NCJ Number
160142
Editor(s)
P Adams,
K Nelson
Date Published
1995
Length
295 pages
Annotation
This book examines the historical and economic context of current efforts to reinvent human services, showing the urgency and the difficulty of the task.
Abstract
It draws on successful practice in Britain and Canada as well as the United States to develop a new paradigm for social work practice, one that integrates individual, family, and community levels of practice and reconceptualizes professional-community relations. It shows how practitioners are developing community-centered and family-centered practice in a range of fields, including services to children, youth, and families; mental health; education; and employment services. A chapter on community policing describes the parallel rethinking of relations between professionals and citizens that is underway in law enforcement. Part I provides a historical, economic, and theoretical context for community- centered and family-centered practice. The chapters in Part II describe examples of the shift to community-centered practice in social services, education, and policing, considering both changes in front line practice and the management, administrative, and interorganizational structures needed to promote good practice. They show the importance of a family- centered approach that involves parents as partners and of going beyond a categorical, fragmented practice that is limited to individual families in crisis. Part III examines the shifts involved in including communities and families in practice. These chapters discuss how society understands and constructs community, how community is brought to bear on work with individuals and families, and how professionals can work with families as full partners in the design and delivery of services. Chapter references and a subject index