History of Social Work in The United States of America

The English Poor Law legislation’s and related

developments provided the background for the

development of American systems of relief. The colonists

from England, who came in the early and midseventeenth

century, brought with them English laws,

customs, institutions and ideas and implanted them

in America.

Three Social Movements

During the last half of the 19th century, the US

experienced an increase in social problems as a result

of rapid industrialization, urbanization, and

immigration, together with the massive growth of the

population. In response to these problems, three social

movements began that formed the basis for the

development of the social work profession:

1) The Charity Organization Societies (COS)

movement, which began in 1877 in Buffalo, New

York;

2) The Settlement House movement, which began in

1886 in New York City; and

3) The Child Welfare movement, which was a result

of several loosely related developments, notably the

Children’s Aid Society and the Society for the

Prevention of Cruelty to Children, which began in

New York City in 1853 and 1875, respectively.

Let us look at these movements in more detail as they

form the basis for future developments.

COS Movement

The settlement house movement and the child welfare

movement eventually made important contributions to

the development of the social work profession, but it

is in the COS movement that the origin of the

profession is to be found.

S. Humpherys Gurteen, an English cleric who had been

impressed with charity organization in London, founded

the first COS in the United States in Buffalo, New

York, in 1877. The Buffalo COS served as a model for

rapid development of similar organizations. Within 15

years, there were COS agencies in 92 American cities.

The beginning of professional approach to the problems

of human need can be seen in the philosophy of COS

movement. The “scientific charity” attitude adopted by

the COS enabled them to understand and cure poverty

and family disorganization rather than merely assisting

the poor. The charity organizations wanted to apply

science to social welfare in the same way that it had

been applied to medicine and engineering.

The COS leaders sought to replace chaotic charity with

a rational system that would stress investigation, coordination,

and personal service. Each case was to be

considered individually, thoroughly investigated and

assigned to a “friendly visitor.” The techniques used

by the friendly visitors consisted of personal attributes

such as sympathy, tact, patience, and wise advice. The

COS friendly visitors, most of them women, are the

true forerunners of today’s social workers.

Besides, the COS movement fostered the development

of the family service agencies of today, the practice of

family casework, family counselling, schools of social

work, employment services, legal aid, and many other

programs which are a part and parcel of social work

today.

In addition to these contributions may be listed the

establishment of the first social work publication,

Charities Review, which was merged into The Survey in

1907 and continued publication until 1952.

Settlement House Movement

Another significant development of social services in

America has been that of the social settlement house.

Settlement houses in the United States began in the

late 1800s and were modelled after Toynbee Hall,

founded in England in 1884 by Samuel Barnett. Many

settlement houses were established in cities across

the country, including Chicago’s Hull House, started

by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr in 1889.

The settlement house movement, which combined

social advocacy and social services, was a response to

the social disorganization that resulted from

widespread industrialization, urbanization and

immigration. Through group work and neighbourhood

organizing strategies, the settlement house workers

established neighbourhood centres and offered services

such as citizenship training, adult education,

counselling, recreation, and day care.

The settlement house workers were young, idealistic

college graduates from wealthy families who lived

among the poor as “settlers” and thereby experienced

the harsh realities. For the most part, they were

volunteers and community leaders and not employed

as social work professionals.

The settlement house leaders believed that by changing

neighbourhood they can improve communities and by

changing communities they can develop a better

society. The seeds of social work methods, namely,

Group Work, Social Action and Community

Organization, were thus sown in the settlement house

movement.

Child Welfare Movement

The Children’s Aid Society (1853) and the Society for

the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (1875) which

began in New York City formed the basic elements of

a child welfare movement. However, the beginnings of

the Child Welfare movement can be traced back to

1729 when the Ursuline sisters established an

institution in New Orleans for children of parents

massacred by Indians.

The child welfare agencies had limited aims. They were

basically concerned with “rescuing” children from

inadequate homes or from the streets and finding for

them wholesome living situations. Once their goals

were accomplished, the agencies considered their job

to be over.