Human Services Policy ((3 Credits))

Catalog description

In this course, students will examine how social policy influences, and is influenced by, the way in which human service functions, service populations, outcomes, and resources are publicly and privately defined, identified, secured, and measured. Students will examine the interactional effects of social policy and human services at organizational, and professional levels.   For example, at the community level, local funding agencies such as the United Way often act as gatekeepers controlling community resources. At the organizational level, this might be expressed as a conflict between the stated mission of an organization and actual practices necessitated by the requirements of its funding sources. An example at the professional level is the socialization of human service workers which often includes membership in professional associations. These associations serve as interpreters of state-of-the-art practices and attitudes and lobby for their expression in social policy, law and regulation. By semester's end, students should be capable of effectively analyzing or deconstructing any human services agency or concept in current social policy. This course is required for the Advanced Certificate in Community Advocacy and the Advanced Certificate in Child and Family Advocacy. This course was previously SOC-622535.