The Field of Adult Services

Introduction

What constitutes the field of adult social services, and what represents excellence among those working in it? Such questions spurred the production of The Field of Adult Services: Social Work Practice and Administration. Thousands of social workers and hundreds of supervisors and managers assist adults with disabilities and older adults each year through a variety of services. These social workers come from varied backgrounds of education and experience to do this important work and, with supervisors and administrators, have accepted their responsibilities without a well-defined set of principles or methods for achieving excellence in their work. This book was written to define the field and to give social work professionals a framework on which to base their practice.

Defining adult services as a field of social work practice is long overdue. Social work is a thinking and doing profession, and as such it has an intellectual content and a set of practice methods. Adult services social work draws on the principles of social work generally, but it is also a specialized branch of the profession with its own values, knowledge, and skills. Formal recognition of this field is important for the professional self-esteem of adult services practitioners and vital to the well-being of their clients. Without greater understanding and recognition, resources will continue to lag behind the needs of social workers and administrators in this challenging area. The Field of Adult Services: Social Work Practice and Administration intends to redress this situation by identifying and describing the field as it is relevant to adult services programs in the United States.

As those involved in this book discovered, there is much that is exemplary about the current practices of adult services social workers and managers. The book represents a collaborative effort to identify, develop, and promote these many good practices; to supplement them with new ideas gathered from a variety of sources; and, most important, to organize this information in such a way that it represents a clear model for the field. In doing this the book draws extensively on the experience of adult services social workers, supervisors, and administrators in North Carolina and around the nation.

The focus of this book on administration, supervision, and social work practice recognizes that excellence depends on the quality of each. The book reflects a consensus on themes and represents a collection of thoughts about excellence in adult services. It provides an overview of key skills and issues essential to effective practice, supervision, and administration. It also presents these skills and issues in the context of a family-centered assessment and change method for practice. As an overview, this book represents a beginning, not a conclusion, to the process of defining the field. The ideas, principles, and approaches outlined in this book will need further application and testing to ensure their usefulness in improving the day-to-day practice of adult services programs.

Content

This book has four parts. The first, "The Field and Mission of Adult Services Social Work," considers the history of public services to adults and endorses the value of clear mission statements. A major theme introduced in part 1 that runs throughout the book is that empowerment is the ultimate goal for adult services management and workers as well as for clients and their families.

Part 2, "Principles and Methods of Adult Services Social Work Practice," introduces the basis for excellence in adult services practice. It presents a method for change and problem solving—beginning with intake and ending with closing or transferring the case—that can serve social workers as a way of thinking about their work with adult clients and their families. In its stages are a sequence of activities that focus on supporting, enabling, and empowering adult clients and their families to achieve optimal functioning in six basic dimensions: (1) social, (2) economic, (3) mental health, (4) physical health, (5) activities of daily living, and (6) home and community environment.

Using the family assessment and change method, the social worker considers the strengths, preferences, and needs of clients. The social worker uses two basic types of skills. The first, clinical skills, includes interviewing and relationship development, counseling, and crisis intervention. The second type of skill, resource development and coordination, includes case management, advocacy, and development of community resources. Clinical skills are important because through them the social worker helps clients mobilize their internal resources to solve problems. Resource development and coordination skills make it possible for the social worker to help clients obtain needed material resources. This approach to change applies to social work in general and to the specialized areas of adult services practice presented in part 3, "Specialized Fields of Practice."

Part 3 examines the major practice areas common to many adult services programs. These include adult protective services, guardianship, in-home services, placement, adult day care and day health, and monitoring board and care. Each chapter in part 3 outlines the purpose of the service, reviews the application of the family assessment and change method, and discusses special practice considerations. The authors acknowledge that social workers also use other services beyond those in this model to serve adult clients. In general, the family assessment and change method can be used with any adult client, regardless of the service being offered.

The fourth part of the book, "Leadership and Management," considers basic supervisory and administrative functions essential to achieve excellence in adult services. These functions are strategic planning and management, program development, and staff development; we call the professionals who perform these functions "managers" throughout this book. This is not a comprehensive discussion of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes important to effective leadership and management, but it does introduce many elements of the structure and support necessary for excellence in adult services. Other areas, such as working effectively with boards and commissions, remain to be examined.

Process

From the beginning this was a collaborative project, and at every stage in the development of the model there was a spirit of cooperation and joint ownership among the parties involved. The adult services programs throughout North Carolina were a central source of expertise and experience that helped shape this book. In particular the staff of the Adult Services Branch and the Adult Programs Representatives of the North Carolina Division of Social Services and staff members from adult services programs in Alexander, Catawba, Halifax, and Mecklenburg county departments of social services contributed to the development of this book.

In addition to the North Carolina perspective, state social services agencies and schools of social work around the country were contacted and asked to share any information that would be useful to this book, and many states and schools did so. In addition to the direct experiences of state adult services programs, we drew on the professional and research literature to prepare each chapter. Responsibility for interpretations of those experiences and applications of professional and research literature are those of the authors. The goals used to guide us in our writing were

• to optimize outcomes for adult clients and their families by identifying and promoting excellent social work practice and effective supervision and administration
• to define a body of values, knowledge, and skills essential to social work practice with adults
• to maximize job satisfaction and self-confidence of adult services social workers by recognizing and encouraging excellent practice and practitioners
• to identify barriers to excellent practice and seek to remove or reduce these barriers
• to develop a common language and understanding among practitioners tha reflects standards of excellent practice
• to identify how line workers, supervisors, and administrators must work in concert to achieve excellence
• to enable agencies to assess for themselves how well they are providing services to produce the outcomes clients need and desire.

Several things have been done to facilitate the use of this book. Chapters are written to stand alone, if necessary, but they include cross-references to aid the reader in making comparisons across service areas and to find discussions of related topics. Case examples are used when possible to illustrate ideas and suggested approaches. Each chapter concludes with a summary of key points, typically drawn from the discussion in the chapter but sometimes introducing ideas to foster new thinking and future initiatives.

Implementation and Future Development

The people who participated in developing this book hope that the adult services social workers, supervisors, and administrators for whom it was written will find it to be a useful reference and tool. Most readers will focus first on those chapters most immediately relevant to them, but one of the purposes of the book is to assist in cross-training and to encourage adult services personnel to appreciate more fully the work of their colleagues. For an adult services program to make maximum use of the book, an active exchange of ideas and questions among its personnel is vital. An adult services staff, for instance, might share responsibility for reviewing and leading discussion of chapters, using a focus group or seminar format. Three key questions that might be considered for each chapter and for the book as a whole are

1. What are its most important ideas?
2. How do these ideas fit with current practice?
3. How can these ideas be put into practice in an adult services program?

The developers of this book hope that one of its outcomes will be the sharing of ideas and debate about how to achieve excellence in adult services. Although this review and discussion will take time, it is an effort that should be rewarded with empowered adult services personnel and clients and, subsequently, better-focused and more efficient services. Ultimately, the usefulness of this book will be measured by its part in creating a workable model for administrators, supervisors, and line social workers that improves services to clients and their families and increases staff effectiveness and satisfaction.

There will be barriers to the achievement of excellence, given the increasing complexity of issues in adult services and the constrained resources available to address these issues. This realization, though, makes the identification and promotion of excellent social work practice and effective administration and supervision that much more important. Those who developed this model hope that all the adult services practitioners and administrators who read it will learn new and exciting ways of developing their skills and will feel themselves confirmed in the importance of their professional roles.

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