Essay on Intro to Human Services

A career in social work or human services is similar in the duties and type of work environment. Both of these positions require a desire to help others in many ways. Human Services Assistants may help clients with special needs obtain the services that will help them to develop and improve their situation. Social workers are considered human services workers, only they typically perform more hands-on duties with clients (BLS, 2012a). A career in social and human services is a rewarding choice for those who have a strong desire to help others in need and who have a strong sense of community.

Welfare started as a temporary response to the economic crash in the 1930s. Its primary goal was to provide cushioning to the families who lost the ability to be self-sufficient during the Great Depression. Yet, as America slowly rose back to becoming prosperous and wealthy, a significant chunk of America's population stayed below in the transitioning social system. The welfare system started to become counterproductive to the government so that, in the 1990s, Clinton hastily came up with legislation to end welfare, more famously known as the Welfare Reform Act of 1996. This road that Clinton led ended in a downfall as more people than ever before are now dependent on the federal government for food, housing, and income. Our current welfare reform may need another reform before welfare can truly end.

Upon the start of this assignment, I had a couple human service workers in mind to interview. I ultimately decide to interview Joy Sultan, a teacher/couselor for Chapter One Students at Hamilton Crossing Elementary school in Cartersville, Georgia. She works with troubled second grade students.

During the Great Depression of the 1929, people were out of work and could not take care of their families. There were “Hoovervilles” all across the country. They were named after President Hoover. President Hoover did not believe that the government should take care of the people. He felt that if the government stepped in it would take away the people had for themselves. In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor of New York, was elected President of the United States. He immediately started his first “New Deal”. The government stepped in and helped the people. That is when the Welfare System was born. It started as a way to get the country out of the depression. The depression lasted ten years and the country was changed forever.

In the Colonial Era, welfare was virtually non-existent, except between neighbors and relatives. The Early Industrial Era like the Colonial Era, viewed the poor as nugatory. In 1929, the Gret Depression changed the view of the poor and poverty was officially declared a social problem. Shortly thereafter, President Roosevelt initiated reforms to assist the poor. President Johnson additionally aided in the fight against poverty in the 1960's. However, twenty years later the Federal Government with the help of the Regan Administration, began slashing the very programs which were created to help the poor. Then, with the changes in welfare made by President Clinton, the Federal Government programs became state level programs. This transformation has not curtailed poverty as some would like us to believe. Also, the welfare reform typifies a Conservative stance, since it views Federal welfare programs that help the poor as encouraging

The issues surrounding welfare and welfare reform are controversial, political, and difficult to resolve. The debate continues today as to who deserves benefits and who does not. In 1933, President Roosevelt created Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) as part of the New Deal. This early form of welfare was available to those who could demonstrate a need and the ability to maintain minimal assets of their own. It specifically targeted aid to single women with children. It was a controversial and highly debated subject. Even now, many years later, Congress continues to debate and reform welfare programs. It still brings with it the same intensity, controversy, and conflicting opinion it did years ago.

Human service workers act as a liaison between clients in need and the agencies clients seek to obtain help from, and while human service workers strive to provide services in an adequate and timely manner this is not always possible. Human service workers are human therefore there can be a large margin of error. All human service agencies are subject to barriers that prevent perfect service from being rendered. While certain barriers do exist in the human

The welfare helped feed families tremendously. People could actually know when they're going to eat next unlike without welfare they had no clue when they were going to eat or ever get money again. Many people went back to farming to produce their own food and sell it and get a little profit. Families could use welfare to buy new seed for their field and they could even buy a loaf of bread. Most families used what they needed they wouldn't go and buy something that they would never use they would always make a use for what they bought. John S. McCormick explained, “In 1936, the Mormon Church established the prototype of its current welfare plan which helped augment a multitude of better-late-than-never government relief programs, placing much-needed food on previously empty tables”(Jen). But with welfare, This gave many people jobs to work at have a steady pay so they can buy the supplies they need for them and their family to survive. During the Depression many people couldn't get jobs so when all the factories opened people could actually get jobs and not worry about standing in long charity lines for a little food they could produce enough money to support their families. Some people would use welfare and make food and have a little get together and help other families John S. McCormick described, “During the World War II years, with factories in full operation, and with the assistance of Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal,’ including a work

Since 1935, when Welfare was set in place and made known, Americans have been profoundly impacted in many ways. Not just the recipient 's economic state but also the society around them as a whole has been greatly affected as well. The Welfare system is constructed on the fundamentals of distribution and equality along with opportunities for individuals who cannot afford the minimum level of well-being in today 's economic society. There has been much controversy surrounding Welfare based on the beliefs of some that it is an outdated and obsolete system. “During the Great Depression of the 1930s, local and state governments, as well as private charities, were overwhelmed by needy families seeking food, clothing, and shelter” (“How Welfare

Human Services is a career that serves and helps the people from the community in time of crisis. Human Services helpers are designed to help people through crisis or chronic situations where the person feels they need help and guidance to move forward with their life and rediscover their personal power. People sometimes need help with food or housing the loss of job, and getting out of dangerous situation for example domestic violence, drug abuse. Some people also face an internal challenge such as depression, a physical or mental disability or a health crisis. As a human services helper we are there to assist people meet their needs and get them the services and support that they need.

Finally, the other issue in the 1960’s that has affected my personal life is public assistance. Public assistance provides medical coverage, and food assistance for families of low income. The programs goal is to alleviate hunger and malnutrition by permitting low-income households to obtain a more nutritious diet through normal channels of trade (Federal Food Programs). This program affects me personally, because without this program I would not be able to put food on the table. My husband and I both work and it still seems like it is not enough to pay all the bills, let alone having to worry about putting food on the table. This program relieves a lot of stress from worrying about how I am going to feed my family. This is not something that anyone should have to worry about. These programs also help with medical coverage. Even though my husband and I both work, we simply can't afford health insurance.

In 1935, Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Social Security Act which, among other things, provided for the financial, medical, and material needs of the poor (Komisar 125,128). Since then, there have many additions and reforms to the bill, none of which has served to quell the controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the welfare system in the United States. The main concerns of the distribution of welfare dollars and resources can be answered by the questions ?Who gets assistance?? and ?How much do they receive??. The U.S. welfare system is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, which attempts to answer these questions through a system of minimum incomes, government-calculated poverty levels, number of children, health problems, and many other criteria. This complicated system leads to one of the critiques of the welfare system?that it is too large and inefficient. President Lyndon Johnson declared a ?War on Poverty? in 1964 designed to alleviate the burden of the poor and established the Food Stamp program the next year (Patterson 139). In 1996, a major welfare reform bill was passed that placed time limits on welfare assistance, required able participants to actively seek employment, and implemented additional services for the needy (Patterson 217).

Welfare has been a safety net for many Americans, when the alternative for them is going without food and shelter. Over the years, the government has provided income for the unemployed, food assistance for the hungry, and health care for the poor. The federal government in the nineteenth century started to provide minimal benefits for the poor. During the twentieth century the United States federal government established a more substantial welfare system to help Americans when they most needed it. In 1996, welfare reform occurred under President Bill Clinton and it significantly changed the structure of welfare. Social Security has gone through significant change from FDR’s signing of the program into law to President George W. Bush’s

United States Government Welfare began in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt thought of this system as an aid for low-income families whose men were off to war, or injured while at war. The welfare system proved to be beneficial early on by giving families temporary aid, just enough to help them accommodate their family’s needs. Fast forward almost 90 years, and it has become apparent that this one once helpful system, has become flawed. Welfare itself and the ideologies it stands on, contains decent fundamentals; furthermore, this system of aid needs only to be reformed to better meet the needs of today’s society.

Welfare was created as an amendment to the social security act of 1935 in 1939. Before this many things were being implemented already as a form of welfare. Such as Medicaid, food stamps, and SSI (Supplement Security Income). During this time was the great depression which extremely affected the American economy, causing thousands of people to become unemployed. These established many of the programs that built the way welfare is shaped today such as the AFDC (Aid to Families with Independent Children). Due to these being created there had to organizations and agencies to supervise