Interrelationships Between Social Work and Social Welfare
Social welfare refers to organized private or public service rendering programs created to assist socially, educationally, and economically disadvantaged people. The primary aim of social welfare is to ensure that marginalized individuals are provided with services that will significantly improve their quality of life (Dulmus & Sowers, 2012). On the other hand, social work refers to an evidence-based profession that helps implement social welfare plans by evaluating individuals’ social, economic, and mental health problems and developing appropriate interventions to mitigate the disturbances. Even though social work and social welfare are different, they are interrelated in several ways.
How Social Work and Social Welfare are Interrelated
Firstly, social welfare and social work are related in that the latter works to accomplish the prior objectives. Social work aims at implementing the goals that the social welfare programs have set. Social work ensures that social, economic, and educational problems affecting the society are evaluated, and intervention plans are developed to minimize and, if possible, end the social challenges. Over the years, social welfare and social work had improved due to events such as the establishment of the first school of social work, which happened in 1898 when Columbia University School of Social Work was opened (Laureate Education, 2012). The opening of the social work school led to the development of both social work and social welfare as the graduates came up with better ways of helping the community.
The Most Important Role of Social Workers in the Social Welfare System
the most critical role of social work in social welfare is helping people, including the disadvantaged ones, to cope with the social, economic, or emotional problems they are facing. Assisting clients to resolve their disturbances is the primary role of social work because it helps save lives and improve the quality of life of the clients (Dulmus & Sowers, 2012). A lot of people would be dead because of committing suicide or drug overdose if it were not for the services offered by social workers through social welfare programs.
References
Dulmus, C. N., & Sowers, K. M. (Eds.). (2012). The profession of social work: Guided by history, led by evidence. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012). History of social work timeline: Introduction to social work [Interactive media]. Baltimore, MD: Author.