Work Services history

In recognition of the outstanding contribution which this group made to social welfare, the National Conference of Social Work (NCSW) presented its 1956 Annual Award to members of the TIAC with the following citation:

In 1958, an NASW Commission on Social Work Practice issued a Working Definition of Social Work Practice to provide a generic definition of social work practice (Bartlett, 1958). CSWE commissioned a comprehensive study of the social work curriculum, directed by Werner Boehm.

The commission issued Action for Mental Health (1961), a report that called for renewed investment in mental health.

After Kennedy delivered a special message on public welfare, Congress enacted the 1963 Public Welfare Amendments to the Social Security Act (PL 87–543), which provided federal funds for state social service programs and for educating social workers to work in state public welfare programs.

President Johnson announced a launch of an “unconditional war on poverty” in January 1964.

Two years later, a federal task force projected an increased need for social work personnel and called for additional investment in social work education, including the development of undergraduate education for social work (U. S. Task Force on Social Work Education and Manpower, 1965).

In 1966, the membership of NASW reached nearly 46,000, doubling its membership in its first decade.

The most significant social policy accomplishments of the Nixon Administration, however, were the Social Security Amendments of 1972, which centralized and standardized aid to disabled people and low-income elderly and indexed benefits to inflation.

The passage of Title XX of the Social Security Act in January 1975 reinforced the popular concept of federal "revenue sharing" which provided states with maximum flexibility in planning social services while promoting fiscal accountability.

Social Work, 43(6), 576–583,Leiby, J. (1978). A history of social welfare and social work in the United States.

Leiby, J.(1979). A History of Social Welfare and Social Work in the United States, New York: Columbia University Press

A looming crisis in the funding of Social Security and Medicare was forestalled in 1983 through modest tax increases and benefit reductions.

In 1988, the Director of NIMH appointed a Task Force on Social Work Research to study the status of research and research training in social work.

Wencour, S., & Reisch, M. (1989). From charity to enterprise: The development of American social work in a market economy.

The Task Force Report, published in 1991, recommended the creation of an Institute for the Advancement of Social Work (IASWR) and increased attention to social work research by NIMH, CSWE, and NASW (Task Force on Social Work Research, 1991).

At the same time, organizations such as Americorps were established in 1994 to promote greater involvement of young people in communities.

In 1996, the controversial welfare reform bill known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families was passed.

New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.Rodgers, D. T. (1998). Atlantic crossings: Social politics in a progressive age.

Trattner, W. I. (1999). From poor law to welfare state: A history of social welfare in America (6th ed.). New York, NY: The Free Press.

Axinn, J. and Stern, M. (2001). Social Welfare: A History of the American Response to Need, 5th edition Boston, Allyn and Bacon.

National conference of social work, Proceedings, 56, 3–20.Midgley, J. (2006). International social welfare.