CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SACRAMENTO
DIVISION OF SOCIAL WORK

SWRK 250                                                                           Lynn B. Cooper
Social Welfare Policy & Services                                       Mariposa Hall 5021
Fall 2009 Saturday                                                                               278-7162
                                                                                                cooperlb@csus.edu
                                                www.hhs.csus.edu/HomePages/SW/CooperLB/

Social Welfare Policy & Services
This course is required for all graduate students in social work. The course has the following general goals:

To introduce students to the history and development of modern social welfare, the profession of social work, and its values and ethics;
To provide the knowledge and skills to understand major policies that form the foundation of social welfare;
To provide an historical, economic, political and social framework for understanding the development of social welfare policies and social service delivery at the local, state, national and international level;
To explore how social welfare institutions and the profession of social work reflect, reproduce, and oppose institutional racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia;
To provide students with a framework for analyzing policy that can be applied to major areas and institutions of social welfare; selected systems, i.e. child welfare, health care, mental health, criminal justice etc. will be used as examples in lectures, readings, case studies, and media presentations;
To understand and demonstrate policy practice skills in regard to economic, political and organizational system;
To explore the role of policy in service delivery in child welfare services, health, mental health, aging, disability, housing and food;
To review the impact of current political arrangements in the delivery of social services and social welfare programs.

Specific Course Objectives and Outcomes

Students will demonstrate critical thinking skills through analyzing the roots and socioeconomic contexts o social welfare policies and the profession of social work. This will be demonstrated in writing assignments and class exercises. Students will develop an understanding of the historical development of the social work profession, including the profound crisis in social services in the US. This will be demonstrated in writing assignments and class exercises.

Students will become knowledgeable of the centrality of diversity, specifically class stratification and institutionalized racism, sexism, and homophobia in both the practice and profession of social work. This will be demonstrated in writing assignments and class exercises.

Students will demonstrate the ability to critically understand the programs, philosophy and assumptions of leading policies, including strategies of empowerment, advocacy and social action, in social work. This will be evidenced in writing assignments and class exercises.

Students will understand the limitations and difficulties of social service programs. This will be demonstrated in writing assignments and class exercises.

Students will understand social welfare policies in various systems and institutions. This will be presented in writing assignments and class exercises.

Students will develop a vision of an ideal welfare program and/or a society in the US and globally in which the need for 'welfare' is at a minimum. This will be demonstrated in writing assignments and class exercises.

The emphasis in this course is on critical analysis, not rote learning or memorization. There will be a considerable amount of reading and writing, plus a great deal of hard thinking. If you have a learning disability or there are other reasons that might interfere with your ability to complete the class requirements, please make an appointment immediately to see me during my office hours.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

(1) Active participation in class discussions (50 points). This will be based on:

General class participation (25 points). I assume you will be in class and actively engaged in the class discussions.
Lead a small group discussion on the assigned readings (25 points). Students will be assigned responsibility for leading a discussion of the week’s readings. On the assigned day, selected students will turn in a brief one to two page outline with the following information about the assigned readings:
- Key themes;
- New and challenging ideas;
- Connections between the week’s readings and previously assigned class readings;
- Specific relevance of the readings to social work practice (micro, mezzo, macro);
- Additional questions/concerns.

This assignment will be discussed in class.

(2) The first assignment is a short paper, no more than 2 pages (25 points).

Discuss how the assertion by P. Freire that “a social worker is not a neutral agent either in practice or in action” relates to your experiences working in social services. You are expected to refer to Shipler in your essay.

Paper is due at the first class meeting, August 29, 2009. Be prepared to discuss your paper in class.

(3) You are required to take an action to stop violence against an oppressed population. Turn in a brief description of the action taken explaining why you selected this action and what you hoped to accomplish. This paper should be only two pages. It is due in class #4, November 14, 2009. Attending a lecture, presentation, or workshop does not fulfill this requirement. Organizing one does! This action cannot be a part of either your work or field placement responsibilities.

(4) There will be three take-home assignments. They will require considerable thought and work. Email an outline of your essay #1 to me by October 5, 2009; the completed essay is due October 17, 2009 (see course syllabus for essay assignment.) The second essay will be handed out October 17, 2009. The completed essay is due November 14, 2009. The third and final essay will be handed out November 14, 2009. The completed essay is due at the last class, December 12, 2009.

The essays will require you to use specific readings, class lectures, discussions and critical analytic skills.

All assignments must be typed (double-spaced and 12 point font) and turned in on time. Late papers will be penalized 25 points. An essay can be revised and resubmitted for an improved grade with permission of the instructor as long as the original paper was not late. You must meet with me to discuss rewriting a paper. When submitting a rewritten paper, include the original paper.

Use the APA format for all papers. After the first paper, points will be deducted for incorrect APA format. The format will be reviewed in class. For additional information on correct APA format see Psychological Online Documents and CSUS Library site. (see course web page for web site addresses)

You are strongly encouraged to discuss assignments with other students, to form study groups, etc., but you must write your own paper. Class time will be used to discuss the assignments. INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND THE TIME THE CLASS MEETS ON EVERY PAPER.

(5) Final Grades will be based on: Assignment #1 (short paper due 2nd class session), 25 points; each essay is 100 points (total of 300 points); action to stop violence, 25 points; class participation, 25 points, and reading discussion assignment, 25 points.

400-370= A, A-               (Superior Work)
369-320= B+, B, B-       (Good Work)
319-280= C+,C, C-         (Acceptable Work)
Less than 279= failure   (Unacceptable Work)

Writing Expectations:

A SUPERIOR--A paper in this category

Addresses the assignment thoughtfully and analytically, setting a challenging task.
Displays awareness of and purpose in communicating to an audience.
Establishes a clearly focused controlling idea.
Demonstrates coherent and rhetorically sophisticated organization; makes effective connections between ideas.
Provides clear generalizations with specific detail, compelling support and cogent analysis.
Cites relevant sources and evaluates their validity, effectively integrating them into text when appropriate.
Displays superior, consistent control of syntax, sentence variety, word choice, and conventions of Standard English.

B GOOD--A paper in this category

Addresses the assignment clearly and analytically, setting a meaningful task.
Addresses audience needs and expectations.
Establishes a clearly focused controlling idea.
Demonstrates clear and coherent organization.
Provides clear generalizations and effective support and analysis.
Cites relevant sources, effectively integrating them into text when appropriate.
Displays consistent control of syntax, sentence variety, word choice, and conventions of Standard English.

C ACCEPTABLE--A paper in this category

Addresses the assignment with some analysis.
Addresses most audience needs and expectations.
Establishes a controlling idea.
Demonstrates adequate organization.
Provides support for and some analysis of generalizations.
Cites relevant sources, effectively integrating them into text.
Displays adequate control of syntax, sentence variety, word choice, and conventions of Standard English; errors do not slow the reader, impede understanding, or seriously undermine the authority of the writer.

F SERIOUS FLAWS--A paper in this category

Addresses the assignment inadequately.
Shows insufficient audience awareness.
Strays from the controlling idea, or the idea is unclear
Displays formulaic, random, or confusing organization.
Lacks generalizations, or provides generalizations with inadequate support or analysis.
Fails to cite sources or cites and/or integrates them inappropriately.
Shows deficient control of syntax, word choice, and convention of Standard English; errors impede understanding.

REQUIRED READINGS
California Budget Project. (2007). Special report. Hard work and a
fair shot: Helping California’s low-income working families make
ends meet. Sacramento, CA: Author.

Cooper, L. B. (2009) Readings in social work history and policy (an anthology of
readings available from Instructor) (on reserve in Library).

Readings posted on LOCUS

Shipler, D. (2004). The working poor: Invisible in America. NY: Knopf.

RECOMMENDED READING
Blau, J. with M. Abramovitz. (2007). The dynamics of social welfare policy. NY:
Oxford University Press. (4 of 13 chapters are included in the Reader. It is an excellent reference to have in your professional library)

CLASS SCHEDULE

Class #1                  August 29
              Introduction and Overview
              State of the Nation
              State of the State

Guest Speaker: Rebecca Gonzales, California Budget Project

Required Reading:

Shipler, D. (2004). The working poor: Invisible in America. NY: Knopf.

Required Readings at www.cbp.org and on LOCUS:

California Budget Project. (2007). Making ends meet. How much does it cost to raise a family in California. Sacramento, CA: Author
California Budget Project. (2008). Who pays taxes in California? Sacramento, CA: Author.
California Budget Project. (2005). Planning for California’s future: The state’s population is growing, aging, and becoming more diverse. CA: Author.
Fagan, K. (30 June, 2009). State's most conservative county uses much cash. SF Chronicle, p. 1.

Class discussion of readings:

Key themes;
New and challenging ideas;
Specific relevance of the readings to social work practice (micro, mezzo, macro);
Additional questions/concerns.

The Nation: Thomas: US Congress on the Internet
Census Bureau

State of California:
California State Assembly
California State Senate
California Statistical Abstract
Legislative Analyst's Office
California Department of Social Services
California Budget Project
U.S. Poverty Basics
California Tax Reform Association
The Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Equality

Class #2 September 19
State of Social Work
Policy Analysis
Guest speakers:
Janlee Wong, MSW
Executive Director
NASW California

Mary Sheppard, MSW
Social Services Consultant III
California Department of Social Services-
Outcomes Bureau.

Maggie Young, MSW
Advocate Assistant
League of Women Voters

#1 Essay Assignment
Email Draft to me by October 5th. Paper due at beginning of Class #3.
Analyze a specific agency (field placement or work) policy in terms of the questions in the FRAMEWORK FOR POLICY ANALYSIS (on LOCUS).
First briefly explain the policy you are discussing. This assignment is generally 5 to 7 pages long. Cite the assigned readings in your analysis.

Required Readings in Reader:
Freire, P. (1990). A critical understanding of social work. Journal of Progressive Human Services,1(1), 3-9.
Van Den Bergh, N., Cooper, L. (Eds.) (1989) Introduction. Feminist visions for social work (pp. 1-28) Maryland: NASW.
Carniol, B. (1992). Structural social work: Maurice Moreau’s challenge to social work practice. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 3(1), 1-20.
Blau, J. (2004). Introduction: Social problems, social policy, social change. In J. Blau with M. Abramovitz. The dynamics of social welfare policy (pp. 3-18).
NY: Oxford University Press.
Abramovitz, M. (2004) Definition and functions of social welfare policy: Setting the stage for social change. In J. Blau with M. Abramovitz. The dynamics of social welfare policy (pp. 19-54). NY: Oxford University Press.
Quinn, P. (1996). Identifying gendered outcomes of gender-neutral policies. AFFILIA, 11(2), 195-206.
Schnorr, P.S. (nd). Power and resistance in human service provision: The politics of degraded clients and frustrated providers. American Bar Foundation Working Paper #9414. Chicago, IL: American Bar Foundation.
LaPan, A., Platt, T. (2005). “To stem the tide of degeneracy” The eugenic impulse in social work. In Stuart Kirk (Ed.) Mental health
and the social environment: Critical perspectives (pp. 139-164).NY: Columbia University Press.
Blau, J. (2004). Income support: Programs and policies. In J. Blau with M. Abramovitz. The dynamics of social welfare policy (pp. 279-311). NY:
              Oxford University Press.
Required Readings on LOCUS:
Park, Y. (2008). Facilitating injustice: Tracing the role of social workers in the World War II internment of Japanese Americans. Social
            Service Review, 82(3), 447-483.
Jacobson, W.B. (2001). Beyond therapy: Bringing social work back to human services reform. Social Work, 46(1), 51-61.
Platt, T. (2005). Religion, sexuality & social work. Unpublished paper.
George, P., Marlowe, S. (2005). Structural social work in action: Experiences from rural India. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 16(1), 5-24.
Definitions of Policy
Recommended Reading on LOCUS:
Harding, S. (2004). The sound of silence: Social work, the academy, and Iraq. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, XXXI(2), 179-197.

Relevant Web Sites: See course web page for web addresses
Board of Behavioral Sciences
NASW: California
NASW: National
NASW Code of Ethics
Social Welfare Action Alliance
SWAN Social Work Access Network
Information for Practice
http://www.socialworkreinvestment.org/

Class #3                  October 17
Essay #1 Due
              Policy Analysis
The History of Social Work and Social Workers in the United States
The Progressive Era
Guest Speaker:
Stacie Hiramoto, MSW
Assistant Director for Special Programs
Mental Health Association in California
Required Readings in Reader:
Blau, J. (2004). Health care: Programs and policies. In J. Blau with M. Abramovitz. The dynamics of social welfare policy (pp. 373-402). NY:
              Oxford University Press.
Katz, M. B. (1996). The origins and failure of the poorhouse. In the shadow of the poorhouse: A social history of welfare in America (pp. 3-36; 336-340). NY, NY: Basic Books.
Katz, M. B. (1996). The theory and practice of scientific charity. In the shadow of the poorhouse: A social history of welfare in America (pp. 60-87; 342-344). NY, NY: Basic Books.
Sklar, K.K. (1985). Hull House in the 1890s: A community of women reformers. Signs, 10, 109-122.
Abrams, L.S., Curran, L. (2000). Wayward girls and virtuous women: Social workers and female juvenile delinquency in the progressive era. AFFILIA,
            15(1), 49-64.
Lomawaima, K. Tsianina. (1993). Domesticity in the federal Indian schools: The power of authority over mind and body. They called it Prairie Light: The story of the Chilocco Indian School (pp. 227-240). Omaha, NB: University of Nebraska Press.
Required Readings on LOCUS:
NEW Romney, L., Gold, S. (September 17, 2007).BREAKDOWN - Rural areas reap little from Prop. 63-New funds to help the mentally ill
are no salve in counties struggling to provide core services. Los Angeles Times.
NEW Mental Health Services Act.
NEW MHSA Regulations.

Anucha, U. (2005). Conceptualizing homeless exits and returns: The case for a multidimensional response to episodic homelessness.
Critical Social Work, 6(1).
Ortiz, L.P., Wirz, C., Semion, K., Rodriguez, C. (2004). Legislative casework: Where policy and practice intersect. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, XXXI(2), 49-68.
Platt, A.M., Cooreman, J. (2001). A multicultural chronology of welfare policy and social work in the U. S. Social Justice, 28(1), 91-137.
Abrams, L.S., Curran, L. (2000). Wayward girls and virtuous women: Social workers and female juvenile delinquency in the progressive era. AFFILIA,
15(1), 49-64.
Wahab, S. (2002). “For their own good?”: Sex, social control and social workers: A historical perspective. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 29 (4), 39-57.
Carlton-LaNey, I. (1999). African American social work pioneer’s responses to need. Social Work, 44(4), 311-321.
Recommended Reading on LOCUS:
Novotny, K. (2000). Experts in their own lives: Emphasizing client-centeredness in a homeless program. Policy Studies Journal 28(2), 382-401.
Recommended Readings in Reader:
Piven, F. Fox, Cloward, R. (1993). Relief, labor and civil disorder: An overview. Regulating the poor: The functions of public welfare (pp. 3-41) (updated edition). NY, NY: Vintage Books.

Videos: Sicko; Legacies of Social Change; The idea makers: The women of Hull House
Relevant Web Sites: See course web page for web addresses
Children's Defense Fund
Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
Economic Justice for Tax Reform
American Public Human Services Association
Joint Center for Poverty Research
Institute for Research on Poverty
The Urban Institute
Assessing the New Federalism: An Urban Institute Program to Assess Changing Social Policies
California Budget Project
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Influencing State Policy
PolicyLink

California ’s Underground Railroad
Angel Island : Immigrant Journeys of Chinese-Americans
Emma Goldman Papers
Immigration in the Progressive Era
The African-American Mosaic
Twenty Years at Hull House
The Seneca Falls Declaration
Women's Rights Chronology
Historical Perspectives on social welfare in the Black community (1886-1939)

Class #4 November 14

Social Action Paper Due; Essay #2 Due; Essay #3 handed out

The Great Depression; The War on Poverty

Required Readings in Reader:
Katz, M. B. (1996). Reorganizing the nation. In the shadow of the poorhouse: A social history of welfare in America (pp. 213-255; 356-361). NY, NY: Basic Books.
Sanchez, G.J. (1993). Americanization and the Mexican immigrant. Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, culture, and identity in Chicano, Los Angeles, 1900-1945 (pp. 87-107). NY, NY: Oxford University Press.
Abramovitz, M. (1988). The Great Depression and the Social Security Act. Regulating the lives of women: Social welfare policy from colonial times to
the present (pp. 215-240). Boston, MA: South End Press.
Andrews, J., Reisch, M. (1997). Social work and anti-communism: A historical analysis of the McCarthy era. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 8(2), 29-49.
Katz, M. B. (1996). The war on poverty and the expansion of social welfare. In the shadow of the poorhouse: A social history of welfare in America (pp. 259-282; 361-365). NY, NY: Basic Books.
Cloward, R.A, Fox Piven, F. (1966, May 22). The weight of the poor: A strategy to end poverty. Nation, 510-17. In G. Mink, R. Solinger. (2004) Welfare: A documentary history of U.S. policy and politic. (pp. 249-259) NY: NY
University Press.
Ehrenreich, J. (1985). Kennedy, Johnson, and the Great Society. The altruistic imagination: A history of social policy in the United States (pp. 158-168). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Recommended Readings in Reader:
Quadagno, J. (1994). Abandoning the American dream. The color of welfare: How racism undermined the war on poverty (pp. 89-115). NY, NY: Oxford University Press.
Required Readings on LOCUS:
Wilkerson-Freeman, S. (2002).The creation of a subversive feminist dominion: Interacialist social workers and the Georgia new deal. Journal of Women’s History, 13(4), 132-155.
Recommended Reading on LOCUS:
Naples, N. A. (1998). From maximum feasible participation to disenfranchisement. Social Justice, 25(1), 47-66.

Film: Rosie the Riveter
Video: The War on Poverty

Relevant Web Sites: See course web page for web addresses
Louis Wicks Hines Photographs
WPA Life Histories
FDR and the New Deal
Paul Robeson
America from the Great Depression to World War II.
California’s Living New Deal Project

Civil Rights Act of 1964
Poverty Guidelines, Research and Measurement

Class #5 December 12 Final Essay Due

Current welfare policy: The future of social services

Required Reading:
California Budget Project. (2007). Special Report: Hard Work and a Fair Shot: Helping California’s Low-Income Working Families Make
            Ends Meet. Sacramento, CA: Author.
Required Readings in Reader:
Seccombe, K., James, D. et al. (1998). ‘They think you ain’t much of nothing’: The social construction of the welfare mother. Journal of Marriage &
Family, 60(4), 849-856.
DeParle, J. (20 April 1999). Behind a success story for welfare, struggles. NY Times. Accessed April 20, 1999 at
           http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/042099welfare-law.html
Jarrico, P., Biberman, H.J. (nd).Notes on Salt of the Earth.
Hacker, J. (2006). Introduction. On the edge (pp. 1-9); The new economic insecurity (pp. 10-34); Risking it all (36-60). The great risk shift. NY:
            Oxford University Press. (footnotes pp. 200-208)
Zuberi, D. (2006). Poverty and policy in the United States and Canada (pp.13-23; footnotes pp. 193-197); Social welfare policy differences (pp. 86-112;
           footnotes pp. 202-205) in Differences that matter social policy and theworking poor in the United States and Canada. Ithaca, NY: ILR Press.
Schorr, L.B. (1997). What works and why we have so little of it. Common purpose: Strengthening families and neighborhoods to rebuild America (pp. 3-21). NY: Anchor Books.
Required Readings on LOCUS:
Mink, G. (2001). Faith in government? Social Justice, 28(1), 5-10.
Solinger, R. (2001). …But no faith in the people. Social Justice, 28(1), 11-13.
Roberts, P. (2004, August). I can’t give you anything but love: Would poor couples with children be better off economically if they married?. CLASP,
            Brief No. 5. Washington, D.C.: Author.
Speiglman, R., Li, Y. (2008, March). Addressing barriers on the path to self- sufficiency. Policy Brief. Oakland, CA: Child & Family Policy Institute of
            California.
Levin-Epstein, J., Lyons, W. (2009, January). Target practice: Lessons for poverty reduction. CLASP. Washington, D.C.
Recommended Reading on LOCUS:
Center for American Progress Task Force on Poverty. (2007). From poverty to prosperity: A national strategy to cut poverty in half. Center for American Progress: Washington, D.C.

Video: Take It From Me (005979)

Relevant Web Sites: See course web page for web addresses
Institute for Global Communications
Homelessness and Poverty
Joint Center for Poverty Research
Child Welfare On-Line Review
Center for American Progress

Relevant Web Sites: See course web page for web addresses
There are many, many progressive and informative web sites, here are just a few to give you a taste of what you can find.
ZNet;Social Welfare Action Alliance ; Latino Issues Forum; Mexican Legal Defense and Education Fund; Legal Momentum;Progressive Portal;National Women's History Project; National Gay Lesbian Task Force;Handsnett; Alternet (alternative news source); Moveon;; MomsRising