The State and Human Services: Toward a Human Service Rights Policy

1978 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Edward Humberger ◽  
Michael Hill ◽  
Robert Moroney ◽  
Valerie Bradley ◽  
Gary Clarke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Service ◽  
Human Services ◽  
The State

Client Empowerment in the Human Services: Personal and Professional Agenda

1989 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeheskel Hasenfeld ◽  
Mark A. Chesler
Keyword(s):  
Human Service ◽  
Human Services ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Professional Lives ◽  
Life Chances ◽  
Human Service Providers ◽  
Human Service Agencies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Action Researcher ◽  
Autobiographical Accounts

The authors juxtapose autobiographical accounts of their personal and professional lives to examine the interplay of their personas and work in the social sciences. Chesler is an action researcher and change agent who focuses primarily on young people and their parents and on those providing them human services. Hasenfeld is an academic who focuses primarily on relations between clients and human service providers and on the systemic changes needed to improve these relations. They share domain assumptions, particularly a belief in the “good” society based on justice, social equality, and respect for diversity, are committed to improving the life chances of the oppressed and disadvantaged, and believe that empowering the clients of human service agencies is crucial to improving the effectiveness and responsiveness of such organizations.

Exploring Policy Implications of Ethics of Care and Justice in Care Work and Human Services Organizations

2021 ◽  
pp. 193672442110274
Author(s):  
Christa J. Moore ◽  
Patricia Gagné
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Human Services ◽  
Ethics Of Care ◽  
Human Service Organizations ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Bureaucratic Constraints

Much attention has recently been focused on the efficacy of cross-sector collaboration within the field of human services in response to increasing rates of child maltreatment and subsequent foster care entries nationwide. Our research includes 200 hours of participant observation, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 65 professionals broadly involved in the protection of vulnerable children and the support of their parents, and an analysis of 45 case files. It was carried out in a rural region of Kentucky between May 2015 and July 2017. We used established principles of analytic induction to analyze our data. In this study, we explore perceptions of power, authority, inequality, and bureaucratic constraints that emerge during organizational processes of interagency collaboration among multidisciplinary human service organizations situated within the child welfare system. We argue that ethics of care and, subsequently, care work are constrained by power dynamics, primarily embedded in bureaucratically structured human service organizations as well as in policy mandates that embody ethics of justice. We conclude that the tensions between bureaucratic constraints and professional workers’ desire to care for and serve clients often disrupt and undermine organizational missions and policy goals targeting child protection. We indicate the need to examine these structural dynamics at a policy level and provide recommendations with policy implications.

Learning from the Managers of Human Service Organizations

2020 ◽  
pp. 140-165
Author(s):  
Austin Michael ◽  
Sarah Carnochan
Keyword(s):  
Human Service ◽  
Human Services ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Service Agency ◽  
Agency Staff ◽  
Partnership Model ◽  
Human Service Delivery ◽  
Service Delivery Systems ◽  
Study Participants

Chapter 7 of Practice Research in the Human Services: A University-Agency Partnership Model focuses on the experiences and perspectives of human service agency managers. It describes a multiphase study examining the experiences of public and nonprofit managers involved in human services contracting. The study aimed to further our understanding of the accountability and service coordination challenges that these cross-sectoral relationships pose for managers, especially in the context of increasingly complex human service delivery systems. This study integrated case studies, a multi-county survey, and review of contract documents. The chapter also describes a second study that sought to inform managerial practice by examining managerial perspectives and experiences related to evidence-informed practice, using a multi-county survey incorporating closed and open-ended questions. Principles for practice research relate to the study design process, recruitment of study participants, engagement of agency staff, and translation of implications into concrete practice recommendations.

Working with Restrictions: A Scoping Review of Social Work and Human Service Practice with People Seeking Asylum in the Global North

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Soraya Field ◽  
Donna Chung ◽  
Caroline Fleay
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Human Services ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Refugee Status ◽  
Strength Based ◽  
Global North ◽  
Restrictive Policy

Abstract With a record number of people reported to be forcibly displaced worldwide and an increasingly anti-asylum policy environment in Global North host nations, it is critical to examine social work and human services with people seeking asylum and people with refugee status. This scoping review sought to identify and review the existing qualitative research on such practice from the perspectives of social work and human service practitioners, people seeking asylum and people with refugee status and clients in Global North host nations. The review presents the key findings and trends emerging from twenty publications and identifies areas for future research to further develop knowledge of this field of practice as there is a dearth of research on this topic. Through thematic analysis of very different publications, it was found that Global North host nations have varying forms of restrictive policy and dominant anti-asylum discourses. This and other factors result in many potential areas for improvement of social work and human services. The findings include recommendations for more inclusive and compassionate policy, person-centred and strength-based practice approaches, and further qualitative research with people seeking asylum.

Conclusion and Future Challenges for Improving Human Service Organizations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony L. Hemmelgarn ◽  
Charles Glisson
Keyword(s):  
Human Service ◽  
Human Services ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Service Organizations ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Evidence Based Practices ◽  
Future Challenges

This concluding chapter suggests that future research and development efforts focus on four interrelated areas. These four areas, together, describe how more specific information about the ARC strategies can increase the capacity for improving human services. The authors argue that the emphasis on evidence-based practices should be expanded to include strategies that focus on the organization’s social context. Knowing which strategies are most effective to alter specific OSC profiles and knowing the sequence of strategies that are most effective for targeted outcomes will allow organizations to tailor improvement efforts with the greatest efficiency. The chapter calls for more information about how an array of strategies can be used most efficiently by an organization to target outcomes over an extended period and how to determine, a priori, the optimal application of the various strategies necessary to achieve success with the least amount of resources.

Understanding Empowerment Practice: Building on Practitioner-Based Knowledge

1995 ◽  
Vol 76 (9) ◽  
pp. 534-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine M. Gutiérrez ◽  
Kathryn A. Delois ◽  
Linnea Glenmaye
Keyword(s):  
Human Service ◽  
Human Services ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Empowerment Theory ◽  
Case Study Method ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Convergence And Divergence ◽  
Empowerment Practice ◽  
Elusive Concept

The concept of empowerment has become popular within the human service professions, but little agreement about its meaning or dimensions has been displayed. The authors describe an effort to clarify this elusive concept by integrating theory with practitioner perspectives. A focused, multiple-case-study method was used to gather the perspectives of human services workers on empowerment practice in the field. The authors identify areas of convergence and divergence between empowerment theory and practice.

scholarly journals Understanding the intersection of race and place: the case of tuberculosis in Michigan

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace A. Noppert ◽  
Philippa Clarke ◽  
Margaret T. Hicken ◽  
Mark L. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Physical Environment ◽  
Human Services ◽  
The State ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Wayne County ◽  
Racial Inequalities ◽  
Department Of Health ◽  
Residence Location ◽  
Race And Place

Abstract Background Race and place intersect to produce location-based variation in disease distributions. We analyzed the geographic distribution of tuberculosis (TB) incidence in Michigan, USA to better understand the complex interplay between race and place, comparing patterns in Detroit, Wayne County and the state of Michigan as a whole. Methods Using cross-sectional TB surveillance data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, multivariable statistical models were developed to analyze the residence patterns of TB incidence from 2007 through 2012. Two-way interactions among the residence location and race of cases were assessed. Results Overall, Detroit residents experienced 58% greater TB incidence than residents of Wayne County or the state of Michigan. Racial inequalities were less pronounced in Detroit compared to both Wayne County and the state of Michigan. Blacks in Detroit had 2.01 times greater TB incidence than Whites, while this inequality was 3.62 times more in Wayne County and 8.72 greater in the state of Michigan. Conclusion Our results highlight how race and place interact to influence patterns of TB disease, and the ways in which this interaction is context dependent. TB elimination in the U.S. will require strategies that address the local social environment, as much as the physical environment.

The Complete Correctional Officer

1981 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Johnson ◽  
Shelley Price
Keyword(s):  
Human Service ◽  
Human Services ◽  
Correctional Officers ◽  
Correctional Officer ◽  
Service Work ◽  
And Training

The correctional officer role is examined in relation to the possibilities the role affords for the delivery of human services to inmates with problems and crises of adjustment. Correctional officers who expand their roles to include human service obligations contribute to the development of resilient prison environments—environments that accommodate the shifting needs and concerns of inmates, and support their coping efforts. Human service officers strive to be complete correctional officers, responsive to the challenges posed for them and their wards by the prison. These correctional officers need nurturance and support if they are to survive. This requires organizational backing in the form of policies that foster and reward human service work, and training that provides the requisite skills, perspective, and support.

Human Service Environments

1985 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 11-12
Author(s):  
Ralph Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Human Service ◽  
Human Services ◽  
Service Organization ◽  
Operating Environment ◽  
Human Service Organization ◽  
Human Services Organizations ◽  
Service Environments

Today human services organizations are faced with rapidly changing demands. In the 1980's, referred to as the decade of accountability, powerful new forces have entered into what was a neatly packaged human service operating environment. Accountability has led divergent human service stakeholders to impose new sets of constraints and expectations on the human service organization.

scholarly journals The Changing and Challenging Environment of Nonprofit Human Services: Implications for Governance and Program Implementation

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Rathgeb Smith ◽  
Susan D. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Child Protection ◽  
Human Service ◽  
Human Services ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Community Care ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
Human Service Agencies ◽  
Service Agencies

AbstractNonprofit human service agencies are an essential part of the social safety net and their role in many policy fields such as community care, workforce development, and disability services is growing. The funding, delivery and entire configuration of human services systems is in transition in the US, as in many other countries, albeit with great variation depending upon local and regional circumstances. Consequently, nonprofit human service agencies need to develop sustainable program and business models that are also responsive to the heightened expectations on transparency and accountability. In addition, policymakers and government officials will need to work closely with nonprofit human service agencies in order to ensure effective and efficient service delivery. Drawing on evidence from the policy and nonprofit literatures, this brief offers a set of hypotheses about the implications, and possible paradoxes, for the nonprofit sector that are likely to emerge from the increasingly competitive environment among service providers and corresponding pressure by public and private funders for more collaboration among agencies. We explore both public policy for nonprofits in human services and strategic responses by this sector, considering the first order effects designed to enable nonprofits to adapt to a reconfigured model, and the second order effects in which governments and nonprofits address the consequences of the first round. These effects are likely to vary by organizational size and by service field, resulting in quite different outcomes and relationships with government for large multi-service agencies and those in highly regulated fields such as child protection versus small nonprofits, particularly in fields such as community care with closer connections to the informal sector.

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