Social Case Work

INTRODUCTION:

                         Social Case Work, a primary method of social work, is concerned with the adjustment and development of individual towards more satisfying human relations. Better family life, improved schools, better housing, more hospitals and medical care facilities, protected economic conditions and better relations between religious groups help the individual in his adjustment and development. But his adjustment and development depend on the use of these resources by him. Sometimes due to certain factors, internal or external, he fails to avail existing facilities. In such situations, social caseworker helps him. Thus, social casework is one to one relationship, which works in helping the individual for his adjustment and development. Every individual reacts differently to his social, economic and physical environments and as such problems of one individual are different from those of another. The practice of casework is a humanistic attempt for helping people who have difficulty in coping with the problems of daily living. It is one of the direct methods of social work which uses the case-by-case approach for dealing with individuals or families as regards their problems of social functioning. Case work, aims at individualized service sin the field of social work in order to help the client to adjust with the environments

Origin of Case work:

            By working with the poor Social Workers radically realized that forces within the individual and forces external to him contributed for human suffering.

                           Though casework as a mode of helping  people on the basis of a person-to-person relationship was present in every society from ancient times, the professional method of casework originated in U.S.A. in the second decade of this century. One of the earliest organised efforts in U.S.A. to help the poor was the establishment of the

American Charity Organization Society in 1877 on the pattern of the Charity Organization of London, which was started seven years earlier. One of the aims of the society was to find out ways and means of helping the poor and needy and thus to organise individualised services geared to this purpose. The society used volunteers, who were called friendly visitors, to visit the homes of the poor for purposes of assessing their need, for rendering material assistance and for giving them guidance and advice. The friendly visitors were subsequently supplemented by 'paid agents'. These paid helpers gradually developed, systematic procedures in performing their tasks. They collected data about the needy individuals and families, and helped them after assessing their need. They also maintained records in which they kept all the information including personal data, as well as the type of help rendered. It was out of the practice of these early workers that casework developed gradually to a professional method in subsequent years. Their collective experience of knowing the poor families and their problems and the concurrent studies of poverty by social scientists broadened the understanding of human behaviour. There was the growing recognition that there were forces within the individual and forces external to him which influenced his behaviour and the nature of his existence in society. In course of time the terms 'paid agents' and 'the poor' were supplanted by caseworkers and clients respectively in the terminology of the help giving organisation and the office of the organisation came to be known as the agency.

Recording in Social Work 

                       Case work recording is “nothing down the account of facts or sequences of activities or events.”

1 .By maintaining records, a worker can improve his professional skills and techniques, can learn by his own errors and can thus make his help more effective and systematic

2 .Records not only help a worker to evaluate his own work, but he can also improve upon his own methods.

3.Records can create interest not only in the worker but also in the client and help in  building worker-client relationship.

4 .Records add to the body of knowledge of social work and also make this knowledge communicable.

5.Records make supervision and teaching easier and effective.

6 .Records can be used for social research and planning.

7 .Through records a worker can show his agency what work he has done.

8 .Records ensure continuity of work, if another replaces one worker.

9.Records are useful for future references.

10 .Records help in providing service on a systematic basis

Principles of Case Records:

No hard and fast rules can be laid down for preparing records but the following are some of the most important points, which should be borne in mind:

1.The contents of the records should be kept confidential.

2.Objectivity, accuracy, simplicity and brevity should be the guiding factors in preparingrecords.

3. Records should be written in very simple language and a simple style.

4.Reaction of the Client/group should be recorded beginning and /or ending in his/their own words.

5.Abbreviations should be avoided in records.

6.Summary is a good device for organizing and analyzing facts.

7.Narrative is a good style for reporting facts.

8.If possible, notes should be not be noted down before the client but after the interview is over.

9. Client‟s emotions

 Anger, happiness, irritability, etc., should be suitably recorded.

10.Records should be supplemented with letters, etc.