The FAMCare Blog

The United States Department of Health and Human Services budget for 2018 is a healthy $1,131 Billion. To keep this astounding number in perspective, a trillion dollar plus budget for HHS is nothing new. In 2016 the total outlay for HHS was $1,103 Billion and in 2017 the number will come in close to $1,130 Billion.

The Health and Human Services budget is the backbone of our entire social services system. Here’s how this enormous amount of money will be spent:

A recent cry of surprise has gone up from pundits over the recent election of so many women as mayors of our cities. In a recent NPQ article, Cyndi Suarez reported the following election results:

The iconic image of the insouciant, slovenly-dressed millennial lounging on the sofa waiting for Uber Eats to deliver his dinner so he can begin an online electronic game competition is not the random product of some writer’s overactive imagination. This self-absorbed, lazy, narcissistic creature didn’t just step off a spaceship and suddenly populate the earth. These “young-uns” have parents. Where were they when this truculent creature began to emerge?  This is the question that Cathy Gulli is trying to answer.

Social work is not immune to the ethical issues introduced by the ubiquitous presence of new technology. The use of laptops, tablets, and cellphones outside the safety and security of the office environment, connecting to public Wi-Fi, “liking” posts on Facebook, tracking hashtags on Twitter, sending messages via Snapchat, and pinning pictures on Pinterest all engage a vastly more efficient, but less secure communication environment. Given the nature of the duties social workers are engaged in, their involvement with vulnerable populations, and the trust they seek to establish with their clients, the need for expert guidance in how to navigate this terrain is extremely important.

The debate over what to do about the declining quality of public education continues unabated. The unyielding stance taken by the teacher’s union, the economic decline of rust-belt, inner-city neighborhoods, the erosion of the two-parent home, and the unmanaged growth of immigration are all blamed for the decline. There doesn’t seem to be an answer that everyone can agree on.

A Dramatic Transformation

Global Vision Technologies is celebrating its twentieth anniversary as a leading developer of case management software for governmental and non-profit social service agencies. Over the past twenty years we have participated in the astounding growth of social service agencies, services, case workers, and clients.

In terms of natural disasters, 2017 has proven itself to be a record year. The ongoing fires affecting Canada as well as the western United States of California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Montana and Washington state were just the beginning of a tumultuous period that doesn't look like it will end anytime soon. These were coupled with back-to-back hurricanes that lashed Houston, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and have left untold devastation behind. At no other time in recent history has the need for social workers been so urgent and necessary.

The Martin Luther King housing projects in Harlem are less than a mile from the wealthiest zip code in America. The apartments along Fifth Avenue facing Central Park from 59th to 89th street sell for $3 million to $30 million. Agnes Gund, a banking heiress and president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art, lives in one of those apartments. Agnes is a renowned collector of modern art who recently surprised the art world by selling the Roy Lichtenstein masterpiece that long hung over the mantle in her Manhattan apartment for $162 million, one of the 15 highest prices ever paid for artwork. She then further shocked the nonprofit world by donating $100 million from the sale to create the Art for Justice Fund, which on its website calls itself a movement to end mass incarceration. “I thought I should do something about something that to me is so wrong about our system,” Gund said. With that simple statement, Agnes Gund recognized the plight of the poor community that lived a universe away from her posh surroundings but only a half mile from her front door.

The devastation and wreckage of everyday lives left behind by Harvey and Irma is hard to imagine or visualize unless you’re on the ground in Texas or Florida. It’s in the big things like homes and schools and offices and stores and vehicles. It’s in the little things like pets and pictures and awards and diplomas and cozy chairs, favorite shoes and familiar cell phones that were daily refuge. Texans and Floridians driven into shelters are glad to be alive but are not sure who they are or where they belong. Overnight, their identity was mysteriously removed, and they can’t think beyond their next bite of food or available restful cot. They have no plans for tomorrow. They are not clear what tomorrow looks like. We furnish our everyday lives with things familiar (the stuff of our lives) that give us comfort and identity. Suddenly removed, we are left without context. We are traumatized and drift into post-traumatic-stress-syndrome without even realizing it.