Casework Services With the Mentally and Emotionally Disturbed Client in the Westchester County Department of Family and Child Welfare

Those who appreciate the value of the social casework method of helping individuals have recognized that practices in public agencies have been improved by the adaptation of the generic principles of social casework to the public financial assistance programs. This adaptation has grown out of experience, but has received considerable impetus and enrichment through the growing body of professional publications devoted to understanding common human needs, behavior, and the experience of the individual in asking for, receiving and separating from assistance. Background of the Study. As a caseworker in the public assistance division of the Westchester County department of Family and Child Welfare for three and one half years, the writer found herself in the position of integrating casework theory, which she was learning in a school of social work on a part-time basis, with the administration of public assistance in a social agency which is considered to be outstanding in its achievements by both the taxpayer and the social worker. This Integration has involved an acceptance of the philosophy of public assistance — that the recipient has a right to assistance — as well as an acceptance of the philosophy and goals of the public assistance agency. The writer came to the realization that the size of the caseload is no absolute criterion as to whether casework can be done, that casework is a way of dealing with human beings and their needs, a way I of working with people, of thinking about them.” Further, it is the writer’s conviction that it is only by the utilization of social casework services and skills in the administration of public assistance that we may hope to enable recipients to live satisfying, useful lives consistent with their innate dignity as human beings and with their individual potentialities ; and that we may stem the ever-increasing tide of those persons who become economically dependent through reason of personality inadequacies