Official proceedings of the annual meeting: 1941

16 SOCIAL WORK'S CONTRIBUTION TO GOVERNMENT
application of benefits in relation to unusual situations. If the
role of these social workers is carefully determined and if they
have easy access to the administrative head of the agency, they
can utilize their experience with particular individuals as a basis
for suggesting improvements in the administration and service
to the total group for whom the program was intended.
For a long time probation has served in this capacity for courts,
parole for correctional institutions, medical social work for hospitals. New opportunities are now presented for similar service
in the social insurances, employment, and related social programs.
Whether or not social workers will be permitted to function
in this manner in these programs will depend upon their ability
to interpret individual needs and upon the vision and capacity
of the agency executives to utilize the services of social workers.
All these programs, closely related as they are, indicate the
need for social planning of a high order. This function must be
an integral part of the professional social worker's responsibility.
In initiation and planning for the public welfare and in the promotion of community understanding which has been translated
into the social welfare legislation of our government, the contributions of social workers have been incalculable. When the
force of circumstances required some kind of action, the form
of this action was strongly affected by the concept and principles
of sound social policy as defined by social work.
Social research is another important field with which social
workers must become increasingly familiar, and in which knowledge gained from experience in social work administration has
a significant role to play. What is happening to people and how
government programs are affecting their lives must be studied
constantly. In every area of operation of all types of social programs the need for objective standards and evaluations based
upon fact is apparent. Desk research is not enough; the collection
of statistical data and its interpretation are important but, in
addition, field studies of the operation of programs and their
effect upon individuals must be made.
The foregoing poses a challenge to the adaptability of the field