As social services has expanded beyond the single practitioner trying to make a difference, social workers are called upon to share client information with colleagues to facilitate coordination of services.

How Bad Beliefs...

On August 22, 1996 President Bill Clinton signed into law legislation that replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The new bill was supposed to reform welfare. At that time, most Americans believed that poverty was the fault of the poor and that it wasn’t fare for hard working people to be burdened with supporting “freeloaders”. Welfare had become a dirty word. TANF was designed to counter this objection by adding a work requirement to the welfare eligibility requirements. Now social workers are required to help anyone who can work to find a job and only approve welfare assistance when it is clear to the social worker that no job is available.

Rarely does this blog get on “a roll” or a “mission”. However, if you read last week’s blog you are aware of the critical shortage of teachers our nation is facing and why the educational establishment does not seem to have a solution. I have come across additional disturbing information regarding the teacher shortage that I feel compelled to share with my colleagues working in social services. 

Much of the current political debate centers around:

• The loss of jobs and opportunities for the middle class-
• Whether college should be free for all Americans-
• How the Millennials can be expected to pay back the $ 1.3 trillion of college debt they have accumulated when they are left to default to jobs in McDonald’s-
• The job flight to third world countries causing the plight of our rust belt industrial inner cities-
• The cycle of crime and destitution that imprisons undereducated minorities-

As you watch the Olympics in Rio this week take notice of a small group of athletes who are competing without a country. They are the Olympic Refugee Team. “These refugees have no home, no team, no flag, no national anthem,” International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said when he announced the selected athletes last month.

All organizations, whether they are for profit or nonprofit, have traditionally evolved from the creative energy of their founders organizing stakeholders behind a common purpose. The founders function as the decision makers because we believe that they know better how to achieve the common purpose over time. As an organization matures, the founders invite other stakeholders to become decision makers, and the rest of the organization follows their collective leadership. This human organizing principle is so much the norm that we consider it natural. It has always happened this way and it still does. Until it doesn’t anymore!

These days, we all live in a high or higher stress environment, work, home, kids and life all add to your stress levels  According to socialworkers.org 80% of social workers believes stress is a major factor at work. 

An Interview with Caroline Diehl

In May, the Kenyan government decided to close the world’s largest refugee camp. Kenyan military intelligence reported that the terrorist group, Al-Shabaab, had used the camp to launch attacks against the Westgate Mall and Garissa University College. The Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camp complex, home to over 340,000 refugees, covers over 50 kilometers and is the third largest “city” in Kenya, after Nairobi and Mombasa. 

The healthcare model in Western medicine centers around accurate diagnosis and effective cure. Over the last hundred years, innovations in pharmaceuticals, surgical techniques, and medical technology have positioned modern medicine at the forefront of Western scientific discovery. However, this legacy model of diagnosis and cure separates Western medical practitioners from the thousand-year-old traditions of their Eastern colleagues.

Why FAMCare?

I've been at this now for over 15 years.  Believe it or not - often times, I still wake up in the morning thinking about the innovative ways we help and can be helping our clients. 

Today, more than ever it does seem like there are more companies popping up that offer software for caseworkers.  So, what it is that makes FAMCare different.  What is unique about our software?

Is it a fair statement to say that all that matters IS the software?  Is the product all that really matters when making a buying decision or investing in a software solution like FAMCare?