The organization is Bloom Children’s Therapy. The company was founded by Nicole LaRose back in
2015. Nicole worked as an occupational therapist at the Medical University of South Carolina before
deciding to open her own private practice. Nicole established this company to continue providing
services with a flexible schedule for her and her clients. The mission statement for Bloom Children’s
Therapy reads, "It is our mission to deliver quality care occupational & physical therapy services to
children within the Charleston area and the surrounding areas” (Bloom Children’s Therapy). They
also continue to talk about how they pride themselves on presenting a structured growth environment
for children and parents.
An event in Human Services that relate to Bloom Children’s Therapy would be the law that was
passed in 2005 called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) (CDC). This law allows
for both early intervention and school-aged services for individuals with disabilities. The similarities
between this law and Bloom Children’s Therapy would be that they both work together to provide
therapy assistance for all children with disabilities. A difference would be that the IDEA is a law that
was passed and Bloom Children’s Therapy is a specific therapy centre. c
The organization I am using is the Mi Cumberland Human Resource Agency. This agency was
founded in 1947 and though it is never specified exactly who started it, it noted many times that it was
found by visionary leaders. It notes that the leaders who established it, established it to offer
compassionate services to children, youth, seniors, and disabled individuals. The mission of the
organization is "to help people help themselves by providing knowledge and resources to improve the
quality of life."
An event that relates to my human service agency is in 2018 when non-profit organizations struggled
financially to due the expenses these agencies had to uphold and did not have the ability to do so. In
2018, a project called "Joining Forces to Strengthen Human Services in America by Alliance for
Strong Families and Communities" began that wanted to address the issues of commitment to long-
term outcomes, investment, development of new models and new financial policies, and practices. The
ASFC worked hard to analyze tax filings by many human service agencies and found underlying
causes that were leading to financial vulnerability and began proposing ways to make them stronger.
This directly affected my agency, causing them to struggle for a while in 2018, having less staff to
work with and less funds to help them. When more plans were put into place, they were able to begin
seeking larger grants and found new opportunities to take on staff, allowing for them to stay in
business.
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services. The agency was created in the Depression year of
1936, it was established because it was during a time of desperate human need. This agency was
established by the voters of Oklahoma by an amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution, its original
name was the Department of Public Welfare. The mission of this agency was to give help and relief to
those who couldn't necessarily do so for themselves. As stated on their website, “the relief and care of
needy aged persons who are unable to provide for themselves, and other needy persons who, on
account of immature age, physical infirmity, disability, or other cause, are unable to provide or care
for themselves..."(OKDHS, About Us 2022).
A few events in human services history that relates to my agency would be the landmak federal
legislation which established the Medicaid program in 1966 and the federally financed Food Stamp
Program that began in 1974. It was another way of helping Oklahomans who weren't receiving help
under the other programs. Also, in the 1990s there was a legislation that brought out many of the
services from under the OKDHS umbrella and moved them to independent agencies of their own.
Which followed with a constitutional amendment changing the governance structure, changing the
different areas of help causing them to have to report to the Govenor of Oklahoma. All these events in
human service history happened at a state level causing change within the agency to help make it
better and more reliable with the help it provides to its clients.
The human services organization I chose for the final project is the New York City Department for the
Aging (DFTA). What would become the DFTA began in as the NYC Mayor’s Office for the Aging
which was formed due to the concerns of policymakers that the city’s elderly population lacked
community social services. As such, from the late 1960s to the early 1970s the Office conducted
research on the needs of the city’s older adult population which led to the opening of four service sites,
and coordinated efforts to meet the needs of the population with other services such as hot meal
programs for underserved areas (New York City Department for the Aging, 2022). Despite plans
initially calling for it to only last three years, the Office existed from 1968 until 1975 when it became
the DFTA with Alice Brophy, the head of the Office of the Aging since its inception, serving as the
first commissioner (New York City Department for the Aging, 2022). The DFTA would go on to
expand various programs to the present day including but not limited to, service centers, elder abuse,
transportation, senior employment, legal, and nutrition services. Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez (2022), the
current commissioner of the department, has stated the organization’s mission is to “eliminate ageism
and ensure the dignity and quality of life of diverse older adults. We also work to support caregivers
through service, advocacy, and education.”
One event in human services history that relates to my agency is the passage of the federal Older
Americans Act of 1965 which created a nationwide network of social service programs for the aging.
Like the Office of the Aging, the Older Americans Act was created in response to the lack of social
services for elderly populations except on a national level. The law established the Administration on
Aging (AoA) within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to serve as the federal focal
point on matters concerning older persons as well as manage the grants given to states for community
planning and social services in the field of aging (Administration for Community Living, 2022). This
legislation would help lead to the NYC Mayor’s Office for the Aging via the grants given to the New
York state government which funded the Office that would eventually become the DFTA (New York
City Department for the Aging, 2022). The expansions made to social services for the elderly under
the DFTA in New York City reflect the national expansions occurring in federal policy such as the
implementation of nutrition programs, low-income housing programs for the elderly, transportation
services, and protections from age discrimination in employment.
References
Administration for Community Living. (2022). Older Americans act. ACL.gov. Retrieved from
https://acl.gov/about-acl/authorizing-statutes/older-americans-act
Cortés-Vázquez, L. (2022). Commissioner's message. NYC.gov. Retrieved from
https://www.nyc.gov/site/dfta/about/commissioners-message.page
New York City Department for the Aging. (2022). History. NYC.gov. Retrieved from
https://www.nyc.gov/site/dfta/about/history.page
Human Services Department - OKDHS. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://oklahoma.gov/okdhs/about-
us.html
Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, August 2). Oklahoma Department of Human Services. Wikipedia.
Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_Department_of_Human_Services
About Us. MidCumberland Human Resource Agency. Retrieved from https://www.mchra.com/about-
us
The NonProfit Times. (2018). Nation's Human Services Agencies In Financial Trouble.
https://www.thenonprofittimes.com/npt_articles/nations-human-services-agencies-financial-trouble/
CDC. (2022, May 2). Individuals with disabilities education act (IDEA) services. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/cp/treatment.html
Our services. Bloom Children's Therapy - Mt. Pleasant, SC. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2022, from
https://www.bloomchildrenstherapy.com/ourservices
