Connecting Social Welfare Policy to Fields of Practice

Invaluable guidance and advice for creating positive change in social policy

Edited by a team of renowned experts, Connecting Social Welfare Policy to Fields of Practice features contributions from leaders in this field providing a variety of perspectives on different topics. This visionary guide equips social workers to proactively engage in policy practice to influence specific policies.

Designed as a social welfare policy practice text for undergraduate and graduate students in social work programs, this book meets the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS).

Each chapter begins with an overarching question and “what if” scenarios, and ends with a set of suggested key terms, online resources, and discussion questions.

Connecting Social Welfare Policy to Fields of Practice addresses specific populations within a wide variety of practice arenas, including:

• Social welfare policy and politics
• Aging in the United States
• Public mental health policy in the United States
• Disability policy development
• Health-care policy
• Urban housing policy
• Child welfare policy
• Redefining the welfare state in a global economy

Global in context, Connecting Social Welfare Policy to Fields of Practice encourages those in the social work profession to become directly engaged with individuals, families, groups, and communities in the crafting of impartial public policies for marginalized members of society.

IRA C. COLBY, DSW, is Dean of the Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston, Texas. Dr. Colby has served on, chaired, or held elective positions in a number of national social work associations, including past president of the Council on Social Work Education, and serves on a number of journal editorial boards.

CATHERINE N. DULMUS, PhD, LCSW, is Professor, Associate Dean for Research, and Director of the Buffalo Center for Social Research in the School of Social Work at the University at Buffalo, SUNY, and Research Director at Hillside Family of Agencies in Rochester, New York.

KAREN M. SOWERS, PhD, is Dean and Beaman Professor in the College of Social Work at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her research interests include juvenile justice, sexuality, social work education, child welfare, evidence–based practice, and international social work practice.