Introduction to Social Welfare

Course content will be guided by research, empirical knowledge and best practices. The following values and principles, consistent with professional standards, inform course content:

• Social policy decisions are related to the protection and affirmation of human rights. Public sentiment influences those who are safeguarded by legislation and the consequences for those who are oppressed.
• Individual problems are related to larger socio-economic political issues. This includes the need for both personal and social change, the need to explore and reflect on one's own social location and the structural context of society (class, gender, race, age, government institutions).
• Poverty is an issue of equity. Although all people face some risk of being poor, people who are marginalized face significantly higher risk.
• Understanding societal attitudes, the political process, relevant legislation and the social welfare delivery system and policy are prerequisites for providing direct service and for advocating on behalf of service users. 
• Models of change need to be appropriate for diverse populations depending on factors such as history, culture and power within the legal, political and social structures of society.
• The delivery of social welfare is not an inert enterprise and at both the practical and theoretical level the social worker adopts an active role to advocate on behalf of service users within formal and informal mechanisms of providing help.
• All social workers need to be aware of their own values, political agendas and the potential biases within their role as professionals.
• The impacts of neoliberal principles continue to erode the universal delivery of social welfare across Canada and the notion of equal access for all is under threat.