From the early 1900’s to the present day, there has been a strong movement in the way of identifying individuals’ rights and services. Organizations have been developed to assist in the care and attention of populations such as the poor, children, mentally ill, and developmentally disabled. These entities were born into an ever-changing world where the main focus is in creating a manageable and functional society. “President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the Social Security Act of 1935, which fundamentally changed the federal government’s role in providing human services.” (Woodside & McClam, p. 57) In an attempt to provide assurance of well-being for the unemployable, be it disabled or elderly, the Social Security Administration continues to provide financial support for qualified individuals in hopes of assisting with the maintenance of contributing citizens of society. Under the rules and regulations of the federal government, this agency is ultimately the core existence of many.
Before the 1900’s, the mental health population and the developmentally disabled were considered outcasts with no known cause or treatment and therefore, were institutionalized in an attempt to isolate them from the rest of the normal society. The conditions of these housing complexes were deplorable and individuals’ rights were not considered with the treatment received. Over-medication and restraints were a means of managing behavior and sometimes resulted in death. “Deinstitutionalization, a movement that began in the 1950’s, called for transferring many institutionalized patients to the community for outpatient care. By the 1970’s, a major segment of mental health treatment had shifted from the isolation of the institution to the complex environment of the community.” (Woodside & McClam, p. 47) One such institution was Willowbrook State School, which came to be a significant revelation in the human services field. (The Arc, 2007) This began the shift for the integration of the mentally and developmentally disabled into society and out of this evolved organizations to provide the needed supports.
During the Clinton administration, the welfare system was transformed to put a greater emphasis on short-term assistance, training and education. The One-Stop centers were created through the Workforce Development Act where clients could receive a variety of services located in one area. Such services included the unemployment agency, VESID (Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities), training programs, and job development aid with job searches and resume development. Prior to this era, the welfare system provided a support that the poor began to rely on and became generational. This developed into a great financial burden on the financial resources of the government and did not provide appropriate incentives for people receiving assistance. TANF, Temporary Aid to Needy Families, was developed under strict guidelines for participants with requirements to find work and put a timeline on the duration of funds received filtering into offspring of recipients. These individuals must now participate in work programs to “work off” their benefits and must comply with other regulations to maintain these benefits. This system provides consequences for lack of compliance and thus, eliminates potential abuse of federally funded programs.
“From the 1930’s until the 1990’s there was a gradual movement from local, to state and regional, and finally with the development of the so-called welfare state, to federal planning and funding and control of major programs designed to deal with human need. The trend changed with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA).” (Brill & Levine, p. 3) Organizations such as VESID, OMRDD (Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities), and OMH (Office of Mental Health) were developed to provide the supports to populations with disabilities. Other agencies were formed, such as the ARC’s, Lifetime Assistance, People’s Inc, and Heritage Center. Within each of these organizations are valuable programs that provide support. The evolution of the Supported Employment Program works in conjunction with the guidelines set forth through the welfare system and also by the funding sources that enable the agencies to thrive. Within this particular program, vocational assessment, training and job development are the key components. People can receive on the job training and assistance with work place assimilation for an undetermined amount of time, thus enabling an individual to seek community base job placement and ultimately become a production part of society.
The healthcare systems established in the late 1900’s provide a more uniformed approach to healthcare services. With the intention of controlling appropriateness for sought out services, the managed care plans developed a system of procedures to hold the patient accountable for services. Managed care plans are a network of providers that contracts to deliver healthcare services. (Brill & Levine, p. 9) Primary Care Physicians were consulted for specialist care and authorizations processes were put into place to ensure the need for certain procedures. — the United States has the highest per capita medical expenditures in the world– healthcare costs 40 percent more than in any other industrialized nation. Yet, despite the dramatically increasing cost of providing healthcare over the past twenty-five years, of all the developed countries the United States still has the smallest percentage of people covered under publicly subsidized healthcare programs.” (Brill & Levine, p. 8)
The overall development and recognition of human service supports has changed most dramatically in the last 100 years. Prior to this, many areas were stricken with poverty, lack of proper nutrition and healthcare. The Industrial Revolution suddenly began to change these conditions. People began to eat much more food, which was also much more nutritious. Sanitation and immunization practices eliminated many common diseases. Infant mortality declined rapidly as the average life expectancy doubled.” (Stark, p. 122) This had a profound impact on the population and the need arose to develop appropriate systems to deal with the growth of this population. Healthcare reform, non-profit agencies and federally regulated programs have all played a major role in the human services field. “Welfare reform has decreased the number of families on the welfare rolls and increased the number of the families who are employed.” (Woodside & McClam, p. 57) This is a positive prospective on the future of the modern day family and the path which human services is headed. Programs have been developed to enable the individual person to thrive in society while providing the supports necessary to attain this level. We have gone from the day of suppressing many different populations of people due to their, what appeared to be, abnormal existence to a world in which the powers that be have laid a basis for understanding which led to a reformed approach to helping people.
Works Cited
Brill, Naomi I. & Levine, Joanne. (2005). Working with People: The Helping Process. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
The Arc. (2007). Willowbrook State School. Retrieved from http://www.arcmass.org/StateHousePolicy/RegulationandPolicyDebates/FernaldSchoolClosingandRICCIClass/FernaldNews/WhyTheFernaldCenterShouldClose/ChristmasinPurgatoryWillowbrook/WillowbrookStateSchool/tabid/695/Default.aspx
Woodside, Marianne R. & McClam, Tricia. (2009). An Introduction to Human Services. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
