Social service departments: Preparing for the 1990s

1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-25
Author(s):  
Lesley Bell
Keyword(s):  
Social Service ◽  
Service Departments

An End to Incrementalism? The Impact of Expenditure Restraint on Social Services Budgets 1979–1986

1989 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidan Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Social Service ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Activity Data ◽  
The Public ◽  
Total Budget ◽  
Service Departments ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACTThe theory of incrementalism is a long-standing and influential perspective on policy making and resource allocation in the public sector. Previous research on social services budgeting suggests that resources are allocated incrementally, although there has been some debate as to whether this would persist in an era of prolonged expenditure restraint. Incremental budgetary outcomes are operationalised as percentage changes in budgets pro-rata with percentage changes in the total budget, and as stable shares of total expenditure for each activity. Data for 99 English social service departments supports incrementalism in that budget shares change by only 1.8 per cent, but percentage allocations depart from pro-rata incrementalism by a mean of 74 per cent. The comparison of the two summary indices over time supports those who have argued that prolonged restraint would encourage non-incremental budgeting, but change in the agency's total budget does not consistently predict budgetary outcomes. The effect of restraint on incrementalism varies with the measure used and across the component activities of the measures, but there is enough evidence to suggest a significant decline in the level of incrementalism in social service departments. In particular, non-incremental budgeting is strongly associated with the growth of day centre expenditure on the mentally ill and the elderly before 1982–3, and after that with the pursuit of the ‘community care’ strategy within state provided services for the elderly and children. Incrementalism as a general theory of agency budgeting is limited in its ability to explain variations in the degree of incrementalism between agencies, between component budgets and over time. The conclusion suggests that further research should seek explanations for these variations in the varying balance of the competing forces which shape outcomes in welfare bureaucracies and in the relationship between these forces and the organisation's environment.

Team Managers in Local Social Service Departments in Israel as Bottom-Up Social Policy-Makers

2021 ◽  
pp. 324-345
Keyword(s):  
Social Workers ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Psychosocial Services ◽  
Service Departments ◽  
New Policies

Following on Felice Perlmutter's work on the managerial role of social workers in social services, this article contributes to the still limited knowledge on the role of social workers in middle-management positions in formulating new policies `on the ground`. The study expands knowledge about policies determined by team managers in local social service departments in Israel. It occurs in the nexus between street-level bureaucracy, professionalism and managerial positions. Semi-structured interviews with 28 team managers revealed that they formulated `new` policies with regard to the provision of psychosocial services and material assistance (who gets what, when and how). This occurs when they resist official policy, when it is vague or non-existent. Most of their policy decisions are not documented and draw upon consultations with colleagues and superiors though not with clients. The team managers perceive these policies as a means for achieving balance between clients' well-being and budgetary constraints. Yet their decisions lack transparency, are decided upon without public discourse and may lead to greater inequity between clients

Advisers to Disabled—Job Analysis

1979 ◽  
Vol 42 (12) ◽  
pp. 306-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Milne ◽  
P. Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Social Service ◽  
Job Analysis ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Service Departments ◽  
Salary Negotiations

The role of the O. T. in Social Service Departments is not always fully understood. In Cambridgeshire all the O. Ts. decided to change our title to “Advisers to the Disabled” as we felt this term more appropriate to the depth and diversity of our role. Having requested a change oftitle we discovered that the confusion as to our role lay not only in the minds ofthe clients but also in the minds of our managers. In order to define our role and to assist in salary negotiations the following job analysis was drawn up.

Measuring and modelling patients flows through rehabilitation and continuing care

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
PH Millard ◽  
M O’Connor ◽  
SI McClean
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Care Management ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Continuing Care ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Care Managers ◽  
Acute Hospitals ◽  
Service Departments

Rehabilitation stands between acute care and long-term care. As such, it is difficult to define and harder still to measure. Put simply, it is a process, an attitude of mind, a philosophy; something that patients need but acute hospitals would rather do without. This paper discusses the problems of measuring and forecasting rehabilitative activity before explaining how behavioural models of flow demonstrate the interaction between acute, rehabilitative and long-stay care. Managers, directors of social service departments, and clinicians need scientifically valid methods that enable them to measure performance and to optimize decision-making. Inherent flaws in the current methods used to measure hospital activity must be overcome if rehabilitation is to occupy its rightful place in health care management.

scholarly journals Dementia Care Involvement and Training Needs of Social Services Directors in U.S. Nursing Homes

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 117-117
Author(s):  
Jung Kwak ◽  
Kevin Smith ◽  
Mercedes Bern-Klug
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Homes ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Cognitive Assessment ◽  
Dementia Care ◽  
Preparation Time ◽  
Active Involvement ◽  
Care Training ◽  
Service Departments ◽  
And Training

Abstract This study describes social services directors’ involvement in dementia care in U.S. nursing homes, focusing on interest in and needs for dementia care training. Respondents were 841 social service directors from U.S. nursing homes. We found that 87% of social service departments engaged in cognitive assessment; 59% of social services directors were strongly interested in dementia care training, and 23% would need up to 10 hours of preparation time or would not be able to train staff on dementia-related care. Racial minority background, fewer years of experience in nursing homes, and barriers to staffing predicted strong interest in dementia care training. These findings demonstrate social services directors’ active involvement in dementia care and need for training.

Infighting in San Francisco: Anthropology in Family Court

1997 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
Barbara Joans
Keyword(s):  
San Francisco ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Expert Witness ◽  
Family Court ◽  
Bad Faith ◽  
The Social ◽  
Service Departments ◽  
Cultural Misunderstanding

Eighteen years ago I represented six Bannock-Shoshoni women in court. I was their expert witness and convinced the presiding judge that the women had not committed fraud, had not lied to the social service departments and had not taken rent money on bad faith. They had misunderstood the language and the directions given to them by the Pocatello, Idaho agencies, an essentially cultural misunderstanding. We went to court and won all six of our cases. The women were cleared of even the hint of misconduct and I published the account in Practicing Anthropology (Problems in Pocatello: A Study in Linguistic Misunderstanding. Vol. 6, No. 3&4 1984).

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