human service history
Identifying the rights of the individual as well as the best services for them has been an ongoing task since the early 1900’s. Several organizations have been started to assist in the care of individual populations such as the poor, children, mentally ill, and developmentally disabled. The ultimate goal of these organizations is to create a manageable and fully functional society. President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the Social Security Act of 1935 to assure the well-being of the unemployed (Woodside, 2011). The Social Security Administration assisted all unemployed be they disabled or elderly, and continues to provide financial support to qualified individuals. Prior to the 1900’s, the mentally and developmentally disabled populations were considered outcasts. Due to no known cause or treatment, hundreds of individuals were institutionalized in an attempt to remove them from normal society. The conditions of these institutions were atrocious and the habitants received no individual rights (Woodside, 2011). Society’s solution to manage behaviors was to over-medicate and restrain which ultimately resulted in several unnecessary deaths. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that society called for institutionalized patients to be released to the community for outpatient care. The deinstitutionalization movement brought about a drastic change in the culture of society surrounding disabled individuals. By the 1970’s, mental health treatment had moved from isolated institutions to community based group homes much like the day habilitation centers we see today (Woodside, 2011). This ultimately brought about the integration of mentally and developmentally disabled citizens into society causing the development of organizations specifically designed to offer the needed supports of the individual. The Clinton administration brought about the transformation of the welfare system and focused more on short-term assistance, training and education. The Workforce
Cited: Levine, J. (2012). Working with People: The Helping Process. Boston, MA: Pearson. The ARC. (2007). Retrieved from The Arc of Massachussets: http://www.arcmass.org/StateHousePolicy/RegulationandPolicyDebates Woodside, M. R. (2011). An Introduction to Human Services. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.