The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1942-12-04
BY DIR. HAROLD TASCHER
Concluded from Last Week.

(COnCluQ6Q from Last week.
Laboratory Wants Reinstatement of
The Family Welfare Agency
The Social Work Laboratory, trying
to use professional and democratic
methods to help meet social needs
saw at first hand the work OF the
Family Welfare Agency. 1t saw stu
dents in training profit much by work
ing in this agency 1t saw them &c
and elsewhere. 1t saw the commun
ity put an end to a very worthwhile
social agency. 1t has one real hope
that the Family Welfare Agency will
be reopened as soon as possible and
that the community will experience a
more democratically enlightened type
of social welfare leadership. Because
the Family Welfare Agency provided
such excellent field practice training
OF students for such long time, l
consider it necessary to tell the peo-
pie of the state something about this
training experience.
Agency Supervised Student Workers
In September, 1888, the Laboratory
sent five students to do field work
with the Family Welfare Agency.
They went to the agency office organ
lied as a group with one of it's num-
Der as the group chairman. 1t was
urged by the Laboratory to demon
strate as much ability to assume re-
sponsibility as possible-to make the
burden on the agency as small and as
pleasant as possible. The secretary
Of the agency was recognized as the
agency supervisor. The students were
individually and collectively RESPONSE
BILE to her.
Project Emphasized the Whole
Community Perspective
The training program was set up to
include weekly group conferences
with the supervisor, individual confer
ences with the supervisor, group con-
ferences without the supervisor to do
what it could to improve it's value to
the agency, and to take it's place as
one of the groups in the entire pro-
gram of the Laboratory. All students |
in the group were required to work |
for two agencies, the Family Welfare |
Agency and the Laboratory. The |
former would provide work expert |
ence in case work. The latter would |
provide work experience with other
groups in the Laboratory itself In
this way, the students could develop
not only specialized skills in case
work but also skills in co-ordinating
case work with other social work
fields The Laboratory early realized
that case workers must not lose sight
of the broader community perspective.
1t should be developed along with
skills in case work. Caseworkers
must not be slaves to cases or to their
agency but must provide services to
cases, to the agency and to the COM
munity. This community focus be-
came growing thing as this project
developed
What the Students Did
The group conferences with the SUI !
Dervisor gave the students knowledge I
If the agency its rules and regula-
IONS it's chief. theories about prac- i
icing social case work and special +
'eading Of professional literature t
lbout case work. The individual con- I
erences between the students and a
he supervisor involved the assign t
nent Of cases to the students, careful t
Lnalysis of the problems in the cases n
preparing to interview the i
,eople involved and consideration of t
developments proceeding from the n
ctual interviews. The individual Il
differences were really guides to the l.