Co-ordination of Family Welfare Services in France

Abstract

AN INTERESTING new experiment on co-operation between public and private welfare organizations in France deserves the attention of social workers. Until the end of World War I family welfare services were rendered primarily by private social agencies of religious or philanthropic character in order to help families in economic or material difficulties and in problems with their children or relatives. Traditional development had led to a situation in which numerous private health and welfare agencies engaged in family counseling and infant and child care. Dispensaries and clinics sent their home visitors into families for social investigation and advice. More recently, local public welfare agencies, the regional offices of the family allowance funds, and the social insurance administration have employed trained social workers. They too make home calls and visit frequently the same families that are under the care of private agencies. It happened, occasionally, that social workers of several organizations met in the home of a client's family or duplicated each other's efforts in discussing problems, giving advice, taking the social history of the family, and making plans for relief or rehabilitation. On the other hand, people in great need remained without help from any organization because their distress was not known. The overlapping in care was due in part to the fact that there was no social service exchange with a central confidential register which informed the various agencies about those clients who were cared for by other organizations. After the end of World War II social problems were intensified. Families were broken by the death of many members of the armed forces and partisans of the maquis and by prolonged separation from those who became prisoners of war or were taken from their homes as slave laborers. Severe housing shortages, widespread unemployment, lack of food and clothing in the war devastated areas caused suffering and discontent. A change in the method of individual social work with families was needed in order to use the available resources more