Policy practice in practice: the inputs of social workers in legislative committees

This article presents findings of an empirical study of the involvement of social workers in the policy formulation process. Despite support for policy practice, there has been limited empirical study of social workers' involvement in policy practice, which leaves us with little systematic knowledge of social workers' role in the policy formulation process. This study expands the knowledge of social workers' role in this process by identifying their inputs into Israeli legislative committees. Based on a content analysis of the minutes of 85 parliamentary committee meetings held during the 15th and 16th Knesset sessions (1999 to 2006), the study reveals five main inputs: placing matters on the agenda, providing information, providing explanations, expressing opinions and making suggestions, and commenting on the manner of the discussion, and 23 subinputs. These inputs underscore three main functions that social workers perform, or may perform, with respect to policy: challenging policy, facilitating policy, and enriching policy.