Agency Based Social Work

The agency is the hidden reality of social work. Agency decisions determine which clients will be served, how they will be served, by whom, for how long, and at what cost. Social workers at all levels are increasingly called upon to supervise volunteers and para-professionals, to work collaboratively with other professionals, and to fulfill the requirements of new accountability mechanisms such as quality assurance schemes. Recent changes in social policy have meant unplanned and unserviced deinstitutionalization, service contraction, benefit reduction, and other threats to client well-being. To cope effectively with these trends, practitioners need to expand their repertoire of organizational roles. The purpose of this book is to provide a theoretical and practical underpinning for such an expansion. The book is divided into ten chapters, each corresponding to a discrete administrative role. Each chapter contains a substantial overview. Author note: All three authors are affiliated with the Hunter College School of Social Work.