The nature, purpose, and practice of human services

¶ … Nature Purpose Human Services Practice

Functions and History of Human Service Professionals

On a fundamental level, the overarching goal of human service workers is to serve their clients. It is widely acknowledged within this profession that there are a variety of client types who have a plethora of issues that human workers assist in solving. To that end, the primary goal of human service employees has been succinctly summarized within the preamble of the "Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals," which unequivocally states that "Human services is a profession developing in response to and in anticipation of the direction of human needs and human problems in the late twentieth century" (No author, no date, p. 81). Therefore, the goal of this profession is to ideally solve problems that plague individuals and groups of people in the latter stages of the twentieth century and in the beginning stages of the 21st century. Although there are frequently situations (as virtually any human services professional can attest to) in which it may not be possible to outright correct a particular issue so that it is no longer a problem, human services aims to at least mitigate the severity of such situations to make them more agreeable to the participants who are involved in them.

In order to fulfill these goals, there are a number of job functions that human service professionals may have to take on to ensure the largest measure of satisfaction within their clients as possible. Central to these roles is the facilitation of a spirit of community in which clients -- which encompass a wide range of people from organizations to individuals and their respective families -- can both access and gain results from in order to lead happier, more productive lives. Depending on the nature of the needs of specific clients, human service professionals may choose to specialize in one of the following areas or take on the job functions of a number of related 'helping professions' that may consist of, yet are not limited to, "caregiver, case manager, broker, teacher, educator, behavior changer, consultant, outreach professional, mobilizer, advocate, community planner, community change organizer, evaluator and administrator (SREB, 1967) (No author, no date, p. 81).

There is actually a fairly lengthy history of human services needs and organizations that have sought to meet these needs, which extends well beyond the latter part of the 20th century. Although this concept may have originally descended as part of feudalism in which one's lord had an obligation to assist his or her tenants in various regions of their lives and livelihoods, the history of this line of work within the United States most likely began in earnest during the Great Depression, when President Roosevelt sought to enact a number of specific legislature that could ameliorate the condition of the multitudes of destitute people suffering. While there had been many federally designated programs to aid people with issues of poverty that manifested themselves in lack of clothing, poor health and even worse nourishment, one of the specific measures with which human services would be based upon is the Federal Social Security Act of 1933, as the following quotation sufficiently demonstrates.

The Social Security Act - a sweeping federal law - is best known for creating a national system of old age insurance financed by taxes on wages and payrolls. But it did much, much more: it created a federal/state system of unemployment insurance, provided federal matching funds to states for the care of mothers and children, and created federal public health services (Washington State, no date).

What is most noteworthy about this quotation is the role in which the federal government played in the creation of health services, which eventually spawned human services. It is noteworthy to mention that a number of the roles that human service professionals provide -- pedagogues, caregivers and administrators, for example -- may be employed at state and federal levels as well. However, it was the spirit of reform and the notion that certain individuals could become problem solvers, social or caseworkers, and significantly impact people in need of assistance regarding social issues, which helped to spawn the profession of human services.

Regardless of the specific application of human services that a particular client may be in need of, the process for problem solving, and intervening on the behalf of such a client, is generally the same, as underscored by the following quotation. "Whatever the issue, the Human Service worker's job is to assess the nature of the problem, develop a plan or program to address it and carry out that intervention" (Wendi, 2012). Therefore, the first step in providing intervention is to ascertain just what the particular need of a client is that is not being met. Doing so involves more than simply listening to a client's complain, but oftentimes requires research of laws of municipal codes that provide the circumstances for why a specific problem may be existent. To that end, one of the most frequently occurring strategies for intervention is advocacy, or lobbying on behalf of a particular client, to some larger, formal organization, which the following quotation from the portion of "Ethical Standards for Human Services Professionals," entitled The Human Service Professional's Responsibility to the Community and the Society makes abundantly clear.

"Human service professionals are aware of local, state, and federal laws. They advocate for change in regulations and statutes when such legislation conflicts with ethical guidelines and/or client rights. Where laws are harmful to individuals, groups or communities, human services professionals consider the conflict between the values of obeying the law and…serving the people and may…initiate social action" (No author, no date, p. 83).

In addition to outlining one of the most common forms of intervention that human

Service professionals utilize, this quotation also elucidates one of the most eminent of ethical considerations that is germane to this profession. Those engaged in human services are charged with not only studying, knowing, and observing the law, but with upholding it, as well. Yet in numerous occasions the laws may be unbeneficial to certain groups of people or contain legal loopholes that allows for exploitation and disharmonious lifestyles for certain individuals or organizations. Ethically, then, human services workers must decide which is more important, to abide by the law or to challenge it for the benefit of their clients.