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NEWS & LETTERS, NOVEMBER 2003Taking the humanism out of social workLos Angeles, Cal.--I work with abused women. I was a battered woman myself and I care about other battered women. However, the way social services are being run, such human concern seems to be the last priority. One woman told me she had an unusual home visit by a welfare worker. The worker said, “I don’t believe you didn’t get back together with your boyfriend.” This was a stunning accusation, because it was not true. It is so hard already to break with battering and to make it on your own. The welfare workers were apparently told to tighten the screws. They are being told to accuse the women of getting back together with their batterers because there is an increased pressure to find fraud even where there is none. In another case a woman’s son was helping with her rent. The welfare worker knew it for a long time. The small sum her son was giving her does not indicate any attempt to defraud welfare, and the welfare worker knew it. But she got a letter that her welfare was being reduced or even totally cut off! Reducing welfare rolls seems more important than anyone’s welfare. Women who are not residents only get assistance for their children, not themselves. How are they supposed to live? Women who are residents are required to get a job. Even if they could find a job in this economy, how are they supposed to take care of their children? In order for my agency to survive at all we have to compete for grants, which are never enough to cover the need. So we have to do fundraising. We’ve had to hire professional fundraisers. Now we have an MBA as our new director! Our agency is transformed from abused-women run, to a "professional," which means corporate, structure. We are being told that we can’t go to the women’s and children’s birthday parties because that is “unprofessional.” Relating to abused women as human beings is, apparently, “unprofessional.” Is it any wonder that women are feeling more uncomfortable dealing with the system, which treats them with suspicion and contempt? --Long time shelter worker |
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