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Social Work and Social Change – Grace Abbott

Cheraldo A. Morales Sweatt

Lawton, OK

Social Work and Social Change – Grace Abbott

Grace Abbott was actually a political activist and also a social reformer whose founding contributions revolutionised the areas of child welfare issues, child labour legislations, protection of the rights of immigrants, women’s rights, and social security. Through her career, Abbott was able to use her intellectual talents, quick sense of wit, and sense of humor to untiringly fight for what she believed on.

Abbott started her social work profession in 1908 working with immigrants at Hull House in Chicago. She was majorly concerned about the welfare of children and infants, especially the long hours and low pay that the children working in factories were subjected to. She became a leader in the fight for federal legislation that protected children’s rights. She became a director of the Industrial Division of the Children’s Bureau of the US Department of Labour. Through this position, she was responsible for creating enforcement plans for the first federal child labour laws that were passed by the Congress in 1916 (Lengermann & Niebrugge-Brantley, 1998).

Abbott’s concern for children welfare pushed her to fight for the passing of the Sheppard-Towner Act into law. The act enabled for state and federal aid for children and mothers. Because of this law, the first federal grants to aid the social welfare of children were provided. At the same time, it also authorized government cooperation with the states to promote child and maternal health. Her concern for child welfare made her to write the book “Child and State” (Lengermann & Niebrugge-Brantley, 1998).

Abbott was actually responsible for the inclusion of social statistics and research into legislative policy making. Through her leadership, she helped fund more than 100 social research publications and investigations. She also took advantage of the radio and television to inform other people concerning the best ways of childcare and make the public informed of the responsibility regarding child welfare (Pozzuto & Arnd-Caddigan, 2008). Another great achievement of Abbott in the field of social service was the development of systems for collecting data from the state juvenile delinquency, child labour, and statistics on the work of public and local private agencies.

From the works of Grace Abbott, it can be seen that social work requires total commitment and this will be very essential in my social work profession. Commitment to what is expected of me. The primary responsibility of a social worker is majorly to promote the well-being of the people. Commitment to clients is a major standard in the NASW Code of Ethics because it captures the spirit of the mission and values of social work profession and this is clearly indicated in the manner in which Abbott conducted showed her commitment to serving children and women.

References

Pozzuto, R., & Arnd-Caddigan, M. (2008). Social work in the US: Sociohistorical context and contemporary issues. Australian Social Work, 61(1) 57–71. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Lengermann, M. & Niebrugge-Brantley, J. (1998). The Women Founders: Sociology and Social Theory 1830-1930. McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.