Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1963-1964 — Page 43

setting of the family and the home, to determine the real need and to see whether a particular kind of assistance would be a step towards independence or whether it would only confirm mendicancy and irre- sponsibility. Support for the family unit is the first aim, because it is most important that the family tie should not be weakened by public assist- ance. Counselling is available as an integral part of this work, because very often the person requiring relief suffers from other problems than merely material or financial ones. Some waifs may need friendly attention and psychological support more than anything else. When there are psychological complications, the counsel of a caseworker is quite essen- tial. The general object is to assist those who may have to rely on relief because of economic or other distress to become self-supporting as rapidly as is practicable. While regular free meals or other material relief may be a useful means towards this, the skill and experience of a case- worker is needed to clarify the client's problems and help him to mobilize his own resources to cope with his difficulties. To be successful, these efforts require careful assessment by trained social workers of the causes of family difficulties, followed when necessary by reference to the volun- tary agency which can best meet the needs so disclosed.

72. More intensive casework, aimed at rehabilitating and restoring destitutes and others to full or partial economic independence; strict application of present standards of entitlement; and relative improvement in the economic and employment conditions for fit young people in the Colony; these were factors that contributed to a further decrease in relief expenditure during the year. The average daily number of dry rations issued dropped from nearly five thousand seven hundred last year to under three thousand six hundred this year, and of cooked meals from about two thousand four hundred to little over fifteen hundred, reducing the total relief commitments to the lowest level since 1957. But it should be noted that, while financial commitments continue to fall, the work of officers of the Relief Section does not; it is only through more positive casework and frequent home visits and interviews that means can be found effectively to assist destitutes and others to overcome their difficul- ties, before they become a long-term charge on the public purse. The assistance given ranges from the securing of employment to rehabilita- tion and vocational training, from referrals for medical attention to compassionate resettlement. The details may be seen in Appendix 20.

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