Thesis (PH.D.)--Syracuse University, 2003. / "Publication number AAT 3081637."

Thesis (doctoral)--Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, 1990. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references (p. 387-404).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1972. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Kent State University, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed 16 January, 2007). Advisor: Erin O'Brien. Keywords: charitable choice, faith-based organizations, welfare, poverty, evangelicals. Includes bibliographical references (p. 157-176).

The increasing incidence of unemployment in recent years (1960-62) has again brought the problem to the attention of governments and citizens, many of whom are attempting to reduce the consequences of unemployment in a mariner appropriate to their authority. One of the methods of dealing with the result of unemployment is through the administration of public welfare services. This study was designed to determine the requirements of the unemployed, the public welfare services they receive and to evaluate the adequacy of these services, using a suburban municipality of Vancouver as a case example. The history of public welfare of the Dominion, provincial and municipal governments is reviewed; and attention is then directed to the detailed organization of public welfare services in the Municipality of Surrey. Within the municipal structure of the Department of Social Welfare, the administrative controls, the size of case loads and social work staff were reviewed. The services available include the financial aid granted under the Social Assistance Act, health services, casework services, and the Winter Works programme. The unemployed employable persons in the municipality are identified by such characteristics as age, size of family, education, occupation, work history, financial assets, housing, and personality problems. The method of study is both historical and analytical. The literature pertinent to the historical development and present status of public welfare programmes is reviewed as background. An analysis is then made of cases requiring services, and the services given are evaluated. Information required for this study was received from the records of the Municipality of Surrey Social Welfare Department, current and past literature, interviews with administrative leaders, and the personal experience of the writer. The employable man without a job presents many severe problems which are only partially handled by the local social welfare department. The basic administrative organization is able to cope with the difficulties presented; but the interpretation of legislation and indecisive attitudes to welfare and rehabilitation programmes make the implementation of an adequate service practically impossible to attain. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The Social Service Exchange began in Boston in 1873 at the same time that the art and the practice of social work were developing. The exchange grew out of the need to prevent duplication in giving among the social agencies, and as the thinking in the field of social work changed so the exchange varied in its function. It has now come to facilitate prevention of duplication in helping clients to solve their problems. This has been fostered by the growing schools of psychological thought which have emphasized that all practice must center on the client. The exchange organization in Vancouver has followed much the same pattern as the majority of the exchanges in North America by coming under the auspices of the Community Chests and Councils. As the town grew in size the exchange grew also. In addition there were numerous mergers until the Vancouver exchange was the clearing center for the whole province of British Columbia. At first the Vancouver Exchange was the 'hub of the social services' but by 1930 it became a tool of social planning under the auspices of the Community Chests and Councils. The Index has tended to become a mechanical process but recently it has begun to re-evaluate its function, only to find itself faced with innumerable problems in the fields of financing, registration policies and the like. There next follows a descriptive analysis of the present operation and function of the Vancouver Index. Starting with its place in the Community Chest and Council organization as a ‘service committee', the function of the Index Committee and the staff is outlined, together with the problems they face. Following this the methods of enrollment are dealt with, then the criteria for enrollment and the operation of the clearing process itself. Statistical facts are introduced to indicate the degree of efficiency of operation, followed by a review of the changing methods currently in use. The third section concerns the problems currently facing the Index. What is the reason that agencies are reducing their clearings, and is it the best policy? Why are the costs of clearings rising steadily, and is the price for this service more than the agencies can afford? The question of agency relationships and attitudes towards each other soon develops as a paramount factor and before this is evaluated it is impossible to determine whether there should be an Index or not. No attempt is made to determine the cause of the apparently negativistic attitudes of the agencies but its effects are considered as it is one of the most vital factors in the efficient functioning of the Index. Lastly, the use of the Index is shown as being beneficial to the client, the worker and the community. There is an evaluation of the present policies of registration currently followed and rather strong reasons presented why they should be shortly altered. It is felt that the present policy can lead only to the dissolution of the Index. The concluding section makes specific recommendations concerning the Index, both from a policy point of view and in the area of specific operation. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

The Family Welfare Bureau of Greater Vancouver has now been in existence for twenty-five years, and it is the purpose of this study to trace its development from its origins in the recommendations of the British Columbia Child Welfare Survey of 1927, to the present day. Material for this purpose was collected from the minutes of the Executive Board of the Bureau, 1927 to 1952; the annual reports of the Director for the same years; personal interviews with the Director and other staff members; other related records and literature of the agency; and numerous pamphlets and publications of the Family Service Association of America. This latter body is a standard-setting association of family agencies to which the Bureau has belonged from its inception. In the course of its life, the agency has been faced with many unforeseen difficulties, the more drastic of these being the depression years of the 1930's and the war years of 1939 to 1945. These two periods of economic and social stress are reflected clearly in the workload of the agency, and it would have been understandable had this new organization strayed from its original objective, which was to do family casework. An appraisal of the work of the Bureau shows clearly, however, that: (1) it has filled a definite need within the overall framework of agencies in the community, and (2) it has steadfastly maintained its original purpose of providing family casework, services. In addition, (3) it has constantly striven to improve its standards of professional competence, and (4) it has followed the traditional role of private agencies in experimenting in the provision of new services. The record also indicates that, even though the community is showing increasing acceptance of casework services, continued and careful studies will have to be made to determine the most effective way of interpreting to the public, on which the Bureau depends for its financing, the meaning and value of these non-material services. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This thesis on some aspects of the community organization method in the expansion of welfare services in the Okanagan Valley, covers the period of five years from 1958 to 1963, during which the writer was resident in Vernon. The thesis is, therefore, by nature a field experiment in observation, with an attempt at a critical analysis of the services secured in the light of accepted methods of community organization. It was a matter of excitement that so many welfare services were secured in that relatively short- space of time, and so many others were explored or initiated; this phenomenon has significance for other areas of the province and, in so far as is known, this type of social reporting has not been carried out elsewhere in British Columbia. A review of the historical background of the Okanagan Valley shows that it is bountifully supplied with the natural elements and resources which made pioneering relatively easy. Fruit growing, lumbering, and, in the early days, trapping, were the main sources of livelihood. The study shows that these have varied to some degree, especially with the phenomenal growth of Tourism, yet the need to develop secondary industries is of prime importance. The social condition of the people reflects the economic, - increasingly the expanded population requires housing, and the old orchards are giving way to new housing subdivisions. An increasingly complex manner of life demands a comparable network of welfare services. This thesis is essentially concerned with how one city In the Okanagan Valley gradually developed a community consciousness toward getting things done by their own efforts. The research method is largely empirical, as the writer was involved in many of the group efforts made by other Vernon citizens, and came away with a great sense of admiration for the degree of sophistication the city achieved. Questionnaires, personal interviews, actual participation and observation, were some of the methods used, and a two year interval has also afforded an opportunity for some retrospection about the validity of the changes which took place. The study finds that, where public welfare-services are unable to fulfil needs, community effort at identifying these unmet needs leads to a richer concept of themselves in groups; they learn to appreciate the peculiar contribution of each other. As Murray Ross believes that the development of true community organization demands "community morale" as much as the ability to identify need, one has searched for ways in which the people of Vernon sought to achieve this morale and self-confidence. Professional involvement in the community is also shown to create an integrated approach to community problems. Better understanding of professional and volunteer function is thus fostered, which in turn creates mutual respect for each other's efforts at solving common problems and filling unmet needs. As communities grow even more complex, it is seen that the contention as made in the September, 1965 brief by the B.C. Association of Social Workers to the Provincial Secretary is justified, that is, that community organisers should be appointed to act as liaison between an advisory council and the body of volunteers, with their professional counterparts at the local level. One could hope for such a professional organizer to serve the needs of Canada's expanding population to the north, thus bringing services to new communities before problems arise, a truly preventive measure. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

No description available.

Does authoritarian regime provide social protection to its people? What is the purpose of social welfare provision in an authoritarian regime? How is social welfare policy designed and enforced in the authoritarian and multilevel governance setting? Who gets what, when and how from the social welfare provision in an authoritarian regime? My dissertation investigates these questions through a detailed study of Chinese social health insurance from 1998 to 2010. I argue and empirically show that the Chinese social health insurance system is characterized by a nationwide stratification pattern as well as systematic regional differences in generosity and coverage of welfare benefits. I argue that the distribution of Chinese social welfare benefits is a strategic choice of the central leadership who intends to maintain particularly privileged provisions for the elites whom are considered important for social stability while pursuing broad and modest social welfare provisions for the masses. Provisions of the welfare benefits are put in practice, however, through an interaction between the central leaders who care most about regime stability and the local leaders who confront distinct constraints in local circumstances such as fiscal stringency and social risk. The dynamics of central-local interactions stands at the core of the politics of social welfare provision, and helps explain the remarkable subnational variation in social welfare under China's authoritarian yet decentralized system. This dissertation attempts to contribute to the studies of authoritarianism, decentralization and social welfare in the following aspects. First, in specifying the rationale, conditions and policy results of the interaction between Chinese central and local leaders in social welfare provision, the dissertation sheds light on how political leaders in an authoritarian regime with multilevel governance structure respond to social needs. The analysis of subnational politicians' incentive structure and policy choices in social welfare provision, which are missing in most extant studies of authoritarianism and social welfare, demonstrates an "indirect accountability" built into the Chinese social welfare provision. This "indirect accountability", evidenced by local leaders' proactive accommodation of social and local needs through social policies, may partially account for the puzzling resilience and flexibility of Chinese authoritarian regime. Second, the dissertation demonstrates that social welfare expansion, in some cases, is not a result of democracy but of resilient authoritarianism. Social welfare is one tool employed by authoritarian leaders to maintain regime stability. The political motivation for social welfare provision is different in non-democracies--it is more directly from top-down pressure of maintaining order rather than from bottom-up demands as in democracies--but this does not mean that non-democracies provide less social welfare than democracies do. Furthermore, the dissertation highlights the multidimensionality of social welfare policy and the trade-offs that politicians face in distributing welfare benefits. It suggests that politicians, no matter in democracies or non-democracies, face similar policy trade-offs (e.g. coverage versus generosity) in social welfare provision and that they make policy choices on the different dimensions of social welfare -coverage, generosity and stratification- according to the specific institutional and socioeconomic constraints they encounter. It is the combination of these different choices that constitute the variation of social welfare provision observed cross countries and within countries.