Social_Welfare_Annual_Report_1964-1965 — Page 44

75. But even in a Year of the Dragon most of the Department's toil and sweat was devoted to more mundane tasks and to inquiries into individual small scale miseries. The vocal public (represented by editors, newspaper correspondents, members of the religious and welfare worlds and unofficial members of the Government's three principal Councils) showed very clear signs, in the discussion of public aims and policy for social welfare towards the end of the year, that it now recognizes that social welfare is developing into an increasingly constructive branch of the social services and a positive force for rehabilitation in the com- munity; nevertheless social welfare work is still unhappily often identified in the wider, unvocal, public mind only with relief, that is with the random doling out of food, clothes and alms, a simple act that requires little or no skill, training or experience. This may have been the case in earlier times when welfare work was still rather ostentatiously labelled 'charity" or 'philanthropy' and when the handout might be given indiscriminately to all comers who looked as if they were needy, with little attempt to discover the true cause of each individual's need. Public assistance work to-day is not as simple as it may appear to those who have not studied it in action. Each applicant's circumstances are studied thoroughly in the setting of his family and home, to determine the real need and to see whether any particular kind of assistance would be a step towards greater independence or would tend to induce irresponsibility. Support for the family unit is the first aim, because it is most important that the family tie should not be weakened by public assistance. Counselling is an integral part of this work, because very often the person requiring relief suffers from other problems than merely material or financial ones. Some of the less fortunate victims of circumstances may in fact need friendly attention and psychological support more than anything else, and when there are psychological complications, the counsel of a caseworker is quite essential. But 'counselling' is a technical term that involves more than a hearty clap on the back and an injunction to 'cheer up!' It involves knowledge of psychology. The general object is to assist those who may have to rely temporarily on relief because of economic or other distress to become self-supporting as rapidly as is practicable. Regular free meals or other material relief may be a useful form of 'first aid' towards this end, but the skill and experience of a caseworker is also 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 and personal upsets, followed when necessary, and when official resources

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