The Social Casework Process: Steps in Casework Method | Social Work | By Grace Methuw |

(caps)C asework method is a cornerstone of professional social work practice, encompassing a range of approaches and techniques tailored to address the unique needs of individuals, families, and groups. At its core, social casework is a collaborative and goal-oriented process aimed at promoting clients' well-being and self-determination. Social workers engage in comprehensive assessments to understand clients' strengths, challenges, and socio-cultural contexts, laying the foundation for personalized intervention plans. These plans often involve a combination of counseling, advocacy, resource coordination, and skill-building activities, all designed to empower clients and enhance their capacity to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals.

Casework process is the ongoing movement of the continuing development of the case involving several activities —some carried out by the social worker alone, some by the client alone and some by the worker and the client together. The process entails different steps and operations. The following steps of social casework methods are given by Grace Mathew "An Introduction to Social Casework".

(toc) #title=(Table of content)

The Social Casework process includes following steps:

Social Study

Social, study is a systematic study of the client and his/her circumstances in relation to his/her problem. Information is collected and organized with regard to the following:

• Problems (the initially stated problem and associated problems if any)
• Age, sex, marital status, etc.
• Educational qualifications
• Nature of employment, income
• Health conditions
• Personality features
• Home and neighborhood
• Family constellation
• Family history (significant events, attitudes, relationships, etc.)

(getButton) #text=(Social Work Material) #icon=(demo)(getButton) #text=(Social Casework) #icon=(demo)(getButton) #text=(Social Group Work) #icon=(demo)(getButton) #text=(Teaching Job) #icon=(demo)(getButton) #text=(Assistant Professor Jobs) #icon=(demo)(getButton) #text=(Govt. University Jobs) #icon=(demo)(getButton) #text=(Private University Jobs) #icon=(demo) 

Not all these areas are important in every case. Nor is it possible to get all the data in one or two interviews. Material on items like personality features, attitudes, relationships, etc. can be garnered only in course of time, as the social worker becomes more familiar with the client and his/her family. With reference to cases of children, their school history, covering their attitude to school, academic performance, behaviour and relationships in school are to be included. When the family is a joint family, information about the members of the joint family may be required.

Social Assessment

Social assessment is aimed at finding answers to three major questions: What is the problem ? How has it arisen? What can be done to solve it? The operation underlying social assessment is that of making a conceptual picture of the problem, leading to a plan of action. It means linking up the contributory factors meaningfully with the help of theoretical knowledge. The theoretical concepts based on casework knowledge and components are concerning to the problems and contributory factors will be helpful for formulating social assessments. While studying personality features, attention may be given to the functioning of the systems of the id, ego and superego of individuals under consideration. Also, deficiencies and defects in child-rearing patterns may be noted. It is likely that the theoretical formulations presented in this book may not be sufficient to formulate a social assessment in some cases. When that occurs, new knowledge has to be sought that it may throw light on the intriguing factors obtained in the case situation. It is equally important to note the positive features in every case situation, which may come in handy as potential resources in the helping process.

Casework Help

This component of the casework process covers the helping activities undertaken by the social worker for rendering and making available various forms of help to the client. From a theoretical perspective, this component has to blend with the plan of action following social assessment. But it may not be always possible to have a perfect blending for the main reason that, assessment of social factors is an on-going activity and that casework help has to be started long before the assessment is complete, considering the possibility that there are gaps in the conceptual picture created by the available data. Help is made available based on a tentative assessment, and as changes occur in the assessment, alterations are brought about in the helping activities as well. Since human beings are dynamic and are likely to be in a state of flux now and then, allowance has to be made for slight variations from the accepted theoretical framework.

Clients are helped through one or more of the following ways:

1. Provision of general assistance in terms of emotional and concrete support

2. Provision of material things like money, articles, medicines, etc.

3. Provision of non-material resources like information and knowledge

4. Changes in the human and physical environment 

5. Provision of counselling help to facilitate change in the feeling, thinking, knowing, speaking and doing (action) behaviours of clients and members of the family.

    Within the activities of help the techniques are operative and it is important that the social worker uses techniques in a planned manner. (S)He should be clear in his/her mind why a technique is used in a particular situation. Every case is a time-bound affair and has to be terminated sometime or other. The closing of a case is also a planned activity within the casework process. A case can be closed for various reasons: 

(1) The client has been helped in the way planned and does not require further help. Many of the cases improve, and a point is reached when the client is able to manage his/her affairs independently. 

(2) The client may entertain higher expectations of the agency than what the latter can fulfil, within its legitimate limits of functioning. 

(3) In some cases, a positive relationship between the social worker and the client may not materialise, with the probable consequence that, the client fails to have any commitment for making efforts to solve his/her problem.

Requirements of professional integrity demand that no case is closed without substantial reasons. If a client is uncooperative, some efforts have to be expended by the social worker to reach out to the client, before a decision is made to terminate the case. The social worker must be able, at least, to uncover the reasons for the client's attitude of non-cooperation, even though he may not have the wherewithal to eliminate or circumvent the reasons.

Evaluation 

Evaluation is the activity of ascertaining whether casework service has achieved the desired result in a case. It is the social worker's reviewing of all the other components of the casework process to make an appraisal of the result. Evaluation seeks to find answers to some questions: Has the client's problem been solved ? Has the client been helped in accordance with the philosophical assumptions and principles of casework ? What tools and techniques were used and why? If the client's problem is still unsolved, has there been any forward movement in the case situation ? If casework help has not produced any result, what are the reasons?

Evaluation is also an ongoing activity, although as a component of the casework process, it finds full scope and expression only after a period of activity. As the social worker continues to offer the service or services, evaluative discernment occurs to him/her at specific points of time regarding the strength, weakness or gaps in his/her social assessment and regarding the success or failure of his/her ways of helpfulness. A look into the near future should follow evaluation. Looking into the future serves to formulate some further plans of social work help in the casework process. 

Conclusion

    The social workers are strive to foster autonomy, resilience, and self-advocacy among those they serve. Through empathetic listening, culturally sensitive practice, and a strengths-based approach, social workers facilitate positive change and promote social justice within their communities. Social casework is not merely a set of techniques but rather a dynamic and evolving process guided by ethical principles and a commitment to promoting human dignity and social equality.