History of Human Services Essay

It is common for people to expect something in return for helping someone out or providing them with a specific service. It is also very common for people to expect to have to give up something in return for asking for help or specific services. While not everyone believes that those who are in need should be helped, there are opposing positions which feel that reform is a way to retract and counteract the situation the for the person in need. In order to get a better understanding of what is needed in the present time, we must first learn and understand how and why people of the western culture helped others through human services. As provided in The Introduction to Human Services: Policy and Practice, tracing back through history it shows how the western culture went through a difficult route of providing help for people in need. It shows how people in need were provided help from their families and the church or a benevolent feudal lord, later leading to receive help from the government, then eventually receive help from volunteers or trained professionals (Mandell & Schram, 2012). In the United States there are several helpful services which are no longer being made available due to the government’s decisions to strip away the programs or services for those in need and putting much of the burden on the volunteer and charity groups or churches. With the limited amount of resources and services available, these groups and churches are limited on what they can do to help. According to Garrow (2010), â€Å"nonprofit human service organizations located in a munificent environment can pursue multiple funding opportunities such as donations, fees for services, and other revenue-generating activities† (pg 447). There are several factors which have influenced our ability and willingness to help society members. Some people are just willing to help those in need because they have the means and are either empathetic or sympathetic to the needs of others. Many people who have gone through similar instances as those who are in need now are willing to try to help someone because they can feel their pain because they have been through the same tough times. While there are some that ant to help because they can, there are also those who can help but refuse to because of their survival of the fittest mentality because of their victim blaming point of view which sees and blames people for their own misfortune and not a circumstance due to social forces (Mandell & Schram, 2012). Reciprocity is a give and take type of situation. When there is someone receiving goods or services, it is expected that there is some type of benefit received back in return. In western cycles of giving and helping this same principle is put into place. There was once a time where people would help others because they want to or because it makes them feel good for doing so. Now in more modern times people expect a benefit received from the services they provide. Some consider the fact that people are in the situation they are in because of something they have done wrong or incorrectly. Mandell & Schram (2012) provide philosophies which clash with the methods of providing help. These philosophies include: * Deserving vs. Undeserving: This is where victim blamers are as the superior to the victims who need help which are put in discriminatory classification as higher or lower categories and some are considered to be more worthy of receiving benefits and services than others (pg 32). * Means-tested vs. Universal programs: This is where means-tested programs that are available only to the poor, whose assets fall below a certain set eligibility level as oppose to universal programs that provide income supports and social services to both the affluent and the poor (pg 32). Culture of poverty vs. Opportunity theory: This is where a system of self-defeating beliefs passed on from parent to child as oppose to the theory that people are prevented from getting out of poverty because of their lack of social opportunities rather than because of their individual defects (pg 32 & 35). There are four issues within the cycle of helping in the American society which connects to all types of situations and circumstanc es of people. The cycles consist of welfare reform, treatment of mental illness, juvenile justice, and criminal justice. With all of these issues, they prove the influence of human services which are of precedence of the spotlight and should be addressed accordingly. Welfare: * Welfare is considered as Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) and according to Mandell & Schram (2012) welfare provides a good example of the cycles of reform (pg 43). * Since welfare and other safety net programs were cut back, the criminal justice system expanded, causing the United States to have the highest incarceration rate on the planet which is five times the world’s average (pg 43). Mandell & Schram, 2012) Mental Illness: * Mental illness can be diagnosed only by observing. * The imprecision of the diagnosis of schizophrenia, for example, is illustrated by a study done by thirteen psychology researchers where they all presented themselves at the doors of various mental hospitals telling them they heard voices, with the outcome of each being discharged with a diagnosis of schizophrenic on remission. There are an uneven number of people of color in mental hospitals due partly to racial discrimination and partly because an unequal numbers of them are poor. (Mandell & Schram, 2012) Juvenile Justice: * The child-saving movement was the efforts of reformers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to rescue children from unwholesome influences which led to the development of children’s institutions, foster care, and the juvenile court (pg 55). The juvenile court system was based on the belief that children who break the law should not be punished like adults (pg55). * Juvenile reformatories were supposed to protect youngsters humanely from the corrupting influences of adult criminals but youth were found guilty and was assigned to a reformatory without trial and with a minimum of legal protection because legal due process was assumed to be unnecessary since reformatories were intended to reform and not punish (pg 55). Now juveniles have the right to know the charges against them, the right to have their own lawyer, and the right to confront and cross-examine their accuser and witnesses (pg 56). (Mandell & Schram, 2011) Criminal Justice: * The U. S. is the world’s leader in incarceration with 2. 3 million people in the nation’s prisons or jails in 2010 (pg 58). * Even though most of the prisoners are men, the number of mothers in America’s state prison has reached a record high (pg 58). * Many of the mothers who have been sentenced to prison had previously received TANF (pg 58). Another reason for the increase in incarcerations has been the imprisonment of undocumented immigrants (pg59). * Prisoners have to put their lives on hold while prison and in many states cannot vote when they get out (pg59). * Some human service workers work with people who are on probation and parole or in rehabilitation programs in order to check for inaccuracies in their crime records, help children visit their parents to prevent termination of parental rights, or help released prisoners to find jobs (pg 60). Mandell & Schram, 2012) In my opinion I think that we are trying to do as much as we can to help with welfare, juvenile justice, mental illness, and criminal justice. There is only so much that can be done since government only allows so much assistance and resources to those in need. There are fortunately volunteers and charities which provide the much needed assistance and resources for those without asking for any type of payment or reciprocity in return. Just as it is stated by Oftelie (2011), â€Å"human services support our nation’s social fabric, economic competiveness and equity in the American dream. We have the strategies and technologies for increasing capacity and performance† (pg 15). We need to learn to reach out to help others to become better for themselves, their families, and society. While not everyone believes that those who are in need should be helped, there are divergent positions which point out that reform is a way to withdraw from and offset the difficult circumstances for the person in need. Throughout history there has been a list of challenges for changes which can attest for the reform within human services. Through reciprocity and other factors of societal circumstances shape the behavior for helping those in need. Even though there have been many changes in the cycles of helping in the American society, we can always use even more improvements in welfare, mental illness treatment, juvenile justice, and criminal justice systems. It is up to everyone to find a way to contribute to develop new approaches to human services.