Welfare reforms and services for children and families: setting a new practice, research, and policy agenda

This article addresses barriers to family and community self-sufficiency. Many of these barriers have resulted from policymakers' biased definitions of self-sufficiency and related social program reforms. Social workers need to understand the worldviews and values that underlie political definitions of self-sufficiency to have a greater influence on social policy. This article describes a more appropriate definition of self-sufficiency and illustrates its usefulness with an example of community research conducted to identify social support needs. The author recommends changes in social work practice and education that can enable the profession to have a stronger influence on social policy. Finally, to achieve this social justice goal and integrate policy development into clinical and community practice, the author proposes new research and policy agendas for the profession.