What Is Human Services Common Intervention Strategies - Essay Example

?What Is Human Services? Introduction When it comes to defining the term, ‘Human Services,’ one finds lack of clarity related to the concept of social services. Basically, two issues arise as soon as one attempts writing on it. One is the absence of agreed denominator to define a number of different services including child welfare functions and social organizations for the aged people among a list of other such social services. The second issue is related to the ambiguity to differentiate among similar terms such as "community services," "welfare services," "human services." These terms are used interchangeably with different focus. It indicates and adds to the failure of the stakeholders in differentiating, defining and drawing a line where needed to the detriment in distribution of resources for executing welfare programs and development work under the umbrella of social services or human services. The 1962 amendments to the Social Security Act initiated a policy change by states and the federal government contributing equally, which was erstwhile limited to advanced states conducting social service programs. The purpose of the social services under the Social Security Act are "to help maintain and strengthen family life" and to assist families "to attain or retain capability for the maximum self-support and personal independence consistent with the maintenance of continuing parental care and protection." The administrative guidance stresses on services to help receivers “achieve employment and self sufficiency (Randall, 1975). The history of social services development and expenditure starting in 1969 till 1972 by Derthick provides a mirror of the legislation and functioning of social services. The area of Human Services is widely defined, distinctly meeting the purpose of fulfilling human needs via an interdisciplinary knowledge base, stressing on taking precautions, treating human issues, and showing dedication for raising the general standard of life of the people deserving attention. It is the responsibility of the human services professionals to encourage better service delivery systems by looking not only at the quality aspect of human services, but also by desiring to provide better reach, answerability, and cooperation among professionals and organizations in service delivery (NOHS, 2009). The goal of human services professionals as well as agencies is to empower the groups doing human services by: * Enlarging professional growth opportunities * Encouraging professional and agency-wide recognition through certification * Increasing internal and external information exchange * Supporting and enforcing a social policy and agenda * Fostering the monetary sustainability and development of the stake holding agencies (NOHS, 2009). The Nature of Generalist Practice Generalist practice for human services is based on the creation of social work values, insight, and abilities that can be used on people and organizations as appraisal and intervention strategies for different-in-size systems by creating and using people, families, groups, and communities (Bemidji State University, 2011). According to the Baccalaureate Program Directors (BPD), generalist social work functionaries collaborate with people, families, groups, communities and agencies in a range of social work environments. Generalist practitioners observe customers and their systems from a strengths outlook so that the inner abilities of all human beings could be identified, advocated, and structured. By employing a professional problem resolving process, they communicate, measure, factor services, support, guide, tutor, and manage with clients by remaining on their and their systems’ side. It is the job of generalist practitioner to involve in community and institutional growth and check its service performance for bettering the service delivery system attuned towards the client (Bemidji State University, 2011). Common Intervention Strategies Human services intervention strategies depend from agency to agency guided by certain skills such as assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation, taking out from a range of theories of human and group functioning, insight on personal differences and models for change, and a feel of the bigger social context (CPCS, 2011). Without any understanding of related theories and models, a human service worker cannot practice different skills and can not select suitable intervention strategies for specific situations. There is actually no alternative to functioning with people and communities to increase a worker’s intervention skills by getting trained through direct experience (CPCS, 2011). Theoretical frame for human services depend on the context of the service type provided by the social worker, for example, in a school environment it could be based on traditional model or the school-community-pupil relations model. Traditional model In a traditional theoretical framework, school social work is constructed over ever-increasing practice models. These models were first stated by Alderson as the traditional-clinical models; the school change model whose biggest attention was on the mismanagement of the school; the community school model wanted school workers to use community uniting methods; and the social interaction model that stressed on a particular methodology and wanted the worker to interfere through the systems communication with the aimed system. Generally, school social workers apply a way that takes some parts of all models, the traditional model stressing on functioning with students facing emotional and social problems and their parents remain in trend for use by workers. In the clinical model, the school social services worker functions basically through case work approach supported and reinforced by group approach taking students and parents and including family members all along. Currently, the trend is on giving more importance to proof-based and performing intervention methods (Wikipedia, 2011). School-community-pupil relations model Out of all the models related to theoretical frameworks, the school-community-pupil model, presented by Lela Costin is quite comprehensive. It attends to the interaction among the school, the community, and the student. The school social worker intervenes by playing the role of middleman, terms decider, consultant, and supporter for the student and the school by attending to the problems of the students. Informal students’ groups are arranged by workers for all stakeholders including students, teachers, and school staff in this model. Under this model, the social worker also judges the traits of students, the school, and community circumstances that could be a hurdle in attaining quality education for the students such as students with chemical dependency, disabilities, and the like. They are trained in social learning theory and systems theory (Wikipedia, 2011). Regarding ethical considerations on human or social services, there is the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics besides the Minnesota Board of Social Work Code of Ethics and such agency to agency formulated codes of ethics for social workers. These ethical codes are reviewed periodically for setting standards for answerability of the social workers (Bemidji State University, 2011). Off late, human services provided by social welfare organizations have been targeted severely for not performing. The reasoning of their usability is based on certain examples wherein such agencies have positively impacted the recipients’ working and job scenarios. There is a belief that the work must go on uninterruptedly. For evaluation purpose on the performance level of human services agencies, there exists correlations between services and stake holders but results are not as impressive as are expected. When a relationship exists between a service and the wanted outcome, it is the welfare system that should be given the credit for doing whatever has been achieved on the service rendering front (Randall, 1975). Conclusion Service workers know in their hearts that they have been making strenuous efforts in the right direction but there should not be any ambiguity regarding the scope and meaning of human services; their services should not be misunderstood as all social services come under the canopy of human services. Although theories help human services personnel but actual confrontation with specific situations is the best guide and torch bearer for the human service professionals to lead them in performing well in their jobs. Various aspects of human life need the help of such agencies specialized in offering human services for which government monetary support and changes in legislation have also played a positive role. References Bemidji State University. (2011). Philosophy & theoretical framework. Retrieved from http://www.bemidjistate.edu/academics/departments/social_work/curriculum/philosophy_framework/ CPCS. (2011). Human service interventions: working with individuals or with groups level III. CPCS. Retrieved from http://www.cpcs.umb.edu/support/studentsupport/red_book/humser_intervention_one.htm NOHS. (2009).The National Organization for Human Services. Retrieved from http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/ Randall, Ronald. (1975). Social services in AFDC: steps toward evaluation [Electronic version]. The Social Service Review, 49 (2), pp. 191-207. Wikipedia. (21 February 2011). School social worker. 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