Public housing, after a long delay, has become an accepted feature in the urban renewal plans of many Canadian cities, notably Vancouver which is now building (1963) its fourth unit. On the subject of welfare services in relation to public housing, however, there are two divergent approaches. One is that by their very nature, housing projects should be understood as a welfare service with appropriate provisions (which range very widely from, e.g., minimum social assistance liaison to a highly developed community program). The other is that public housing should be a purely managerial or real-estate operation, the tenants being completely "left alone" apart from standard management provisions. The rent and eligibility principles of Canadian public housing are different from those which govern United States projects; but the decisive trend of American experience makes it timely to examine it for the light it can throw on the issues above stated. British developments in the direction of integrating social services to local community development are also highly relevant. The present study is an intensive review of the most relevant recent literature, including reports of surveys and demonstration services, and the recommendations of local and national committees of housing administrators, planners, social workers, and citizens. A major statement of this latter kind was adopted as a general point of reference. Various methods of classifying the detailed references were eventually brought together under three heads: (1) the welfare services required by public housing tenants; (2) the issues of community relationships of several kinds, and (3) administrative implications. Before developing a final chapter on needs and methods of coordination, meetings were held with housing, city planning, and Community Chest representatives. The extent to which low-income families require welfare services, and the type of welfare services which are appropriate, are classified by several surveys. "Problem" families and "normal" families need to be understood, as well as distinguished in provisions made for them. It is clear that relocation and rehousing sever neighbourhood ties for adults and children, and that resettlement problems cannot be solved without examination of the extent to which existing districts are properly equipped as neighbourhoods. "Community building" involves social as well as physical facilities; and the need may not be confined to the housing project. Administration must, likewise, be distinguished at several levels of responsibility. The coordination of community services is such a major and complex issue that comparative experience is marshalled (in a concluding chapter), distinguishing five principal methods of coordinations which are further illustrated by examples from several American cities. Examples are used throughout to illuminate special as well as general programs which have been evolved in recent years to meet welfare, recreational, "self-help", educational, and other "community building" needs. In sum, a concentration of low-income families in high-density public housing projects creates neighbourhood stress and family welfare needs, requiring a wide range of community services. Even if rehousing is not solely a low-income program, however, urban renewal makes clearer the common goals of housing, family rehabilitation, and neighbourhood development. In conclusion, the relation of this to some current Vancouver proposals for "area coordination" service is reviewed. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Poverty continues to be a social problem in North American society, although a network of social allowance programs has now been developed to provide financial assistance to various categories of people in need. A number of definitive studies are now available on food minima and household essentials required for health and welfare maintenance. However, in British Columbia there is no fixed policy to incorporate the use of standard budgets into the social allowance program. The needs of financially dependent persons vary greatly according to the personal and family circumstances, etc., though some basic components are constant; rehabilitative casework also requires flexibility. The present study reviews a sample group to secure data on (1) the nature of the needs of dependent families; (2) the effects of financial dependency; and (3) the cost of providing maintenance at the level of minimum standard budgets. The study is directed to two kinds of families, (a) those in which the father for any reason is not in the home, and (b) those in which the father is part of the family unit but unable to support his family. Three-member families were chosen for the former sample and six-member families for the latter. For this initial study, a semi-rural area was selected from the Lower Mainland Region of the Provincial Department of Social Welfare. With the important survey on the adequacy of social allowance made by the Vancouver Community Chest and Councils in 1958 as a starting point, standard budgets were calculated for each of the sample families. An analysis of their expenses was completed in relation to this, and patterns of expenditure were then compared to those of the lowest-earning income-group (as determined by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics family income surveys). In addition, experiential aspects of family living were recorded, and an initial framework set up on the dependency characteristics of social assistance families as these affect adjustments to their situations and rehabilitation prospects. The study shows that, in addition to need which varies directly according to the sex and age of the members, other important variables are the type of family accommodation, previous levels of living, management ability, and personal assets or liabilities. Despite these variations, the needs of families were categorized and, to some extent, itemized. This made it possible to calculate money amounts required by each family for a minimum level of living. It was found that where personal inadequacies exist, they are exacerbated by the deprivation inherent in an inadequate income. When this is the case, the families require supplementary services to enable them to become functionally independent. On the other hand, some social assistance recipients require only an adequate income to render them capable of coping with their problems. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The financing of child welfare services is not widely understood. It is commonly known that "the government" provides services in rural areas, but the division of costs between the provincial government and municipalities, and the organization to provide necessary services has not been the subject of definitive research. The financing of services which are provided by the children's aid societies is also not well understood, nor the legislative basis upon which services are provided. Child welfare services have two aims; to prevent the neglect of children and strengthen families so that they will remain together, and to provide good substitute care for children when they cannot remain in their own homes. These services are provided by a combination of provincial, municipal and private agency administration, in British Columbia. Child welfare services were begun in British Columbia by private agencies. As population and needs developed, legislation was passed, which provided that the care of wards who had been committed by court, would be provided for through public funds. While all child welfare services are provided for through public funds in most areas in the province, preventive casework services have continued to be provided by private, or voluntary funds in Victoria and Vancouver, through the children's aid societies. In recent years the societies have reviewed the present arrangement for providing services, including the need for additional public support for preventive services. At the same time questions were being raised about the continuing use of private funds, to support work which is being financed elsewhere in the province by public funds. The position of the private agencies is that a "mixed system" of providing services offers strength to the entire child welfare programme, and that private agencies with community support can continue to make a valuable contribution in maintaining standards of service. The present study first sketches in the background of the development of financial responsibility for children in ward care. The formula for reimbursement, known as the per capita per diem rate, is then analysed in budget terms (e.g. maintenance for children, clothing, health care, etc.) to show what has been provided for children in care of the Catholic Children's Aid Society, in a typical recent year (1957). The per capita per diem rate for maintaining children in care, is the average cost of maintaining and supervising a child in care for a year, and is a clear cut administrative device in that reimbursement for service is calculated on the actual number of days care provided for children. An important part of the analysis is the clarification of the distinction between (a) maintenance reimbursement, and (b) the cost of preventive service. Other methods, or formulae, are referred to in the study. The relevant statistics of Catholic Children's Aid Society operations (to which this thesis is specificall limited) are assembled for a period of years. Some of the questions of financial responsibility under present legislation for the various services provided are thereby clarified. The study shows that the provision of ward care for children under the supervision of children's aid societies has been soundly financed through the present per diem formula. The questions and issues which have been raised about the continuing support of services by the Community Chest are reviewed. The approach taken is that the provision of funds should not be the main criteria for deciding the best continuing method of providing preventive services in Vancouver. The conclusion is that additional public funds could be provided to the private agencies, and that a formula should be established to do so, if this is to be done. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

It is well established that many social and emotional ills which beset adults in their later life have their origins in childhood. There is also considerable agreement among the professions that the detection of problems among children during their school years is desirable, also that what appear as "educational" or "learning" problems may have counterparts or causes in the home. All this makes "mental hygiene" services in the schools important. Stemming originally from the public health and medical examination services for school pupils, there have been extensive developments in the Vancouver School System, culminating in the Mental Hygiene Division of the Metropolitan Health Committee (Greater Vancouver) and the Mental Health Co-ordinators (prior to 195^) and Special Counselling personnel of the Vancouver Board of School Trustees. The present study approaches the context of these by posing the question: what social services are available to school children in this community, and how are they obtained? As the first local study of this kind, however, it is confined principally to the administrative aspects of the subject. A recent analytical survey of school social workers (or "visiting teachers") in the United States (by Mildred Sikkema) is used as a comparative base. The social work services of the public schools in Portland, Oregon, are described as a good working example of administrative integration between education and social work. A brief survey was made (by correspondance) of school social work in nine of the provinces of Canada. The intensive part of the present study is approached through job descriptions of the professional personnel who administer social services for school children. Very marked similarity appears between the job description of the Special Counsellors, and school social workers as typically described elsewhere. Special Counsellors and school social workers face the same kinds of problems, although their training background is different. The study indicates that there is overlapping between the services of the Special Counsellor and the public health nurse as set out in the job descriptions. However, this overlapping does not constitute a difficulty because of the heavy demand for welfare services and the lack of personnel to meet existing needs. Case study and sample area studies would seem to be needed to establish how Special Counselling would apply to the more deep-seated problems of children and how far social work contributions might be improved. Need for an analytical survey of the Special Counsellor's function as a co-ordinator of welfare services within the school system and the geographic community is also indicated. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Casework with neglectful parents has particular problems, influenced by the special responsibility and function of the protection agency. All casework is concerned with bringing the client's personality into adjustment with his environment; in the neglect situation the agency has the added responsibility of making the decision regarding a child's removal from his home. Superficially, these two responsibilities may seem incompatible: on one hand, the worker uses acceptance and understanding to treat the client; on the other hand he may have to use authority to render the necessary services. Workers have difficulty in fusing the two responsibilities into a meaningful casework process. Two cases were used in this study; one is an example of emotional rejection, the other an illustration of both emotional and physical neglect. The cases were presented to emphasise the worker's use of diagnostic information in giving casework help to the clients. The work done was compared with some concepts of social work that are usually considered essential for productive casework. The elements of social work philosophy and practice generally recognized as indispensible to effective casework were often absent in both cases. There was little practical use of the concepts that each individual has worth, potential and ability to change. Moreover, the use of relationship as a helping tool was hindered because of the misuse of authority; it was either over-used or under-used, and in either case was not helpful to the client. Vitally important to any casework progress, but seldom apparent in either case, was a sound treatment plan. Many of the casework difficulties were centred in the fact that the workers were not sure of their function, of the use of authority, and perhaps of their ability to help. It would appear that if the worker has a genuine belief in the basic principles of casework (which must be carried out in relationship with the client), a sound knowledge of human behaviour, and a belief in his own ability to help, many of the foregoing casework difficulties could be remedied. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The problem of the cost of dependency in public welfare has recently motivated many areas to make special studies to determine ways in which it might be reduced. The studies of Bradley Buell and associates have brought to the fore that in any community there is a comparatively small group of families which make use of the majority of health and welfare services in that community. This study was designed to determine the size of the dependency problem in Vancouver and to evaluate the public welfare agency's attempts at combatting any problem that might exist. After reviewing the history of public welfare and the treatment of assistance recipients, attention was directed toward present-day concepts and ways of combatting dependency in urban areas. The extent of the problem in Vancouver was examined by examining the numbers receiving private and public agency aid. Two public assistance caseloads were examined to determine how long the clients had been in receipt of assistance, why they were receiving it, and how old they were. The organization and facilities of the City Social Service Department were reviewed. Two research methods were employed: (1) reviewing the literature to determine how best to deal with the dependent group, and (2) statistical classification of two sample public agency caseloads and services given by private agencies. Information for this study was obtained from the Vancouver City Social Service Department records of assistance recipients, a Community Chest survey of the unemployed group in Vancouver, current literature, and personal observations. In recent years, between one and two per cent of the population of the City of Vancouver have had to rely on the Social Service Department for their economic livelihood. Most persons on assistance are medically unfit for work although some recipients get this aid as they have to look after dependent children or are unable to get an old person's allowance. Very good medical care is given clients, but the size of the caseloads is such that it is difficult for workers to spend much time with any one client to give continuing casework help. It has been found that to adequately combat dependency, the various social agencies in the community must work together. Individual diagnoses are needed to determine those who can be helped to become rehabilitated. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The procedure known as the pre-clinical conference is used routinely as a diagnostic screen in certain child guidance clinics in the United States, with advantage to both clinic and client. This study surveyed in brief the extent of the use of the procedure in Canadian mental health clinics giving service to-children. In the Child Guidance Clinic at Vancouver, the procedure is used only infrequently. The study analyzed certain cases from the Vancouver Clinic - one group of cases in which the procedure was used, and another group in which it was not - to throw light on the purposes and results of the procedure. The background survey showed a wide variation in pre-clinical procedures in Canadian mental health clinics. A small minority used a conference of the full team, in all cases; a majority did not use the procedure at all; a small group used a partial team conference pre-clinically in selected cases. The purposes for which the pre-clinical conference was used were identified by each clinic, with results similar to those shown by the case analysis. Consideration of the use of this procedure is of concern to social, workers functioning as members of a clinical team, because of the growing emphasis placed by leaders in the field on the integration of professional skills and service. Conferencing is an important way in which this principle is implemented, and pre-clinical conferencing, an extension of the method, is a further possible means of translating this principle into practice. The first group of 12 cases in which pre-clinical conferencing was used, contained four sub-groups of three cases each, selected according to the reasons for the conferencing, and classified for convenience according to medical, psychiatric, psychological or multiple reasons respectively. The second group of cases, in which pre-clinical conferencing was indicated but not used, contained three representative cases. The case analysis identified the uses served by a pre-clinical conference (in the first group of cases), or the possible uses (in the second group). The uses included any or all of the following: (1) selection of cases-and intake; (2) referral to or from other agencies; (3) planning diagnostic study and exploration; (4) allocation of diagnostic responsibilities; and (5) delineation of a tentative treatment plan. The results identified by the analysis included facilitation of any or all of the following: (l) diagnostic process; (2) establishment of treatment goals and (5) economical use of staff time. While the routine use of pre-clinical conferencing for diagnostic screening is held to represent the ideal practice, it was seen to be unnecessary in some clinics, impracticable in others and inadvisable in others for specific reasons. In many clinics the need was met by use of the procedure in selected cases. This is the practice in the Vancouver Clinic, where it is employed at the discretion of the social worker. This places a serious responsibility on the professional skill of the social worker, necessitating alertness to indications for use of the procedure and awareness of the desirability of extending its use, where possible, in the interests of the wider application of the principle of integration. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The subject of this study is the disturbed child, who has been emotionally and physically neglected. The area of concern is the agency's decision whether to continue service with the child removed from his own family, or with the child retained in his family. For the welfare of the child, it is essential that the caseworker, drawing on the growing body of knowledge regarding parent-child relationships and on her own individual skill, make the choice which will give the child the greatest opportunity for normal development. The seriousness of the child's disturbance, the parents' attitude and maturity, the quality of other feelings, must all be carefully weighed in this difficult decision. Several obstacles to an objective decision are present. These are the quality of the caseworker's skill, the inadequacies of the protection of children's act, and the existence of some administrative limitations. With these handicaps to casework already in mind, the actual reasons for the decision, as they became apparent from a comparison of ten removed children and ten retained children, were considered. A number of factors were found to be more often the determinants of the decision than the caseworker's careful assessment of the parent-child relationship. These were (a) the parents’ and the community's awareness of a problem, (b) the disturbing events produced by the child's behaviour, rather than the emotional deprivation, (c) the amount rather than the quality of parents' rejection, (d) the professed function of the agency (whether specializing in children's or family service) in which the child neglect case appeared. Accordingly, an overall implication of the study is the need to strengthen procedures which offset this tendency for agencies to let circumstances be the determinant and which will place more responsibility for the decision on the caseworker and her professional assessment. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study, undertaken at the Children's Aid Society of Vancouver, B. C., was an attempt to isolate and identify certain social and environmental factors which precipitate agency care of children. Such a study should be of value to any Child Welfare Agency concerned with strengthening the family and maintaining the child, whenever possible, in his own home. The rationale for the study was based on three major assumptions: 1. that service to families and children in need of protection has been hampered by lack of foster home resources. 2. That in providing substitute care for children Child Welfare agencies have emphasized the psychological dynamics of the family situation, attributing the need for agency care to the personal pathology of one or more members, and have paid insufficient attention to the possibility that social and environmental conditions may have contributed to the need for foster home placement. 3. That whenever feasible the child should remain in his own home. In fomaulating these assumptions we were influenced by the findings of other researchers. Alfred Kadushin in his article "Introduction of New Orientations in Child Welfare Research" (The Known and Unknown in Child Welfare Research, Miriam Morris & Barbara Walters eds., Child Welfare League of America, N. Y., 1965) pleads for greater understanding of the social situation of families, since it is his opinion that adverse environmental conditions play a significant role in the placement of children. Similarly Jenkins and Sauber (Paths to Child Placement, Community Council of Greater New York, N. Y. City Department of Welfare, 1966) emphasize the importance of social conditions, particularly income, housing and health on a family's ability to remain together and function effectively. From both these research findings it was apparent that the provision of community resources such as homemaker service and day care centres could reduce the number of children requiring placement away from their own home by supporting and supplementing the family during periods of situational stress. With this in mind our study was to be concerned with identifying the social and environmental factors which played a role in developing conditions requiring agency care of children. In addition we were also concerned with the process that went on prior to agency contact, specifically how families coped with their adverse situations before accepting or requesting agency intervention. Such information would serve as a basis for developing community resources to increase the family's ability to withstand pressure and stress. We hypothesized that the findings of other researchers as mentioned above were as valid in Vancouver as elsewhere and should therefore be of equal concern to Child Welfare Agencies here. Our original design was to develop a schedule to provide data for testing the significance of certain social and environmental factors that we had identified by consulting the literature and agency personnel. The variables to be tested were: 1. Household composition 2. Housing 3. Neighbourhood 4. Health 5. Income 6. Employment 7. Education In order to discover the problem solving activities of the families in relation to these variables, coping questions were inserted into the schedule. These questions were designed to elicit information about the client's perception of the problem, his initial response and its effect, and the people and/or organizations he involved in his coping attempts. A draft schedule was devised to be administered over a one month period during the intake process to all persons requesting or referred for service with the exception of transients. The schedule was to be. readministered six months later and a comparison made to determine the differences, if any, between the social and environmental situations of those families whose children were placed and those families who remained together. Unfortunately at this time the agency was unable to participate in such a project and the administration of the schedule was abandoned. We were not free to take on this task ourselves and it had been our intention from the beginning to introduce a research element into the agency as part of professional practice by the involvement of personnel in this effort. We still believe that the agency would find the schedule useful and have included it in Appendix I with the recommendation that it be considered for inclusion in any future project in this area. As an alternative, agency personnel suggested that we examine existing Intake data to see if the information we sought might not be already available in the files. Thirty-six files were examined and thirteen workers consulted. We found that information regarding the variables was either inconsistently recorded or absent entirely. Where information regarding the coping patterns of these families was recorded it tended to be limited to the source of referral without any further elaboration. Our findings indicated that a review of agency records was not adequate for research purposes since the variables sought were not systematically recorded during the intake process. Time ran out on us following an examination of the files and we were unable to consult again with staff or to discuss alternative ways of obtaining the information. We did, however, make a number of recommendations based on our experience which may serve as a guide for continuing research in this area: 1. That an exploratory study be conducted using an interview schedule which includes the variables suggested above. Our draft schedule is available in the body of this report. 2. That the schedule be administered through the Intake Department with a follow-up study several months later. The use of an independent researcher seems to be warranted since agency personnel are not available to take on this added task due to time pressures of their own. 3. That the intake face sheet be revised to include in formation pertaining to the social and environmental situations of clients as an aid in identifying recurring patterns of stress that may necessitate substitute care of children. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / [additional authors Joan Konon, Shirley Langstaff, Pam Manson, Donna Moroz, Miriam Schachner, Thomas Williams] / Graduate

The use of GDP growth as an indicator of national progress has many critics. Ahluwalia and Chenery noted that GDP growth places greater weight on the income growth of richer income groups, and proposed distribution-neutral and pro-poor alternatives. More recently, studies by the World Resources Institute and others have questioned the sustainability of GDP growth and have introduced natural resource modifications to national income accounting. To date, no studies have undertaken both types of revisions concurrently, creating a revised sustainable development measure based on GDP but corrected for both distributional bias and resource depletion. This dissertation adjusts GDP growth for both concerns, developing an indicator that reflects both the social and the environmental changes that often accompany rapid GDP growth. This sustainable development framework is applied to the case of Brazil, a country that has, in addition to experiencing rapid economic growth in recent decades, suffered massive deforestation and worsened income inequality. First, the Brazilian income accounts are adjusted for the marketable value loss associated with depletion in the mineral, commercial wood, and soil accounts. Next, the estimated value of non-marketable—e.g., indirect, option, and existence—benefits lost as a consequence of Amazonian deforestation are deducted from the revised accounts. Finally, annual growth in the adjusted indicator is compared to growth under the distribution-neutral and pro-poor weighting schemes, following Ahluwalia and Chenery. The three weighting schemes—denoted GDP, equal, and poverty weights—are also applied to the allocation of social cost associated with resource depletion, generating nine possible outcomes. The results of this dissertation cast doubt on the proposition that rapid economic growth in Brazil has resulted in comparable welfare gains. Moreover, the evidence presented illustrates the often unsustainable nature of rapid GDP growth phases. The chief policy implication is that Brazil should discontinue—or at least severely curtail—the regressive and resource-intensive economic policies it has followed in recent decades, in the interest of welfare improvement not only for the poorer groups in society, but for future generations of Brazilians as well.