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Running Head: INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICES                1
INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICES                        8
INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY SERVICES
WEL101A
THE HISTORY OF COMMUNITY SERVICES IN AUSTRALIA
Table of Contents
Introduction    3
National and State History    3
The Cu
ent Climate of the Community Services    5
Non-Government Organisations    6
Conclusion    7
References    8
Introduction
The knowledge of the social work in Australia cu
ently has a gap in knowledge. The history is very important as it helps to give the services an identity. The history has elements of political, ideological, organisational and occupational aspects in order to understand the cu
ent state of the services. The histories, which will be highlighted, are the history of the work, the country; workers in the country, varying perspectives, policy literature, radical social work, social issues and organisation of profession, education as well as suggestions for action. This history helps to form a new understanding of the services, which have been provided and it examines the course that shaped them to be the version that it is at this moment.
National and State History
The first recorded history of professional social work in Australia was the research done by John Lawrence in the early 1960s (Lawrence, 1965). The historical research has been limited to certain states and concerns. The research was taken by non-social workers who had hostile or disinterested attitudes that may have affected the nature of the study and the credibility of the study. The text documented the medical related work that was done, social work education and the employment.
There was no attention given to community services or social activism that contributed to social work as well. Lawrence also highlighted how it was male dominated at the time. He also documented the idea of male workers being more able to offer greater professional commitment, employment stability, career longevity,
oader social analysis and improve working conditions than their female counterparts. From a feminist perspective, this was a very sexist view of study on the field. This view is extremely damaging, as the services field tends to be women dominated.
Marchant and McMahon (2002) have stated that they find Lawrence’s view biased on the grounds of their argument that “White Anglo-Saxlon Protestant'' point of view that does not concentrate on the important parts of the history. It does not acknowledge the political and ideological divisions that occu
ed during the time within organisations and social workers. Alston and McKinnon, on the other hand, have a very idealistic history of social work and the politics that happened at the time.
Their claims lack the evidence, one claim in particular that the services were about ideas of social values and respect for human rights and the social workers have not changed their values and stayed true to themselves (Mendes, 2015). These views do not highlight the many times where racism and oppressive practices were very much a part of the way services occur and how they were addressed and changed to become a more tolerant and safe space.
Ife, on the other hand, discusses how the services occu
ed during the Whitlam...