News Brief

Jewish Welfare Society, Philadelphia

When events begin their work of change upon a familiar scene, this change is scarcely noticed. The influence is so gradual and so subtle, that we are unaware of difference and our normally changing environment remains for us the familiar scene. But when events are as cataclysmic as those we have known in the past few years, the force and suddenness of the change they bring about startle us into unusual activity. Into such a situation we were thrown about four years ago when the first impact of wide-spread unemployment was recognized by the various communities as a serious reality which could no longer be ignored, nor its needs met by the promise of a reluctant and hesitating prosperity.

Early in 1930, before unemployment relief had become a matter for public action, the first efforts at help were through private subscription, and naturally relief was dispensed through the private family case work agency. This period of caseloads of crushing numbers and high-powered relief dispensing on a greater mass basis than ever before did not fail to leave its mark upon the private family agency. When there was a respite from the endless array of applicants who came to us for help, from a task that was gigantic and almost overwhelming, we realized that the experience, no matter how devastating it had seemed, had been one of challenge and growth. This period inevitably forced the family agency to a greater scrutiny of its methods, its objectives, its very reason for being and what the continued reason for its being should be.

It would be premature to predict what the eventual function of the family agency will be. We are experiencing a consciously transitional period and are exploring, planning and experimenting. We can, and are, changing technique and developing trends.

It is important that the concern of the family agency shall be the area within which it shall operate, so that its services will be concentrated where they will be of greatest usefulness. Selectivity of clientele has had to become the watchword of the family agency and the application department the pivotal point from which activity begins. Study and concentration at this point are extremely important, as it is in the application department that the fitness of the agency to deal with a particular problem is determined. The responsibility which the family agency has taken in extending its services over a wide area is ending. The family agency can no longer attempt to deal with all varieties of problems. The growth and development of the private family agency should hinge to a great extent upon a recognition of its limitations, so that no services are taken on which it does not have the capacity to fulfill.

The responsibility in the process of selection should be three-fold: First-as mentioned above-a recognition by the agency of its limitations; second-the bringing about of a knowledge and understanding on the part of the client that the problem which he brings to the agency is after all his, and, therefore, his participation is the essential factor if treatment is to effective; third-a conscious consideration of the time element involved. By such means will our efforts be focused where the chances of successful treatment are most hopeful since we have learned, in some instances through years of wasted effort, that our greatest skill will not accomplish where the client is unwilling or unable to take part in the working out of his difficulties.