CHAPTER 1

SOCIAL WELFARE, SOCIAL SERVICES & SOCIAL WORK

SOCIAL WELFARE – covers practically everything men do for the good of society.

DEFINITION of SOCIAL WELFARE according to the following:

GERTRUDE WILSON - “an organized concern of all people for all people.”

WALTER FRIEDLANDER – defines it as organized system of social services and institutions,

designed to aid individuals and groups to attained satisfying standard of life and health.

ELIZABETH WICKEDEN – “social welfare includes those laws, programs, benefits

and services which assure or strengthen provision for meeting social needs recognized as basic to
the wellbeing of the population and the better functioning of the social order”.

PRECONFERENCE WORKING COMMITTEE FOR THE XVTH INTERNATIONAL

CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL WELFARE – defines social welfare as “all the organized social
arrangement which have as their direct and primary objective the wellbeing of people in a social
context”. In the forgoing definitions essentially we find one idea – that social welfare
encompasses the wellbeing of all the members of human society, including their physical,
mental, emotional, social economic and spiritual wellbeing.

Society responds to unmet needs or problems through the following ways:

1. Individual and Group Efforts - these refer to systematic and voluntary efforts
undertaken by individuals and/or groups in response to the unmet needs of people in
community.
2. Major Societal Institutions – Social forces that brings changes which can affect
the effectiveness of these institutions in performing their social welfare functions.
3. Social Agency – Whether under Public or Private auspices, a social agency is a major
provision for helping people for their problems.

Two views of Social Welfare:

1.Residual Formulation – Temporary, offered during emergency situations and withdrawn when
the regular social system is again working properly. Often carry the stigma of doles or charity

2.Institutional Formulation – Social Welfare as a proper, legitimate function of modern society.

Social Welfare Programs categories:

1. Social Security – refers to the whole set of compulsory measures instituted to protect the
individual and his family against the consequences of unavoidable interruption or
serious diminution of the earned income disposable for the maintenance of reasonable
standard of living.
2. Personal Social Service – refers to service functions which have major bearing upon
personal problems individual situation stress, interpersonal helping or helping people in
need, and the provision of direct services on collaboration with workers from government
and voluntary agencies.
3. Public Assistance – refers to material/concrete aids/supports provided, usually by
government agencies to people who have no income or means of support for themselves
and their families for reason and such as loss of employment, natural disasters etc. In
foreign countries, public assistance is simply called as “Welfare”.
4. Social Services – refers to the, services and other activities provided under various
auspices, to concretely answer the needs and problems of the members of society.

Richard M. Titmus – sees social problems as structural or basically located in the economy.

“Since we cannot name and blame the culprits and oblige them to make redress, we must either
provide social services or allow the social costs of the system to lie where they fell.

” He considers social services as partial compensation for the “socially generated disservices
“and “Socially-caused diswelfare.”

Reason for Providing Social (Welfare) Services:

1. Humanitarian and Social Justice Goals – rooted in the democratic ideal of social
justice, and is based on the belief that man has the potential to realize himself except that
physical, social economic, psychological and other factors sometimes hinder or prevent
him from realizing his potential.
2. Social Control Goal – based on the recognition that needy, deprived, or disadvantaged
groups may strike out, individually and/or collectively against what they consider to be
alienating or offending society.
3. Economic Development Goal – places priority on those programs designed to support
increases in the production of goods and services, and other resources that will contribute
to economic development.

SOCIAL WORK – is the profession which is concerned with man’s adjustment to his
environment: a person (or groups) in relation to a person’s (or their) social situation.

SOCIAL FUNCTIONING – is a result from the performance of person’s various social roles in
society.

SOCIAL FUNCTIONING PROBLEMS ARE CAUSED BY ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:

a) Personal inadequacies or sometimes pathologies;

b) Situational inadequacies; and
c) Both personal and situational inadequacies.
The US Council on Social Work Education has this definition of social work:

”Social work seeks to enhance the social functioning of individuals, singly and in groups, by
activities focused upon their social relationship which constitute the interaction between man and
his environment. These activities can be group into three functions:

a) Restoration of impaired capacity

b) Provision of individual and social resources (DEVELOPMENTAL)
c) Prevention of social dysfunction

JUNE 27, 2001 – The International Association of Schools of Social Work and the International
Federation of Social Workers

jointly announced this new International definition of social work which, it is believed, is
applicable to social work practitioners and educators in every region and country of the world:

“The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationshipsan
d empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well- being. Utilizing theories of human
behavior and social systems, social works intervenes at the points where people interact with
their environment. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamentals to social
work”.

1930 – Social Work introduced as a systematic method of helping people in the field of public
welfare in the Philippines.

IASSW & IFSW – Stating that “ Social work in its various forms addresses the multiple,
complex transactions between people and their environments. It’s mission is to enable all people
to develop their Full potential ñ, enrich their lives, and prevent dysfunction.
CHAPTER 2

THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE IN THE PHILIPPINES

PRE – HISTORIC PERIOD

 Social Welfare work in those times centered on mutual protection and economic survival.
 Lived in small scattered community located in mouths & rivers.
 The “barangay” was often ruled by a headman, who usually the oldest member in the
community called dato
 This caused groups to band together andcommunities to link with each other through mar
riageamong members.

SPANISH PERIOD

 The Spaniards brought the teaching, to do good to others for the salvation of their souls,
and which for many years was the underlying philosophy behind all social welfare
activities.

1.HOSPITALS

 The first hospital established in the Philippines was the one founded by Don Miguel
Lopez de Legaspi in Cebu in 1565. It was transferred to Manila in1571. It was called
 Hospitalito de Santa Ana, under the supervision of Franciscans (1578).

2.ASYLUMS AND ORPHANAGES

 With religious charity as their motivation, pious organizations also undertook the
establishment of asylums and orphanages for the poor and the needy.
 In 1882, an orphanage for girls in Mandaluyong and
boys in Tambobong were founded by Agustinian fathers.
 Nuestra Senora dela Consolacion and the SantoTomas de Villanueva asylums were
organized to take care of the victims of a cholera epidemic
 In 1885, the Asilo de San Vicente de Paul, an asylum for girls, were established, offering
religiousinstruction, primary education, and training in housework to its inmates.
 Hospicio de San Jose was founded in 1882,originally to house the aged and the orphans,
mentally defective and young boys recruitingreform.

3.SCHOOLS

 The first school established was the Parochial School of Cebu in 1565, founded by
Agustinians friars.
 Christian religion, Spanish culture and language, music, writing, reading and arithmetic
and some vocational courses were taught.

AMERICAN PERIOD

 1899 – Americans occupied the country and introduced anew educational system, new
health methods, and religious freedom.
 1902 – The Civil
government created an agency, theInsular Board, to coordinate and superviseprivate
institutions engaged in welfare work.
 February 5, 1915 – The American government created the Public Welfare Board with the
passage
of Legislative Act No. 2510, essentially tocoordinate the welfare activities of variousexist
ing charitable organizations.
 January 1917 – The first government entity to operate as a welfare agency, and an initial
step in child welfare services, was set up.
 1900 – Attempt was made to alleviate the condition of deaf children at the Philippine
Normal School.
 1910 – A school for the deaf and blind was organized.
 1905 – The Philippine chapter of the American Red Cross was established to take charge
of disaster relief in the country and to administer Red Cross funds from the United States.
 1907 – La Gota de Leche was established to furnish child-caring institutions with fresh
cow’s milk from
dairy farm in Pasay, Manila, supervised by aveterinarian. This agency later opened freeco
nsultation clinic for mothers.
 1913– Associacion de Damas Filipinas was organized by civic-spirited women to help
destitute mothers and their children.
 1921 – Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner was created. It absorbed the functions
of the Public Welfare Board which, while charged with coordinating and intensifying the
activities of child welfare organizations and agencies, was unable to cope with the
mounting problems in the health field, which was manifested by the high infant mortality
rate in the second decade of the century.
 1922 – The Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner prepared solicitation forms which
it required the public to demand of any person appealing for donations and charities. This
was done to protect the public and organizations from unscrupulous persons collecting
funds. This practice, however, was not legally sanctioned until 1933.
 1924 – The Associated Charities had become independent agency under the supervision
of the Public Welfare Commissioner, and was partly financed by the government, and
partly by private contributions.
 The Philippine Legislature passed a law(Philippine Legislative Act No. 3203) relating
tothe care and custody of neglected anddelinquent children and providing probation
officers for them.
 1933 – The administration of social welfare in thePhilippines was marked by significantd
evelopments when Frank Murphy became theGovernor-General. Scholarship grants for

professional training in social work in the United States were made available.
 The Legislature appropriated funds for the operations of government child and maternal
health centers which was established in every town with at least two thousand
populations.
 The economic depression in the 1930s created
serious economic problems. The Associated Charities were unable to cope with the
number of applicants for relief and other social services, despite appropriations made by
the Office of the Public Welfare Commissioner, under its director, Dr. Jose Fabella.
 Josefa Jara Martinez - who obtained a diploma in Social Work in 1921, worked for the
Public Welfare Board where she started to introduce the scientific approach in social
work.
 The Murphy administration’s social welfare programs marked the first time the
government assumed full responsibility for the relief of the distressed due to any cause.

COMMONWEALTH PERIOD

 1940 - The Office of the Commissioner of Health and Public Welfare was abolished and
replaced by a Department of Health and Public Assistance Service, which took over the
activities that used to be performed by the Associated Charities which, by then, had
ceased to exist.

JAPANESE OCCUPATION

Social Welfare activities during the periodconsisted mainly of giving medical care andtreatment,
as well as food and clothing, to the wounded soldiers, prisoners and civilians.

THE POST-WAR YEARS

 1946 – The Bureau of Public Welfare re-opened but lack of funds limited its operations.
 October 4, 1947 – The Bureau became the Social Welfare Commission and was placed
under the Office of the President.
 August 1948–President Quirino created the
President’s Action Committee on Social Amelioration. It is a comprehensive program of
health, education, welfare, agriculture, public works and financing.
 1946 – The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
was created by the United Nations General Assembly to further maternal and child health
in economically underdeveloped country.
 1948 – UNICEF became active in the Philippines, establishing basic health care services
to mothers and children, consisting of medical care, feeding programs and health
education.
 January 3, 1951 – The Social Welfare Commission and the President’s Action
Committee on Social Amelioration were fused
intone agency called the Social Welfare Administration.

THE SOCIAL WELFARE ADMINISTRATION

 January 3, 1951 – the Social Welfare Commission and the President’s Action
Committee on Social Amelioration were fused into one agency called the Social Welfare
Administration.
 Associated Charities – was the agency that took care of relief for the needy and indigent,
which function was assumed later by the Bureau of Public Welfare, and much later after
the war, by several relief agencies (the PRATRA, the War Relief Office, the PACSA),
the responsibility for relief was placed under the new agency’s Division of Public
Assistance.

The Office has two programs:

1. Assistance – this was given in the form of general assistance to dependent minors, the
aged and the handicapped, and special assistance to clients with needs and problems.
2. Service – this was rendered in the form of rehabilitation service for employable disabled,
the physically and mentally handicapped, as well as the occupationally maladjustment.

 Charity Welfare Division – services under this unit included casework and guidance
services for children who remained at home.
 Division of Rural Welfare in the Social Welfare Administration – was created by
Administrative Order No. 7, on September 5, 1951
 1954 – the SWA was recognized, and this Division developed new community programs
such as swlf help.
 President Ramon Magsaysay – the social amelioration program of rural areas which
was his major concern.
 Self – help – became the underlying philosophy for rural community development
projects facilitated or stimulated by the SWA’s Rural Welfare Division.
 Republic Act No. 4373 (1965) – “ An Act to Regulate the Practice of Social Work and
the Operation of Social Work Agencies in the Philippines.
 Ferdinand Marcos Sr. – signed Republic Act No. 5416, known as the Social Welfare
Act, elevating the SWA into Department.

THE SEVENTIES

 September 21, 1972 – Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law and set up a crisis
government.
 September 8, 1976 – the Department pf Social Welfare became the Department of Social
Services and Development.
 June 2, 1978 – President Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 1397 providing for the
conversion of departments into ministries, to adapt to the requirements of the change
from a presidential to a parliamentary form of government.
 1949 – the Council of Welfare Agencies of the Philippines and the Community Chest of
Greater Manila.
The Council was established: (a) to study and define social welfare problems and
human needs; (b) to develop a coordinated plan of action to meet these needs; (c) to help
improve the standards of social services; and (d) to serve as the National Committee for
the International Conference on Social Welfare.
 Community Chest – was established primarily in response to the need and desirability of
having one organization with the responsibility of raising funds qnd allocating them

THE EIGHTIES
 January 30, 1987 – President Corazon C. Aquino singed Executive Order No. 123,
recognizing the MSSD and renaming it Department of Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD)

THE NINETIES
 October 10, 1991 – RA 7160, otherwise known as the Local Government Code, was
passed.

THE PAST TWO DECADES

 January 24, 2017 – the government’s National Development Conference approved what
bow (2021) is the DSWD’s Vision and Mission Statement* anchored with Ambisyon
Natin 2040 which is a long term vidion for the country.
CHAPTER 3

THE SOCIAL WORK PROFESSION

Social Environment – is a network of overlapping social systems and social situations;

including ecological systems, cultures and institutions

 The social workers “job assignment ” involves “meditating ”(Schwartz , or “matching”

(Gordon), or striking a balance between people’s coping ability and
situational/environmental demands Bartlett).

Social Role – defined as the socially recognized pattern of behaviors and activities expected
from an individual occupying a certain position in society

Curative aspect – social work seeks to remove factors which have caused the breakdown in
the person’s Social functioning.

Rehabilitative aspect – tries to put back the person to a normal or healthy state pf social
functioning. It could involved helping her avail herself of opportunities for schooling, skills
training, and legitimate employment.

Preventive function – involves the early discovery, control and elimination of those
conditions or situations which may have harmful effect on Social functioning.

Developmental function – the aim is to help the individuals make maximum use of his own
potentials and capabilities as well as to further the effectiveness of available social or
community resources. Ex: day care center
Republic Act No. 4373 – promulgated in 1965 gave social work formal recognition as a
profession.

Five elements as constituting the distinguishing attributes of a profession:

1. Systematic Body of Theory – the skills that characterize a profession flow from and are
supported by a fund of knowledge that has been organized into an internally consistent
system.
 Tested knowledge – knowledge comes in the form of borrowed knowledge form
different professions and disciplines.
 Hypothetical knowledge – still has to undergo transformation into tested
knowledge, even if tentatively such knowledge may be accepted to explain certain
facts.
 Assumptive knowledge – or “practice wisdom” , of course abound in social
work.
2. Professional Authority – extensive education in the systematic theory of her discipline
provides the professional with a type of knowledge which the layman does not have.
3. Community Sanction – recognition of professional authority is expressed not only in the
client – professional relationship but in the professional – community relationship.
4. Regulative Code of Ethics – every profession has a built – in regulative code, partly
formal and partly informal, which compels ethical behavior on the part of it’s members.

Consultation – is the practice of inviting a colleague to participate in some aspect of the work
being done in relation to clients need.

Referral – facilitating a client’s access to a colleague who can provide help other what the
worker can or is already providing.

5. Professional Culture – formal and informal groupings characterize all occupations,

including the profession.

Social values – refer to the basic and fundamental beliefs of a profession group, practically the
reason for it’s existence.

Professional Norms – are the accepted standards of behavior of doing thing’s , which guide the
professional in various situations.
Chapter 4

The Philosophical and Values Foundation of Social Work

Value – is defined as the worth which man attaches to certain things, systems, or persons within
the realm of usefulness, truth , goodness or beauty

Knowledge - refers to what is thought to be, as confirmed by reality. Knowledge denotes the
picture man has built up of the world himself as it is, not as he might wish or fantasize or prefer
it to be.

Skills – as ability, expertness, or proficiency gained from practice and knowledge

Howard Munford Jones – an outstanding humanist, writes

“ Humanism implies an assumption about man. It implies that every human being by the mere
fact of his existence has dignity , that this dignity begins at birth. ”

According to Leonard Schneiderman different views of man:

1. Natural vs. Transcendental View - in the naturalistic view, man is part of nature. He
can be studied and understood scientifically as we do the rest of nature, so that if we
know all that science could teach us we could fully account for man and his behavior.
2. Man as Social, Asocial, or Anti – social – being social, men aspire to live on good terms
with others, to he part of and to contribute to group life, making personal goals
subsequent to group goals.
3. Democracy ‘s View of Man – man is viewed as capable of reason, of rational analysis
and choice.

The following are some of the dominant values of the Filipino around which other specific
values cluster.

1. Social Acceptance – defined as being taken by one’s fellows for what one is , or believes
he is, and being treated in accordance with his status, this value is facilitated by the
following intermediate values:
a) Smooth Interpersonal Relations (SIR) – which is a facility at getting along
with others in such a way as to avoid outward signs of conflict.
It is believed to be acquired and preserved principally by three means:
(1) “pakikisama” which means “giving in”, “concession”, or following the lead
or suggestions of another;
(2) euphemism – the stating of an unpleasant truth, opinion, or request as
pleasantly as possible;
(3) “go between” (tulay) – which means a third party who will carry a message,
assuage a bruise, or prevent an injury.
b) “Amor Propio” – is a term used to refer to the sensitivity to a personal affront
and functions to protect the individual against loss of social acceptance.
2. Emotional Closeness and Security in a Family – this value is believed to be facilitated
through the following; sacrificing individual interested for the good of the family;
parental striving to give their children an education….
3. The Authority Value – the belief is that families will remain close if someone exerts
firm authority, and that such person must be respected and obeyed.
 “Panalangin” (literally, prayer) which refers to blessing or grace one obtains for
good behavior and, “bahala na” (fatalism) are part of this adherence to traditions
and beliefs.
4. Personalism – this value attaches major importance to the personal factor which
guarantees intimacy, warmth, and security of kinship and friends in getting things done.
Some specific values related to personalism are “tiwala” (trust) “kilala” (personal
reference) , and “walang pakialam” (non-interference).
5. Utang na Loob – this value literally means debt of gratitude.
6. Patience, Suffering and Endurance – this is a cultural belief that a person must suffer
before he can gain happiness.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL WORK

1. Acceptance of people as they are – the social workers brings into the relationship with
the client her professional education and experience , and the agency’s support of her
helping role in keeping with its societal prescribed goal’s. Acceptance also means that we
recognize that people have strengths and weaknesses, and capabilities and limitations.
 James Truslow Adams once wrote “ There is so much good in the worst of us,
and so much bad in the best of us, that it ill behooves any of us, to find fault with
the rest of us” .
2. Participation of the client in the problem solving - one can almost say that the
principle of participation is already a given, for indeed, how can there be a “helping
relationship” without the clients p participation? Just the same, there is need to stress the
point that the worker does not take over in a helping relationship.
3. Self – determination as a right of the client – the main idea in this principle is that the
individual who is economic, personal, or social need, has the right to determine what his
needs are and how they should be met.
4. Individualization of the client’s