Social Policy and Social Programs : A Method for the Practical Public Policy Analyst

Explores the basics of social policy and program analysis, such as designing new programs or evaluating and improving existing ones.

Social Policy and Social Programs is distinctive in providing specific criteria for judging the effectiveness of social policies and programs. These criteria can be applied to the analysis of widely different social services such as counseling and therapeutic services, supportive assistance, and “hard” benefits like food stamps, cash, and housing vouchers.

By focusing especially on social problems, policies, and programs in major practice areas like child welfare, health, poverty, and mental illness, the author provides students with the tools they need to understand and evaluate the programs in which they are doing their field placements.

Upon completing this book readers will be able to:

• Analyze the effectiveness of current social programs
• Create new programs based on the criteria provided
• Apply what they have learned to evaluate their field placement programs

Donald Chambers received his undergraduate degree in Biology and Psychology from Stanford University in 1950, his Masters degree in Social Work from the University of Nebraska in 1952 and his Doctoral degree from Washington University (St. Louis) in 1967. He practiced as a social worker in Nebraska for nine years and was Director of a regional mental health clinic in Pocatello, Idaho for three years before his appointment to the staff of the Mental Health Institute at Clarinda, Iowa. He retired after 27 years as a Professor in the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas where he taught social policy courses and evaluation research for many years. He did research at the British Library in London, England, on policy topics, primarily the British Workman's Compensation system and the British tradition of social policy. In various years he was the recipient of Fulbright Research awards for the study of adoption law and administration in Central American countries. He is the author of a book on Evaluation Research as well as on a method for the analysis of Social Policy and Programs. Over the years he published in leading policy journals in both England and the United States.

Jane Bonk has a Bachelor of Liberal Arts for St. John’s College, a Masters from the School of Social Services Administration, University of Chicago, and earned a Ph.D. from Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago. She has worked as a practitioner and an administrator for over thirty years in both non-profit and for-profit social welfare organizations in child welfare and mental health. She has taught at the Master’s Level in social work. Currently, she is a Commissioner for the Council on Accreditation (COA) where she has been very active in implementing The Hague Treaty for International Adoption.