The Social Work Experience: An Introduction to Social Work and Social Welfare

Created to introduce students to the field of social work and its relationship to social welfare policy, The Social Work Experience gives readers both an historical and practical overview of the profession. In each chapter, the authors continue to integrate policy coverage with social work practice, values and ethics, and social justice issues. The relationship between policy and practice is carefully examined in the context of nine major fields of social work, and in discussions of the challenges faced by today's practitioners. Comprehensive coverage is delivered in the highly readable style readers have come to expect of this author team, with engaging case studies as chapter openers, exhibit boxes, debate boxes, and research activity sections designed to draw readers into the text. The third edition continues to keep up with current changes and developments in social work and social policy, with valuable new information on welfare reform, Social Security, privatization of social services, and the NASW Code of Ethics, as well a new chapter on current career opportunities in the field.

Mary Ann Suppes received her baccalaureate degree as well as her MSW degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She is currently a professor social work at in the Department of Behavioral Science and Social Work Mount Mary College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has been actively involved with the Council on Social Work Education as a member of the CSWE Accreditation Commission for many years, chairing numerous accreditation site visits and research committees. Professor Suppes is a member of the National Association of Social Workers, holds the ACSW, and is a member of the Nominations and Leadership Identification Committee of the Wisconsin NASW Chapter.

Carolyn Cressy Wells received her undergraduate degree in anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MSW and Ph.D. in child development and family relationships from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Currently, she is professor of Social work at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she developed the social work program and currently serves as program director. She is an active member of the Council on Social Work Education, the NASW, the Association of Baccalaureate Program Directors, and the Academy of Certified Social Workers. She is the author of three other social work texts: Social Work Day to Day: The Experience of Generalist Social Work Practice, Stepping to the Dance: The Training of a Family Therapist, and Social Work Ethics Day to Day: Guidelines for Professional Practice. She maintained a small private practice in individual and family therapy for many years.