Lesson 1 : Introduction to Family and child Welfare
Concept and Definitions
Child welfare According to Child Welfare League of America , child welfare involves providing social services to children and young people whose parents are unable to fulfill that child rearing responsibilities or whose committees fast to provide the resources and protection that children and families require.
Child welfare services are designed to reinforces, supplement or substitute the functions that parents have difficulty in performing and to improve conditions for children and their families by modifying existing social institutions or organizing new ones. A child welfare services like any social services is as “Organized, formalized way of dealing with a social problem” the social problem in this instance arising from difficulty is the parent –child relationship (Turitz, 1967).
Child welfare, broadly defined as to do with general well being of all children and all measures designed to promote the optimal development of the Child’s bio-psycho-social potential is harmony with the needs of the community they are “specific services provided to specific population by specific types of agencies “(Neel, 1971).
According to Council on Social Work Education, 1959, child welfare services are “specified social welfare services which are primarily concerned with child whose needs are unmet with is the family or through social institutions”.
If a child is incorporated in the family where his needs are adequately met, there is no need for such welfare services, only if there is some dysfunction is the parent-child network, there is a need of these services. Child welfare services are thus alternative to the normative familiar arrangement for the care, protection and nurturing of children.
The Social Security Act of 1935, identified child welfare services as being for the “protection and care of home less, dependent and neglected children and children in danger of becoming delinquent”.
Child welfare is an integrated and comprehensive services which includes
Without the integrating of these, it not possible to meet the total needs of children for eg: Educational services without proper health and nutrition services will not be successful and more recreational activities without proper educational programme will not be effective for the all round development of the child.
It is evident therefore, that physical emotional, environmental, mental and spiritual needs of the child are satisfied best in his home, but if the family, due to various reasons, is unable to take care of the child. Some outside agency has to provide the necessary care for children. Hence, the welfare programmes get existed.
Participants