Alberta, September-October 2007
16
ALTERNATIVA Latinoamericana
ENGLISH SECTION
EDITORIAL:
By Nora Fernández, RSW
As a social worker I am concerned about the
people we serve and our profession. We are
increasingly put in situations were we risk to lose
professionalism as defined by Glen Drover: "the
proper professional role is to act on one's
conscience, for one's conscience, out of one's
profession, one's personal, solemn promise, bond
and covenant." As he argues, it is not a matter of
technical virtuosity, but it is a matter of morals and
commitment or duties and responsibilities.
In my own personal experience working as a
social worker, I often return to my roots in order to
find the way and to the reason(s) behind the work I
do. The history and the context in which we do our
work I find generally helpful in remaining faithful to
the professional covenant I have with the people I
work with.
The beginnings
Between 1850 and 1900 social work education
started to emerge with a concern for the poor; a
sense that working with them requires some skills
and a belief that poor people need to be understood
in the context of the social structures that surround
them. It is important to know our roots and social
work has its roots in (a) the charitable work of
wealthy women who had time to spare and a desire
to do something meaningful, (b) in the discovery of
the potential of the "helping relationship" and (c) in
the struggle for social justice. These perspectives
come mainly from (a) Octavia Hill -who focused on
"helping the poor to help themselves," (b) from Mary
Richmond -whose views led to social work as a
profession that solves problems through
"understanding the person in the situation," and (c)
from Jane Addams -who focussed on prevention and
in understanding that the problems people
experience are rooted in social and political
conditions that can be changed by working together
in a community.
Historically, people have been helping each
other since the beginning of time. In keeping with a
European perspective, however, social work has
been delegated increasingly to specific groups of
paid professionals who act on behalf of society as a
whole. The professionalization of social work was a
consequence, some argue, of increasing
detachment of people from extended families,
friends and communities. Thus, industrialization and
modernity led to the need of some form of
systematic assistance for people. Some argue that
those in power became more accepting of
systematic assistance because they feared losing
their power completely as socialism was becoming
increasingly popular among workers and the poor.
As we move on...
There are identifiable ideological struggles
within social work, as well as ambivalent relations
between social work and the society sponsoring it.
In the 19 century, friendly visitors (the social
workers of those days) were advised, as Ben Carniol
notes, to go into homes "in the full strength and joy
and fire of life; full of cheer and courage; with a far
wider knowledge of affairs; and, it would be indeed a
wonder if you could not often see why the needy
family does not succeed, and how to help them up."
The understanding was that their presence and
cheery attitude and knowledge, or their moral
advice, would solve the problems of the poor. It was
both naïve and arrogant to understand poverty as
mainly a personal problem, and at the same time,
forgetting the oppressive and cruel nature of social
structures and of illegitimate privilege. Inherent
inequalities in society produced massive poverty.
The dominance of this perception is connected to
the reality of Canadian social workers opposing
family allowances in the 1920's and 30s. According
to Terry Copp, a social historian, the model favoured
"stern charity," or charity designed to be as
uncomfortable and demeaning as possible. In many
respects this attitude is not completely abolished
from our profession.
With the emergence of the Canadian Welfare
state in the 1960s and that of the Canadian and
Quebec Pension Plans in 1965 as well the Canada
Assistance Plan in 1966, social workers became
more optimistic and favoured a move towards a more
egalitarian society. Still, while some social workers
were concerned about the need for fiscal restraint
often arguing on decreased motivation to work if
assistance was "too generous", others would
express the need for reforms to move at a faster
pace towards equality and fairness, and advocated to
the state for deeper commitment and greater
expediency. Soon, however, the welfare state would
start to be dismantled and by the 1990s it was already
debilitated. By then we had to deal not only with cut-
backs, but with the emergence of a dominant
neoconservative ideology which, at provincial and
federal levels, favoured an increasingly individualistic
perspective where persons are responsible for their
own predicaments and families are there to offer
support -no matter how unrealistic this is.
Challenges today
We entered the 21 Century dealing with the
additional phenomenon of globalization and
government favouring economic processes presided
by international institutions (World Bank, International
Monetary Bank) that seriously undermine our capacity
as a nation to make our own decisions. This process,
which has been extremely damaging on poor nations,
has locked Canada into a macro-economic framework
that moves us further from equality and closer to
oppression, which we seem unable to stop.
Given the challenges we face, it is not surprising
that we often experience feelings of powerlessness.
Recently, in Alberta, the need for affordable housing
makes it very difficult for people in need to find a
suitable place to rent. Many of the women we provide
support in trying to flee abuse have for the past three
years used child tax benefit monies to cover rent.
Today, with rents well above normal levels, this
strategy no longer works. Mothers can be expected to
cover rents in amounts in excess of $1000. This, with
rent allowances of $ 500, as provided through the
Alberta Works program what was before the Support
for Independence program and prior to that we called
"social assistance".
For women fleeing abusive partners, Alberta
Works provides for a damage deposit and some
additional help for them to set up their place, which is
a bonus, but other families cannot count with either.
The provision of help at levels well below the actual
need limits women's chances for success. These
problems are often felt most severely by aboriginal
women, whose increased poverty rates make them
much more vulnerable to situations of violence.
Decreased financial support affects mainly the poor.
As in the past, people in need are divided into worthy
and unworthy, and as in the past those understood as
"worthy" received some sympathy (not much) while
those deemed unworthy poor had to make do with
unsustainable situations. In the past many of the
unworthy poor were women: "unwed" mothers,
"promiscuous" ladies and "irresponsible" wives, as
were referred as to then. Today we call them "single
mothers", we focus on helping women trapped in
prostitution and we find the most challenging among
women affected by mental health, addictions, as well
as with health or developmental problems. In
particular, single women face huge challenges in
transforming their lives. They are expected to do it
with $400 a month, which is the total support they
receive from Alberta Works to cover rent, food,
clothing and transportation.
Feelings of powerlessness can naturally
permeate the work we do, as social work often turns
into a form of social control. We must be careful,
however, that we do not forget about the actual power
and influence we can still have. Otherwise, we may
contribute to further oppressing those we are trying to
help. Social workers are increasingly aware about the
need to work together and focus on advocacy and
social justice if we are to change what is wrong in our
society and stand by the most vulnerable of our
clients. United under the umbrella of the Alberta
College of Social Workers, we must protect the ethics
of our work and our clients. We need to work towards
changing oppressive policies and increasing social
assistance amounts.
Although a social justice approach seems to be
more important than ever before, it is far from
dominant among social workers. We are often afraid
to stand up for what is right, and in practice some of
us may conform with government policies rather than
advocating in favour of vulnerable people. Diane E.
Charles, a social worker, wrote:
"As social workers, we pride ourselves as being
quite different and distinguished from other
professionals. We social workers like to think we see
`people in environment'. We like to think we have
some unique understanding about relationships and
the dynamics of power....in fact all areas where the
personal and the political might intersect...In the
economic and political climate of the past decade, it
seems we social workers in Alberta have been very,
very busy pursuing the path of professionalism. Under
threat of being marginalized and left out in the cold
unless we are sanctioned, legitimized and have
professional status, we climb snugly into bed with
other professionals, namely health professionals. As
we come off the streets and find comfort in such
privileged company it seems less and less that we are
able to retain our unique collective memory of the
oppressive and cruel nature of the social structures
and inequalities, which prevent others from finding
comfort in our world." [What's happened to the `social'
in our social work profession? (2001)].
In Alberta, dominant myths about success and
money as well as about the poor trying to "take
advantage" from the rest of us, increase the challenge
for those of us concerned about the covenant our
profession has made with the vulnerable and the poor.
There is a dominant perception of the poor as failures,
lazy or cheats. We are becoming less generous in
spite of our growing economy and wealth. Our
provincial government continues to favour limited,
temporary solutions, like the creation of a Homeless
and Eviction Prevention Fund, rather than longer term
stables ones.
The ideology of blaming is pervasive in our
province, yet we fail to question privilege. Ben Carniol
has said: "Yes, we see there are privileged people,
and we figure they have an entitlement to those
privileges. They either work hard or there are other
rationales for seeing those privileges as credible and
legitimate. When I use the term "illegitimate privilege,"
it is to point to the fact that, very often, what is
submerged or hidden is that these benefits accrue
because of an underlying injustice--an unjustifiable
inequality of power between two different groups of
people."
In an interview with Anita Levin in 2005 he argues
in favour of anti-oppressive practices saying: "
Despite numerous examples of effective social
services, today in Canada, they are in the minority.
The majority of social services are characterized by a
very different reality. But, there is a more progressive
approach, based on a structural analysis of what the
power relations are in the society, and so there is an
explicit identification of oppressive practices and
structures around the various "isms" -such as
colonialism, heterosexism, racism, ageism, classism.
When workers are aware of these they can apply a
sense of dialogue that includes those larger
dimensions and help the individual service user to see
that they are a cog in a very large wheel, part of which
is based on structured inequalities that are
unjustifiable. In a sense, the worker becomes an ally
to the service user. Progressive service providers are
conscious of the power difference between themselves
and service users, and deliberately attempts to share
that power, creating more mutual and egalitarian
working relationships with service users."
Back to our roots
Social work in Canada includes a variety of
models and theories from Constructionism, Systems
and Ecological perspectives, Humanism,
Existentialism, and Social and Community
Development to Radical and Critical perspectives,
Feminism and Anti-discriminatory and Anti-oppressive
practice, Empowerment and Advocacy. As a social
worker I like to think of myself as "eclectic" able to
benefit from the variety and use from each the best
when needed. Current times in Canada and while
working with women in need is increasingly showing
me the need to pay more attention to a social justice
approach. This is in keeping with Jane Addams
perception of a focus on prevention and anti-
oppressive practices with potential to help people
become aware of the greater context in which they live
their lives, a focus that can be not only enlightening
but also liberating to both me and them.
The Roots of Social Work
The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incor-
porated into our common life. (Jane Addams)