Social Work as an Integral Part of Family Planning Service for Low-Income Families: an Example of U.S. Experience

Abstract

[The family planning movement in the United States is oriented not only toward regulating the fertility rate but also toward promoting the welfare of families. Thus, family planning assistance has become a standard component of public health and welfare services. The intent of the movement has been well realized in the government-supported maternity and infant care program designed to serve mothers and children of low-income families. Social work and family planning services are maior parts of this comprehensive, free-of-charge, health care program. Citing an example of this program, the paper discusses the types of human problems that social workers handle in this program, ways in which the social workers deliver their services, and the significance that their services have to family planning for indigent mothers and pregnant teen-age girls.]