What Should We Expect from SS Agencies?

What is your expectation of the social service agencies today?

I’ve just finished reading Chapter Four, “Social Services,” and for me this has been like a walk down memory lane because I can honestly recall what social services used to mean in this country. Quite frankly, if you weren’t around during the 1960s through the 1990s, I don’t think you can truly appreciate the dramatic changes we have seen in America as it pertains to social services.

Steven Smith begins this chapter with a statement that really speaks volumes to the overwhelming presence that social service agencies have had in this country. He states, “For many citizens, nonprofit social service agencies are the nonprofit sector.” Truer words were never spoken. When I think about the non-profit sector, I don’t immediately consider hospitals, universities, or private schools. What I think of are the basic survival services that provide food, shelter, clothing and care; the social services. And I think many Americans share this same line of thinking because that’s what social service agencies used to be.

There really has been a fundamental transformation of nonprofit social services in the past 30-40 years and, as indicated in this chapter, one of the most dramatic changes has to do with our expectations of how individual and social problems should be resolved and what the role of social service agencies should be. As a matter of fact, I think it is accurate to say that the other dimensions of our transformed social services (i.e., role of government, blurring of boundaries and state spending) are a direct result of this change in societal expectations.

I can remember a time when no one talked about AIDS and most people had never even heard of it. I can also remember when women who wanted to pursue serious careers were considered “women’s libbers” (as in dangerously liberated women that did not embrace the traditional American family values). Sexual harassment in the workplace was just coming into definition, childcare was referred to as babysitting, and there were very limited resources for women and children living in violent households. If you were confined to a wheel chair your life was limited to a miniscule number of homes and establishments that could accommodate you because no one even thought about it. Social services for these causes were limited or nonexistent because we didn’t recognize them as social problems.

There were shelters and soup kitchens for “wayward” men who were down on their luck or suffering under their addictions to alcohol. There were clothes closets and soup kitchens for the most needy. And you could count on groups like the American Red Cross, the Community Chest or the Salvation Army to help everyone else in need. But that was when most needs were considered temporary and social service agencies were there to give you a “helping hand” until you could get ‘on your feet’ again.

The 1960s were a time of awareness and people became enlightened about the real truth of poverty, hunger, racism, sexism, ageism, homelessness, disabilities, illnesses and more. The government stepped in and many new social programs were created. Thousands of people who had silently suffered under the societal veils of ignorance, hatred and shame were finally extended the much-needed assistance that they needed to improve the quality of their lives.

What should we expect our social service agencies to do today? Clearly today's challenges to social service agencies are serious and threaten the long-term viability for many of them. Are we expecting our social service agencies to do too much or have our social problems really become so intense that we now need a stronger, better, more resilient army of SS agencies to solve them?