When individuals are found in an emergency they should be given relief, regardless of personal merit. The extension of relief in case of fire, flood or other accident is only an act of humanity.
A different and more productive form of help is remedial work. This type of work often accompanies and follows relief work. It is corrective, for example, the finding of employment for a friendless man, or the medical treatment of a sick man, is remedial work.
A still higher form of social work is preventive. Hand in hand with the giving of work to friendless men, and the curing of sick men, for example, we must undertake measures which will prevent a recurrence of unemployment on the one hand, and illness on the other. Preventive work is often indirect, but ultimately it is the most important type of social work.
Recently there has been a reaction against almsgiving or pure charity, and a distinct tendency to develop what may be called the concept of social service. Charity is too often concerned with the pauper class; social service is a wider term and includes not only what was formerly known as charity, but also child welfare, settlement work, folk dancing, and other socializing activities which are helpful in a modern community, but which have nothing to do with alms. Charity too often pauperizes and degrades; social service encourages self-help and self-expression in the vital social relations. Formerly charity was almost exclusively the function of the pious and the sympathetic; the present tendency is for social service to become a distinct profession, administered by highly trained specialists.
285. THE STAGE OF SPECIALIZATION.—One of the signs that we are recognizing the growing need of an individualized treatment of dependents, is the degree to which our social service agencies are becoming specialized. The treatment of the dependent may take either an institutional or a non-institutional form. Let us briefly notice the specialization in each of these forms.
The almshouse, almost universal a century ago, is being rapidly displaced by a series of specialized institutions. In most states there are now separate institutions for the treatment of the pauperized, the diseased, the blind, the deaf, the insane, the feeble- minded, and the otherwise dependent. Inmates of these institutions are given special treatment by experts. When the defect has been remedied, the patient is released; in case remedy is impossible, the individual is segregated and accorded humane and sympathetic treatment during the rest of his life. This prevents the untold harm of releasing defective and irresponsible people into the community. Institutions of this character are largely under state control, and are intended primarily for individuals who cannot be properly treated in their homes.
Dependents who are only slightly or temporarily handicapped, or who are not in need of special treatment, may be best cared for in their homes and by private individuals or associations. In this non- institutional form of social service there is also a high degree of specialization. The casual almsgiver has been succeeded by a whole series of social service agencies. Prisoners' aid societies, employment bureaus, immigrant aid societies, flower missions, Americanization clubs, recreation centers, housing clubs, community nursing clubs, and scores of other organizations have sprung up. Every large city in the United States has several hundred of these organizations, each attacking social problems of a special type.
286. NECESSITY OF COÍRDINATION.—Specialization in social service has been followed by the development of means of co÷rdinating the various specialized agencies.
That there is urgent need of such co÷rdination has been repeatedly called to our attention. It is still true that often the institutions for the dependent classes within a single state pursue different methods, and so limit their separate fields that many types of dependents are inadequately cared for.
Among the large number of private agencies there has been a great waste of time and energy. The fact that each society is independent of its fellows has meant that in some fields of social service efforts were duplicated, while other fields were neglected. Cases demanding treatment by several agencies could not be given adequate care because of the lack of correlation among such agencies. Beggars often imposed upon a number of different societies by assuming different names. Each society had its own periods of campaigning for funds, a practice which meant an excess of tag-days and campaigns and a waste of time and energy on the part of social workers.