Social Casework Lecture Notes 1

Working with Individuals
Module 1
Dr.Shiju K.K M.Phil, Ph.D

Major contents
• Social casework – Meaning, definition, purpose,
values, assumptions and ethical principles
• Historical development of casework
• Schools of casework – Diagnostic and
Functional schools
• Relation of social casework with other methods
of social work

Social casework
• A primary method of social work
• Concerned with the adjustment & development
of individuals towards more satisfying relations
in different situation.
• It follows a systematic approach to study &
diagnose the client’s problem.
• A process of dynamic interaction between the
worker and the client to fulfill its purpose of
helping individuals with aspects of social
functioning.
• Uses appropriate social services and other
community resources

Social casework - Definition
• “social casework is a method employed by social workers to help
individuals find a solution to problems of social adjustment which
they are unable to handle in a satisfactory way by their own effort”
(Sanford - 1957)
• “Social case work means those processes which develop personality
through adjustment consciously affected, individual by individual,
between men and their social environment” (Mary Richmond -
1922)
• “Social case work is a process concerned with the understanding of
individuals as whole personalities and with the adjustment of these
individuals to socially healthy lives” Taylor (1926)
▫ Professional help offered by a caseworker
▫ The psycho social treatment to the client
▫ Studies mental, emotional and social factors.
▫ Establishes adjustments between individual capacities and resources.

Purpose of casework
• To establish a professional relationship with the person who
needs guidance and support
• To assess the problems that hinders the growth of the person
and to enable the individual to resolve those problems
• To strengthen the individual’s ego in terms of self-esteem,
self-acceptance, and self-direction and build up his/her
capacity
• To eliminate maladaptive behaviour and prevent family or
social breakdown
• To develop the resources for self-enhancement and
empowerment
• To restore the individual’s social functioning through
appropriate adjustment mechanisms
• To plan the prevention of the occurrence of similar problems
through environment modification
• To create opportunities for self-development and increase in
social contribution

Values of casework
• Social casework (or social work) values have roots in the
democratic social system.
• These contain certain ideas which are valuable to anyone
engaged in social work practice.
The values are:
 Every individual has inherent worth and dignity.
 Individuals had to be respected so that they can get all
possible help and facilities to live a socially productive
and personally gratifying life.
 Individual has the right to self- determination, taking
decisions about all the matters related to self as long as
it does not interfere with the rights of others.
 One is considered to be capable of taking decisions about
one’s own future and the helper is only to tell him the
pros and cons of his decisions to enable him to choose his
own future course of action.

Values of casework
Every individual is the primary concern of society,
has potential for and the right to growth and it is the
responsibility of the society to provide equal
opportunities to everyone to actualise his self.
Every individual, in turn, has to contribute to the
society’s development by assuming his social
responsibility, discharging his functions honestly
and acting properly and adequately in his social
roles.
The individual and society in which one lives are
interdependent. Neither the individual nor the
society can be conceived of without each other.
Basic human needs have to be met by services which
are not contingent upon conformity either to moral
behaviour or to race, nationality, religion, caste, etc.

Basic Assumptions of Social Casework
• Individual and society are interdependent and
complimentary to each other.
• Various factors operative in the society influence human
behaviour and attitude.
• Some problems are psychological and some are
interpersonal in nature.
• In the process of social casework conscious and
controlled relations are established for achieving its
aims.
• Social casework enables an individual to solve his/ her
problems by channelizing his/her energy and capacity
positively.
• Social casework provides everyone equal right to
progress. It also provides help to every needy and
disabled person.

Ethical principles
The NASW Code of Ethics outlines six ethical principles that
“set forth ideals to which all social workers should aspire.”
• Service
▫ Social casework is a professional service intended for addressing
social ills, and helping others is a primary goal of all social
workers.
▫ Social workers should elevate the needs of others above their own
personal interests and use their skills and knowledge to help
people.
• Social Justice
▫ Social workers advocate on behalf of the oppressed, the voiceless,
and others who are unable to advocate for themselves.
▫ They often focus on issues such as poverty, homelessness,
discrimination, harassment, and other forms of injustice.
▫ Social workers provide information, help, and other resources to
people seeking equality, and they educate people who may not
directly experience discrimination about the struggles of the less
fortunate.

Ethical principles
• Dignity and Worth of the Person
▫ Every person is different, with different cultural and social values.
▫ Social workers are mindful of those differences, treating each
person with dignity and respect and promoting their clients’
capacity and opportunity to address their own needs and improve
their personal situations.
▫ Social workers must be cognizant of their duties to both
individual clients and to society as a whole, and seek solutions for
their clients that also support society’s broader interests.
• Importance of Human Relationships
▫ Social workers connect people who need assistance with
organizations and individuals who can provide the appropriate
help.
▫ Social workers recognize that facilitating human relationships
can be a useful vehicle for creating change, and they excel at
engaging potential partners who can create, maintain, and
enhance the well-being of families, neighbourhoods, and whole
communities.

Ethical principles
• Integrity
▫ In order to facilitate these relationships and improve others’
lives, social workers must exhibit trustworthiness at all
times.
▫ Each social worker must be continually aware of the
profession’s mission, values, and ethical principles and
standards, and set a good example of these components for
their clients.
▫ By behaving honestly and responsibly, social workers can
promote the organizations with which they’re affiliated
while also creating the most value for the populations they
serve.
• Competence
▫ Each social worker must practice within his or her scope of
competence and avoid misrepresenting his or her skills or
experience to potential clients.
▫ Social workers must continually strive to expand their
knowledge base and competence in order to make
meaningful contributions to the profession.

Historical development of casework
• Casework as practised today, a purely western (predominantly
USA) model, owes its history to work by individuals and
organisations with the poor.
• The Association for Improving the Conditions of the Poor
(AICP) founded in 1843 in USA, emphasised self-respect, self-
dependence and relief suitable to their needs in its work with
the poor.
• The approach behind this service by AICP had a clear
departure from the earlier services to the poor in colonial
America under Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601, etc., which was
based on the concept of charity.
• Seeds of social casework seems to have been shown with the
individualised services of Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847)
followed by the Charity Organisation Society (COS) of 1869
(London) and 1877 (USA) respectively.
• Their work involved investigation to determine clients’ needs,
central registration, recording, relief giving and use of
volunteer, i.e., friendly visitor. Friendly visitors of COS (USA)
discovered that all the poor were—not alike and that they
should be treated differently.

• COS was asked to reach the individual and restore his function
without bothering for detection of imposters on relief. Thus, the
concept of scientific charity came into practice and it was
recognised that “the poor, and those in trouble worse than
poverty, have not, in common, any type of physical, intellectual
or moral development which would warrant an attempt to group
them as a class”.
• Friendly visitors at a later stage received training in
investigation, diagnosis and treatment for which the New York
School of Philanthropy was established towards the end of 19th
century (Bruno, 1957) and it was during this time that term
‘casework’ appeared in a paper read at a national conference.
The COS movement gave birth to Family Welfare Association in
1905.
• In England, around the end of the 19th century, outside visitor
(called almoner) at the instance of Sir Charles Loch came to help
hospitals to serve their patients effectively. The almoner, like
paid agents and friendly visitor of USA, can be said to be the
predecessor of caseworker. The almoner’s original assignment
was seen as the prevention of abuse of hospital treatment.

• By 1911, social casework had emerged in USA as an accepted
formal technique though the first book on social casework was
published in 1917 by Mary Richmond. Various definitions of
casework in the 1920s under the influence of Freudian theory
no more emphasised external factors. It held the individual
responsible for his plight and it was he who was helped to cope
with the social problems confronting him.
• During the same time, social reforms and social problems
received little attention compared to its earlier period when
the emphasis was on correcting the social environment of the
client. In 1920s, under the Freudian influence, casework was
to “reconstruct the twisted personality” and “change human
attitudes” so that the client could adjust to his environment.
• In contrast to the trend in 1920s, caseworkers shifted their
focus in 1930s from individual to modification and
manipulation of the client’s environment to enable him to
adapt to his situations satisfactorily. This change was because
of acceptance of the idea by Americans that social and
economic variables influenced man’s behaviour meaningfully.

Social Casework Lecture Notes 1

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Social Casework Lecture Notes 1