Disclaimer: The views expressed in this document are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), its Board of Directors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this document, and accept no responsibility for any consequence of their use. By making any designation or reference to a particular territory or geographical area, or by using the term “country” in this document, ADB does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. Social work intervention in social assistance: necessity and action strategy Guan Xinping Professor,Social construction and management research institute, Nankai University 2015-12-7

I .The Need of Social assistance for social work intervention and the necessity of social work intervention in social assistance

1. The need of poor families and vulnerable groups （1）At present, most vulnerable families still can not get rid of poverty completely. After receiving assistance, they still face the problem of low income and living standards. （2）Poor families have needs for social work that they may not be aware of, and they also need social work to meet their developmental needs. （3）Poor families that are nearing the poverty line need social work services to enhance ability and opportunity and to prevent further worsening in economic conditions.

（4）Poor families need social work service in the process of obtaining social assistance . （5）Poor families need social work services when they apply special social assistance like care for the most vulnerable、meicial assistance、educational assistance、employment assistance、housing assistance、assistance to vagrants and beggars and so on . （6）Other vulnerable groups also have great need for social work service.

2. The need of Social assistance for social work intervention: on the aspect of social assistance management （1）Characteristics of the current social assistance management system Management system: Administrative Management (government departments and autonomous mass organizations). Management style: traditional administrative measures and the supervision of citizens; the lack of professional management. The effect of management : it can control effectively, but there is obvious negative impact ; inadequate positive incentive to the target population.

（2）Necessity of social work intervention in social assistance management: To enhance professional service and combat the defects of non professional management; To improve the management efficiency and to be more person-centered, and improve positive incentives for the target population.

Ⅱ. The vulnerable groups that social work can serve

1. Main target groups (1) Poor people covered by the Minimum Living Guarantee Schemes: By the end of 2014, there are totally more than 70 million poor people covered by Minimum Living Guarantee Schemes in urban and rural areas. 18.802 million recipients are urban residents while 52.09 million recipients living in rural areas. (2) The most vulnerable covered by special care schemes: By the end of 2014, there are totally 5,295,000 people covered by special care schemes in rural areas. And with the construction of it’s urban counterpart scheme, the numbers will increase.

(3) Low-income families ( not covered by Minimum Living Guarantee Schemes): People whose income is higher than the standard of Minimum Living Guarantee Scheme but lower than 150% of the standard are categorized low-income families. there is still no nationwide statistics on these low-income people.

2. Other groups in difficult situations The first are children in plights. including orphans ( and de facto orphans), children with disabilities, vagrant children, abandoned children, children in poor families, children affected by HIV/AIDS, children suffering from rare diseases. The second is the poor elderly, including the elderly in families covered by Minimum Living Guarantee Schemes and in low-income families (not covered by Minimum Living Guarantee Schemes), especially the very old people, single elderly, the elderly having no person to care for them, elderly who have serious and chronic diseases, the elderly who can’t take care of themselves and other elderly in special difficulties.

The third are people with disabilities, mainly including the disabled in poor families covered by Minimum Living Guarantee Schemes and in low-income families (not covered by Minimum Living Guarantee Schemes), the disabled who are single, persons with severe disabilities ( their level of disabilities are assessed as grade 1 and 2), unemployed persons with disabilities, the elderly with disabilities, and other disabled persons with special difficulties. The fourth is the unemployed. Many unemployed people face some mental pressures and want to be reemployed. they need  more social support and services. Thus, social workers can provide psychological counseling, social support, information services, referring services and so on.

The fifth is poor parents who have only one child but lose their child The fifth is poor parents who have only one child but lose their child. There are about millions of families who lose their child, among them some families are faced with dual difficulties in psychological aspects and financial aspects. The sixth are persons released from prisons. Many people released from prisons have troubles in finding jobs because of their physical problems, mental problems, or social discrimination, and thus are trapped in financial difficulties.

The seventh is single parents with difficulties The seventh is single parents with difficulties. Some single parents have difficulties in finance and need social support. In particular, some single mothers often face the contradiction between employment and raising children, so they need help and support from government and society. The eighth are vagrants and beggars. vagrants and beggars suffer from living problems and many also demonstrate problems in appropriate behaving. Therefore, they need services and also supervision from the government and society.

The ninth are poor migrants The ninth are poor migrants. Many of them are faced with higher unemployment and financial risks. In addition, they have problems in husband-wife relationships, child care and education, culture and entertainment, social interaction, community integration, human rights protection, accessing employment information and other public service information. The last is  persons who are left-behind by rural-urban migrants, including the children,  elderly and wives left-behind.

III. the main areas of social work intervention in social assistance

1. The community social work: mainly relying on community organizations. 2. The medical social work: mainly relying on medical institutions . 3. The school social work: mainly relying on schools . 4. Enterprise social work: mainly relying on enterprises and institutions. 5. Natural disaster social work: mainly relying on the department of civil affairs .

6. Social work of social welfare institutions : mainly relying on social welfare institutions 7. Social work of welfare institutions for vagrants and beggars : mainly relying on assistance stations 8. social work of youth affairs: mainly relying on the communist youth league and other departments 9. social work for women: mainly relying on the women's federation 10. social work for disabled people: mainly relying on the disabled persons' federation

IV. the content of social work involved in social assistance

1. Assistance in everyday life 2. Social care 3. The health service (including mental health service) 4. The rights and protection 5. The dispute mediation and adjustment of social relationship 6. Risk prevention and crisis intervention 7. Cultural and entertainment service 8. Empowerment and motivation

9. The services to complement government’s public service 10. Social assistance management Taking in application and checking the elegibility Monitoring the clients Others

Thanks

关信平 南开大学社会建设与管理研究院教授 2015-12-7 社会工作介入社会救助： 必要性及行动策略 关信平 南开大学社会建设与管理研究院教授 2015-12-7

一、社会救助对社会工作的需求及社会工作介入社会救助的必要性

1. 贫困家庭和弱势群体成员对服务的需要情况 （1）目前最困难的家庭在经济上还没有完全脱贫，即使在获得低保滞后他们仍然面临着收入不足和物质生活水平低下的问题，因此，在其表达性需要方面对社会工作的需要表现出不足 （2）贫困家庭对社会工作服务有“未意识到的需要”和“发展性的需要”

（3）低保边缘户对社会工作的需要：提升能力和机会，防止经济状况的进一步下滑 （4）低保对象和边缘户在获得社会救助待遇的过程中对社会工作服务的需要 （5）低保对象在各个转向救助服务方面对社会工作的需要： 特困人员供养、医疗救助、教育救助、就业救助、住房救助、流浪乞讨人员救助等 （6）其他弱势群体成员对社会工作服务有较大的需要

2. 社会救助服务与管理对社会工作的需要情况 （1）目前社会救助管理体系的特点 管理体制：行政化管理（政府部门及居民自治组织） 管理方式：传统的行政手段加群众监督、缺乏专业化的方式 管理的后果：能够有效地控制，但负面影响较大，对救助对象的正面激励不够

（2）社会工作介入社会救助管理的必要性： 增强专业服务，弥补非专业管理的缺陷； 提高管理效能的同时，也提高管理的人性化水平，并提高对社会救助对象的正面激励

二、社会工作服务困难者的主要对象

1. 基本对象 （1）低保对象： （2）特困供养对象： （3）低收入家庭（低保边缘户）： 到2014年底，中国共有城乡低保对象7000多万人，其中城市低保对象1880.2万人，农村低保对象5209万人 （2）特困供养对象： 2014年底中国有特困供养人员529.5万人，随着城市特困供养制度的建立，这部分人还会增加 （3）低收入家庭（低保边缘户）： 一般按低保标准的150%为测算标准，目前人数还不多，并且无全国统计数据。

2. 其他困难人员和困境人员 一是困境儿童。包括孤儿（包括事实孤儿）、残疾儿童、流浪儿童、被遗弃儿童、困难家庭儿童、受艾滋病影响儿童、罕见病儿童等亚类。 二是困难老人。主要包括低保家庭和低收入家庭（边缘户）中的老人，尤其是这些家庭中的高龄老人、孤老和事实无人照料的老人、大病慢病老人、不能自理的老人等处于特殊困难之中的老人。

三是困难残疾人。困难残疾人主要是指在低保家庭或低收入家庭（边缘户）中的残疾人，以及独身残疾人、重度残疾人（鉴定为1、2级的残疾人）、失业残疾人、老年残疾人等具有特殊困难的残疾人。 四是失业者。许多失业者会面临一定的心理压力和再就业的需求，并且需要更多的社会支持和服务。为此，社会工作者可以给他们提供心理辅导、社会支持、信息服务、服务连接等方面的服务。

五是困难失独父母。中国有几百万失独家庭，其中有部分面临精神和经济双重困难。 六是困难刑满释放人员。其中中不少人因身体问题、思想问题和社会歧视等方面的问题而陷于就业困难，并因此而陷入经济困难。

七是困难单亲家庭。部分单亲家庭经济较为困难，需要社会的帮助。尤其是一些单亲母亲往往会遇到就业和抚养子女的矛盾，因此需要社会的帮助。 八是流浪乞讨人员。流浪乞讨人员成分复杂，情况各异，既有生活困难方面的问题，也有其不良行为方面的问题，因此对他们既需要提供服务，也需要加强管理。

九是困难流动人口。他们中许多人在就业和经济上存在脆弱性和较高的风险，并且面临着夫妻关系、子女照料与教育、文化娱乐、社会交往、社区融入、维权增能、获得就业信息及其他公共服务信息等方面困难和问题。 十是农村留守人员。中国大规模人口流动的另外一个后果是在农村中形成了大量的留守人员，包括留守儿童、留守老人和留守妇女。

三、社会工作介入社会救助的主要工作领域

1. 社区社会工作：主要依托社区的组织平台 2. 医务社会工作：主要依托医疗机构 3. 学校社会工作：主要依托学校 4. 企业社会工作：主要依托企事业单位 5. 自然灾害社会工作：主要依托民政部门

6. 社会福利机构社会工作：主要依托社会福利服务机构 7. 流浪乞讨人员救助机构社会工作：主要依托救助站 8. 青少年事务社会工作：主要依托共青团等部门 9. 妇女社会工作：主要依托妇联组织 10. 残疾人社会工作：主要依托残联组织

四、 社会工作介入社会救助的 主要服务内容

1. 日常生活中的服务救助 2. 社会照料 3. 健康服务（包括精神健康） 4. 维权与保护 5. 纠纷调解与社会关系调适

6. 风险防范于危机干预 7. 文化娱乐方面的服务 8. 增能与动机激励 9. 政府普惠性公共服务中的辅助性服务 10. 介入社会救助管理 承担政府委托的申请受理和资格审核工作 承担政府委托的救助对象管理工作 其他各方面的工作

谢谢