Abstract
The history of advocacy in human services is shaped by a series of changes and transformations provided by legislation and the involvement of notable individuals in society. The profession began in 200 BC when Hippocrates provided ways to resolve mental illness through social services. In 1500, England provided institutions that could help mentally impaired personnel. Over time, foundations have been established to resolve social issues emerging within communities (Woodside et al., 2018). Over the years, human services have become one of the professions for individuals in society. In essence, integrating social work as one of the vital disciplines for individuals in society has provided opportunities for professionals to help people within society with critical values that promote their services. In this report, an examination of historical contributions to the profession will be provided to provide changes that have occurred in advocacy.
Advocacy in Human Services: A Literature Review
The topic, ‘ The History of Advocacy in Human Services,’ was chosen from Chapter 3 (Human et al.) of the textbook, “An Introduction to Human Services” by Marianne Woodside and Tricia McClam. While social services as a profession have continued to undergo significant transformations, it is clear that in colonial America, providing social relief was considered a family and public responsibility (Woodside et al., 2018). The 19th century would be the greatest era when contributions to social services as a profession were advanced. At the time, organized charity movements were established to eliminate emerging fraud and deal with poverty in society. In the 20th century, it was clear that the new social worker was a profession with practices and was covered in legislation. According to Curtis et al. (2019), numerous reforms have since been established to provide funding and resources required to ensure the profession has advancement. This review will identify the history of human services contributions while the challenges faced are examined deeply.
The Literature Review
The historical development of human services, especially helping, has evolved. In the Western world, human services have been structured in a way that helps to improve support for communities and promote the welfare of numerous individuals within the society. By establishing professional systems that help individuals, broad views and contributions have been provided to help the underserved members. According to Olatunbosun et al. (2022), the earliest known societies often relied on informal networks to help individuals within communities receive help and assistance for people suffering from poverty. Community values were established to provide social support, especially for those facing societal challenges. Moreover, Chiu et al. (2021) state that numerous moral values and principles formed through religious groupings have helped to establish the idea that helping is vital for promoting care to the unfortunate. Ensuring that religious institutions and charitable organizations have provided aid and support to the needy in society is one of the values that formed the importance of helping within communities.
According to Chiu et al. (2021), the 19th century was a period when many countries saw social welfare movements and the emergence of new activists for marginalized groups in society. In the United States, individuals such as Jane Addams emerged as individuals who proposed to resolve emerging social issues within societies. These individuals would fix any problems related to urbanization and industrialization, creating groups that would resolve emerging social issues in society. Social work was seen as a new profession and improved with government legislation (Olatunbosun et al., 2022). Influential individuals would also emerge as people who would create opportunities for counseling and improvement of social developments in society. Civil rights movements would also be designed to provide advocacy and emphasize the importance of equality within society. These movements were created as opportunities to improve social transformations within societies, hence improving how individuals engaged in their duties.
Influence of Elizabeth’s Poor Legislations
According to Woodside et al. (2018), during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, numerous laws aimed at improving local responsibilities and providing relief for people experiencing poverty were established. Policies aimed at resolving challenges faced by people with low incomes in societies were found. Also, Olatunbosun et al. (2022) argue that those policies aimed to improve local responsibilities and power within those groupings. Ensuring that the categorization of people in need was improved created opportunities for improving social justice (Woodside et al., 2018). Assistance from governments and working personnel to help people experiencing poverty was designed to ensure that individuals learned from their trades. Moreover, Curtis et al. (2019) argue that those policies created opportunities to improve social developments and local societal responsibilities. The advancement of those policies created opportunities to improve a framework that helped resolve any issues governments faced at the time.
According to Curtis et al. (2019), one of the impacts of the established social work policies is that they provided an opportunity for shifting attitudes towards poverty and underserved members of society. A mindset that helps resolve existing social perceptions is an opportunity to promote justice within societies. According to Chiu et al. (2021), laws that helped provide individuals with improved relief created opportunities for social change within societies. These laws created opportunities for the advancement of change and ways to improve social justice within societies. Furthermore, Curtis et al. (2019) argue that ensuring that welfare systems evolve and create humane approaches for improved justice creates societal transformation opportunities (Curtis et al. 2019). These groupings led to the advancement of social groups whose objective was to create a society with significant social influence. Later, the policies would contribute to the involvement of notable persons in colonial America, contributing to the transformation of societies.
Social Work
After the world wars, there was significant urbanization, the creation of massive industries, and social-economic transformation within communities. According to Woodside et al. (2018), specific elements of social work improved opportunities for change within communities. For instance, creating urbanization would lead to massive poverty levels in communities, leading to enhanced societal transformation. There was a need to create opportunities for social changes due to rising transformations within communities (Olatunbosun et al., 2022). The need to develop a profession providing adequate living conditions for individuals and a shift towards improving social situations created significant societal changes. Moreover, there was a need to emphasize the importance of having organizations that emphasized creating charity organizations for the social transformation of societies.
Individuals such as Mary Richmond provided opportunities for creating organizations whose focus was advocacy. They advocated for establishing practices that would govern social work and create opportunities for shaping individuals within society. Advocacy for the creation of opportunities aimed at improving preventive initiatives was created as a means of enhancing social change. Opportunities for the establishment of social change were also created as a means that would contribute to significant improvements within communities. Practices that created opportunities for meaningful social changes were made to drive social research and resolve emerging community issues (Woodside et al., 2018). Measures that would create positive practices and contribute to improved changes within communities were created to achieve social changes within communities. Having opportunities for the achievement of formal training and the creation of education opportunities also created a means that would promote achievement within communities.
Advocacy Reforms
According to Curtis et al. (2019), some of the significant reforms that would lead to improvement of social services and improvement of advocacy were created as a means of resolving community needs and improvement of social issues. The first reform was to develop supportive care environments for vulnerable members of society. Changes established to provide supportive interventions and care opportunities for adopting to numerous experiences would be provided to improve management of experiences occurring within communities created to improve social services and to create person-centered care to improve care (Woodside et al., 2018). Those changes helped create opportunities for changes, and measures for improvement of reforms within the society. Measures that would create opportunities for change would be created to improve social transformations in society. Additionally, opportunities would be made to enhance trauma-based solutions that provide care for vulnerable members of society.
According to Curtis et al. (2019), reforms towards service delivery have also been created as a means of enhancing cultural competence within communities and as a measure for promoting social care. These opportunities have been created to improve cultural diversity and improve competent practices within communities. Measures that would lead to establishment of opportunities and duties for social changes were established as a means that would contribute to improvement of social diversity within communities. Additionally, the creation of technological tools has also been provided as a means that has contributed to justice and social care within communities. Measures aimed at improving cultural competence is one of the opportunities that have been established as a means of change within societies (Olatunbosun et al., 2022). There has been interdisciplinary collaboration whose focus has been to provide sufficient outcomes and interventions that would improve provision of care. Ensuring interdisciplinary engagement has been to provide comprehensive outcomes, and measures for provision of integration of services.
According to Woodside et al. (2018) there have been opportunities for advocacy initiatives whose objective has been to create systematic changes for individuals within communities. Measures for provision of social changes, and positive influence into the wellbeing of communities have been created as a means for transforming societies. There have been initiatives created with an objective for improvement of client empowerment, and social care within communities. There have been interventions for planning initiatives whose focus has been to evaluate the effectiveness of available services. Social services should also be created as a means of improving outcomes, and establishment of effective decision making. Interventions aimed at providing care, and establishment of positive results should be created as a means of social care within communities (Curtis et al., 2019). Measures for establishment of crisis interventions needs to be created as a means of improving opportunities for social change within communities. These measures have been created as a means of improving social care within communities.
Conclusion
The review has illustrated the importance of having advocacy in improving human services as a major field. The review has identified the need for improvement of advocacy practices, and establishment of innovative ideals that would emphasize on equality for all, social justice, and improvement of well-being across individuals in society. Ensuring that community support has been provided in social services is one of the solutions that could help to resolve any emerging issues within the field (Olatunbosun et al., 2022). Measures that help to provide assistance to vulnerable members of the society could help to make the world a better place. While issues such as poverty, mental issues, and other hardships faced by individuals continue to wreak havoc in families, promoting human services as an intervention for resolving those issues could improve ways in which individuals engage with one another in society. Currently, using technology to identify any changes within community issues, and to provide a platform for support especially in issues faced by individuals could be used to resolve any challenges faced by individuals within community settings.
References
Chiu, P., Cummings, G. G., Thorne, S., & Schick-Makaroff, K. (2021). Policy Advocacy and Nursing Organizations: A Scoping Review. Policy, politics & nursing practice, Accessed through FNU Library. 22(4), 271–291. https://doi.org/10.1177/15271544211050611
Curtis, E., Jones, R., Tipene-Leach, D. (2019). Why cultural safety rather than cultural competency is required to achieve health equity: a literature review and recommended definition. Accessed through FNU Library. 174 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-019-1082-3
Olatunbosun, C., & Wilby, K. J. (2022). Advocacy as a professional responsibility. Canadian pharmacists journal: Accessed through FNU Library, RPC, 155(6), 298–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/17151635221125782
Woodside, M., & Tricia, M. (2018). Introduction to Human Services. 9th Edition. Cengage Learning
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