no definitive answer emerged. Rather, it prompted delegates to think about how they conceptualise and might develop their work in future. Of particular value was the information shared about networks and archives in the field of social work history, including the Voluntary Action History Society and the Social Work History Network. Janice West, retired Senior Lecturer in Social Work at GCU, gave an engaging presentation on the Heatherbank Museum of Social Work as a potential resource. It remains Europe’s only museum of social work, even though it no longer has a physical space on the GCU campus and has been incorporated into the university’s Special Collections (www.gcu.ac.uk/researchcollections/index.html).

A History of Social Work in Public Health

American Journal of Public Health, 2017

Social work is a core health profession with origins deeply connected to the development of contemporary public health in the United States. Today, many of the nation’s 600 000 social workers practice broadly in public health and in other health settings, drawing on a century of experience in combining clinical, intermediate, and population approaches for greater health impact. Yet, the historic significance of this long-standing interdisciplinary collaboration—and its current implications—remains underexplored in the present era. This article builds on primary and contemporary sources to trace the historic arc of social work in public health, providing examples of successful collaborations. The scope and practices of public health social work practice are explored, and we articulate a rationale for an expanded place for social work in the public health enterprise.

The year 1968: the turning point when US social work failed to turn

Critical and Radical Social Work, 2018

The year 1968 was a potential turning point in the history of US social work. After a generation of inward-looking conservatism, significant numbers of American social workers revived the radical tradition of the profession that the purges of the post-war McCarthy period had repressed. New social movements, particularly the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement and second-wave feminism, as well as the efforts of activists outside of social work, from Saul Alinsky and Cesar Chavez to the National Welfare Rights Organization, inspired new approaches to advocacy, research, practice and education. Inside and outside professional organisations and social service agencies, social workers began to advocate for progressive policies, the use of more expansive and more democratic practice frameworks, and the inclusion of content on race, gender, class and sexuality in social work education. For a brief period, it appeared that a major transformation of the profession was possible, even...