Analysis of Face Sheet Data in One Year's Intake at a Small Family Agency

HE data presented' here were secured from T the face sheets of the Family Service Bureau of Muskegon, Michigan, a private family agency in a war-boom, industrial, midwestern city of 75,000 located half way up the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. In order to have more meaning the material presented should be viewed against the following brief historical background. This family agency is one of the youngest in the country, having been estabIished in 1938 when its first social worker was hired to serve both as executive and caseworker. It was organized primarily to provide consultations on personal and family problems to those clients of the public relief agencies who needed such help and to other members of the community who were not on public assistance rolls. The agency had only one worker for several years and no relief funds. From October 1, 1942 to October 1, 1943, the period covered by this study, the agency had two workers including the executive and about $200 earmarked for relief. This amount was only one quarter of one percent of the total budget. It was not until January 1942 that there were any funds at all for this purpose when $5 per month was allocated. The agency has not been looked upon by the community in general nor by its clients as a relief organization. In March 1943 it took over the travelers aid work at the request of a group work agency which had been handling it. About the same time the problem of day care of children of working mothers became acute. Various individuals and groups in the community speculated about what needed to be done. As a result of two surveys by the joint Day Care Committee of the Social Planning Council and the Office of Civilian Defense, the War Chest seriously considered spending $10,000 to set up four day care centers. Before any money was spent all the social agencies including the War Chest unanimously requested that the family agency establish a foster day care service to see what the practice really would reveal. The community felt that the family agency was the only one qualified to undertake this project. The other agencies kindly consented to restrict referrals whenever possible except for day care cases during the two months it took to set up this new program. The program included finding, approving, and supervising day care homes; establishing fees and handling all the fiscal administration; placing children in approved homes; serving as a community information center on all matters relating to day care. Practice revealed the continued need for a few day care homes to be supplemented by only one small congregate center which could be established in a church basement for about $500. Thus, while providing a new and needed service the family agency played an important role in saving the community $9,500. This historical review points rather clearly to the sensitivity to community needs possessed by private family agencies. It also indicates their flexibility in being able to undertake practically any new problem in the casework field, at least on an experimental basis or until other resources can be mobilized to meet the need.