M.A. (Social Work) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Social Work) / The importance of the role of the social worker in the Court in connection with the preparation of pre-sentence reports necessitated an investigation into the expertise with which these reports are being submitted to the Court. " The objectives of the study were to evaluate deficiencies as well as positive elements of pre-sentence reports prepared by social workers and, were necessary, to lay down guide lines to ensure that a- properly prepared and authoritative product could be presented to the user (the Court). During the investigation a qualitative approach was followed and the study can be described as exploratoryjdescriptive. Firstly, a study of literature was done through which deficiencies in and guidelines for pre-sentence reports were pointed out. Secondly, structured and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 interested parties. These interested parties were probation officers and supervisors of three public service departments. Regional Court Prosecutors and Magistrates of the Johannesburg Magistrate's Office, a State Advocate of the office of the public defender, and five legal practitioners who are regularly exposed to pre-sentence reports during proceedings for extenuation of sentence. The "purpose of the semi-structured interviews was to determine the SUbjective experience by interested parties of pre-sentence reports. A brief and structured interview schedule was utilised in order to gather certain general information which was useful for the interpretation of data. It was found that deficiencies and positive elements obtained from literature accorded to a large extent with the perception of interested parties of pre-sentence reports. After deficiencies and positive elements in pre-sentence reports had been abstracted, reasoned conclusions were drawn. In addition guide lines were drawn for the preparation and writing up of pre-sentence reports.

M.A. / Many countries have shown dissatisfaction and frustration with the formal punitive justice system. There is a resurging interest in preserving and strengthening traditional and customary justice practices, which has led to an outcry for alternative responses to crime and for social order. This requires the involvement of all parties, including the victim, offender and community, in participating and resolving conflict and addressing its consequences. This study addressed the following question: What are the roles, functions and competencies that social workers require in restorative justice? A review of the literature compared the different justice theories and, ultimately, restorative justice. Restorative justice, as a growing movement, aims to change the direction of criminal law by focusing on the needs of victims and repairing harms to the communities. The victim is afforded an opportunity in court as well as outside the court by actively participating in the outcome of the sentence of the offender. The offender, on the other hand, is directly confronted with the responsibility for the wrong and is more likely to do something positive for the victim. The community‟s susceptible, healing approach offers a new way of dealing with crime. Restorative justice programmes are, in some instances, based on local decision-making and community-building. This attitude promotes and encourages a peaceful expression of conflict, tolerance and inclusiveness which builds respect for diversity and enhances responsible community practices.

M.A. / The South African Government, through its social services, takes great caution about the children and their well-being. To emphasize this the minister of Social Development has priorities, which are outlined in the minister’s Ten-Point Plan. In this ten-point plan, services are outlined according to their priorities and one of the priorities in this plan is the well- being of vulnerable groups, including all children in South Africa. Foster care, as a form of substitute care, is not new in the system. For years, children who have been regarded as children in need of care have more than often been placed in foster care. This method is preferred by the Department of Social Development. The current state of affairs in South Africa, characterized by the high rate of HIV/AIDS infections and death, as well as poverty, calls for more children to be placed in alternative care. Therefore, for such children, foster care has been identified as the most viable option. However, it has always been the researcher’s experience that once children are placed in foster care there is often limited if no contact by the social workers. Thus, the children’s experiences are often not known. The assumption is often that if the foster parent is not complaining about the well-being of the child concerned, then the placement is perceived to be going well. The primary aim of the study therefore was to explore and describe the degree of contentment that foster children have about their status of being a foster child. Quantitative descriptive methods were used in the study. A sample of 67 foster children was drawn from the population (i.e. foster children in Tsakane). The researcher made use of group administered questionnaires to collect data. (iv) The results of the study show that most children have a positive experience about foster care. It is however significant to note that although the children are positive about their status, they feel that less attention is being given to them by their social workers and that procedures about foster care are often not explained to them. Therefore, mechanisms need to be put in place to ensure that constant attention is provided to the children in need of care, for without this the social worker cannot assess whether the foster care system is effective for the child concerned or not. The researcher provides inside knowledge about the foster children’ degree of contentment about their status. The results of the study are discussed and recommendations are offered to improve on service delivery. / Dr. E. Oliphant

No description available.

This study is an interpretive analysis of the roles of NGOs in the social policy process, using the case of postcolonial Zimbabwe. Assessing the period between 2000 and 2010 and the prevailing unique socio-economic and geopolitical crisis, the study engages the major contextual factors influencing evolution of NGOs and their engagement in the policy process. It focuses on the conceptual and state – civil society contestations on the legitimacy of NGO’s as well as an assessment of their impact on the social policy process. NGOs in Zimbabwe have played two major and two minor roles in the social policy process as identified in the study in terms of their prominence and impact on the policy process. That is: policy implementer role complementing state social policy provision, democratisation to pluralism the social policy arena as the major roles; educational role to developing interventions for better social policy and watchdog role monitoring government and other state institutions in meeting the social policy needs of citizens. The thesis argues that analysis of NGOs is embedded in understanding the role of the state and dialectical relationship between state and civil society. Using a neo-Marxist perspective and social democratic approach to the role of the state in social policy, the theoretical generalisations of the study are that NGOs have a legitimate role to play in the social policy process. However, this is defined by the nature and role of the state itself as central driving agent in social policy. Therefore, the roles NGOs are not exclusive in themselves but are anchored within the contextual framework and its definition of societal spheres within it. The thesis established the evolution of the NGO sector in Zimbabwe, its impact on the social, political landscape and argues that the democratisation agenda in Zimbabwe requires a political solution embedded in a transformative state as the panacea for building a redistributive and participatory social policy agenda that engages with non-state actors, NGOs included within a developmental framework. Conclusively, the thesis proposes a theoretical distinction between NGOs as service oriented entities and CSOs as forums for associational life and civic engagement.

British Columbia is a large and complicated province and because of the differences in topography and settlement, it can best be analyzed on a regional basis. This study of social welfare measurements in Metropolitan Vancouver, is the third in a series of regional assessments. The two regions so far examined are the agricultural area of the Fraser Valley, and one of the "Frontier" areas of the North. The Metropolis, obviously, has very different characteristics from both of them and is the most complex region of all. It has been undergoing a period of rapid population growth, and the development of suburban communities. At the present time, approximately one-half of the population of British Columbia lives in Metropolitan Vancouver. Metropolitan Vancouver is included in Region II of the Department of Social Welfare. However, some areas of Region II such as Powell River, which are not in the metropolitan context have been largely excluded from this analysis. Other areas, such as the Municipality of Surrey and the City of White Rock, have been included as they are populated by those for whom the urban centre has a large measure of social and economic significance. This "Region" of Metropolitan Vancouver coincides with sub-divisions C and D of Census Division 4, and thus obviates one of the major difficulties in undertaking a regional study: that census material boundaries and welfare regional boundaries do not coincide. Basic statistical data was compiled and computed from the Dominion Bureau of Statistics. Extensive use was made of 1961 data, and selective reference was made to 1951 data. Information was available for Metropolitan Vancouver in the detailed Census Tract Bulletin now prepared by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics for all major cities. To simplify analysis, these tracts have been summarized into "sectors". A series of indices was also worked out to reflect social and economic conditions which may have welfare implications. The welfare statistics were compiled primarily from the monthly reports of the Provincial Department of Social Welfare, for the years 1951 and 1961. However, in Metropolitan Vancouver there are also numerous private social agencies and a few major ones serving the family, and children have been chosen to examine more fully, the welfare services. Correlation of social and economic factors with the welfare pattern in the metropolitan area has been undertaken. "Sector" analysis, initiated in this study, has revealed differential welfare requirements. All districts use welfare services: the most prosperous, in which there are marginal income enclaves; and others, demonstrating the complex of social problems inherent in unplanned urban expansion. Difficulties encountered in this regional study highlight the need for standardization of Welfare Region and Census Division boundaries. Most essential for productive analysis of welfare statistics is the formulation of standard, operationally-defined categories of service for both public and private agencies; one critical distinction might be made between income-maintenance programmes and personal services. This is an initial exploratory study of Metropolitan Vancouver as a "Welfare Region". Even as this report is prepared the characteristics of the metropolitan area are changing. With one-half of the provincial population living in this "Region" further studies will be needed to provide adequate information for comprehensive, enduring planning for the welfare needs of the people who live in Metropolitan Vancouver. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Disablement is of many types and has varied causes; but when the disability is total or permanent there are serious consequences, economic and social, for the afflicted persons and their families. Two types of disability, those arising from war casualties and those arising from industrial accidents, have been the subject of special provision for many years (national Veterans' legislation and provincial Workmen's Compensation); but civilian non-industrial disablement has only recently become the subject of national legislation. Prior to the institution of Disability Allowances (1955), many of the persons now receiving these grants were Social Assistance cases. This thesis undertakes a descriptive study of a group of such cases, with the special purpose of illuminating the family contests of total disablement. Two types of family situation are chosen: (a) families with a dependent child or younger person; (b) families in which the male head is the disabled person. Against a background of existing records, a small number of typical families in each group were interviewed comprehensively on the nature and implications of the disease or disability, the activities and attitudes of the handicapped person and his (or her) family, and family, neighborhood and community strengths and weaknesses. It proved possible to bring together this picture in integral form under four heads: (1) economic circumstances (including the family budget, and implications for welfare administration); (2) family contributions (strengths and weaknesses); (3) compensating activities and attitudes; (4) community resources and needs. While this account remains qualitative, it provides at least a provisional approach to the realities and limitations of "rehabilitation" for such difficult cases as these. This particular review reveals an area of family solidarity, or at least acceptance of burdens and responsibilities, which deserves more attention than it usually gains, but it also underlines the value of auxiliary welfare services, and the need for discriminate and discretionary application of administrative provisions. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study comprises the basic framework for the highly important but complex question: what are the areas in community welfare services where research is most needed and most likely to be valuable? Necessary preliminaries for such a study include consideration of (a) the definition of "social welfare", and its most immediately relevant history; (b) the possible kinds and directions of research; (c) a descriptive summary picture of existing welfare services. For the present study "the community" is at some points interpreted nationally (e.g., the social insurances) and provincially (e.g., social assistance), but particular attention is given to Vancouver agencies (many of which have metropolitan or provincial reference). The main sources of data are fourfold, (a) Significant examples of similar projects undertaken elsewhere (community surveys by Bradley Buell and Associates, Welfare Council Surveys in Philadelphia, Pa., and Berkeley, Calif., reviewed for their comparative value on method, (b) Annual reports of public and private agencies, and relevant studies made by agencies, including the Community Chest and Council, (c) Statistical data (including Census, D.B.S. bulletins and departmental reports, revealing incidence and trend aspects of welfare problems. (d) Finally, two comprehensive questionnaires, sent to over 130 agencies in Greater Vancouver. The agencies' appraisals of needs is analyzed through (a) service statistics, (b) estimates of unserved clientele, (c) direct evidences of potential need (such as waiting-lists, etc.) The subject-matter headings of Part I (Some Historical Perspectives) and Part II (Social Services Today) are: (l) income-maintenance and general social security; (2) personal services, counselling casework and social adjustment; (3) recreation and leisure-time; (4) crime,, delinquency, corrections. (Health services are to be the subject of a separate companion study, though consideration is given in the present survey to welfare services contingent upon medical and psychiatric care). Welfare and research needs, as interpreted by the agencies in the community and further analyzed in Part III., are brought together in Part IV. Most characteristic among these are (a) services which are seriously deficient or non-existent because of lack of funds, or qualified personnel (e.g., a residential treatment centre for emotionally disturbed children); (b) extensions or additions to service for particular groups, either for experimental purposes or demonstrated specialist attention (e.g., homemaker service for various kinds of family need); (c) several aspects of coordination, improved organization etc., of actual and potential community resources. Research needs illustrated include (a) proposals for the improvement of current administration, (including studies of incidence leading to predictive formulae), (b) causal studies (e.g., of the etiology of several types of dependency;) (c) better understanding of social work services in specific settings (e.g., residence projects for potential delinquents, and for discharged offenders.) (The next stage of the total project, which this "operational survey" now permits, is the formulation of a systematic "welfare research agenda". This is the subject of a separate study). / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Municipalities have always been the crucial element in social assistance. But recent events which make a comparative study of social assistance policy timely are (a) the current community interest in the adequacy of social assistance allowances in Vancouver, and (b) the passage of the Unemployment Assistance Act amendment of 1958. The cities studied comprises cities of Vancouver, Burnaby, Edmonton, Regina, and Winnipeg. The aspects of policy particularly examined include: the determination of need, the extent to which the cities are willing to meet that need; residence policy; relatives' responsibility; assistance given to the able-bodied unemployed; income to low-income families; and the rehabilitation services offered the client. As introduction material the historical impact of the Poor Law tradition in Canada is reviewed, also the legal background of provincial social assistance. Questionnaires were formulated and submitted to the city welfare departments. Interviews were held with the public assistance administrators in Vancouver, Burnaby, Edmonton and Regina. Policy manuals are utilized wherever available. Several studies on rehabilitation approaches to public assistance clients in the United States were examined for comparative purposes. The similarity of social assistance legislation in the provinces shows as the first finding of this study. Only British Columbia and Saskatchewan, however, have so far abolished the local residence qualifications to comply with the signed Unemployment Assistance agreements. All the cities have made an effort to standardize and liberalize policies respecting assessment of resources and income. Limited dental and optical services are provided under each city's health program, which should be expanded. It is argued that the budget-deficit method for determining grants meets the clients’ needs more adequately than the flat-grant-plus-supplement method. Each city now provides financial assistance to the able-bodied unemployed but it is suggested that each city should examine their policy on supplementing income to low-income families. Multiple-purpose agencies (illustrated by Burnaby and Edmonton) appear as most effective in providing services to "multiple-problem" families. Coordination of services, public and private, optimum innovations in the use of personnel and the initiation of research are necessary for the most effective rehabilitation program. One informational contribution is the description of some of the components of resources and budget items within the social assistance program. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate