SIC 8322
INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY SOCIAL SERVICES



This industry includes establishments primarily engaged in providing one or more of a wide variety of individual and family social, counseling, welfare, or referral services, including refugee, disaster, and temporary relief services. This industry includes offices of specialists providing counseling, referral, and other social services. Government offices directly concerned with the delivery of social services to individuals and families, such as issuing of welfare aid, rent supplements, food stamps, and eligibility casework, are included here, but central office administration of these programs is classified in SIC 9441: Administration of Social, Human Resource and Income Maintenance Programs.

NAICS Code(s)

624110 (Child and Youth Services)

624210 (Community Food Services)

624229 (Other Community Housing Services)

624230 (Emergency and Other Relief Services)

624120 (Services for the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities)

624221 (Temporary Shelter)

922150 (Parole Offices and Probation Offices)

624190 (Other Individual and Family Services)

Industry Snapshot

The services within this industry can be classified as either public assistance programs or social service programs. These include individual and family service establishments that provide counseling and social services such as refugee, disaster, and temporary relief. Also included are state and local offices that distribute welfare benefits. Some private and public agencies offer adult day care, home-delivered meals, homemaking services, and in-home nursing. Other programs concentrate on children and youth, such as big brother/big sister organizations and protective and adoption services. The industry covers crisis centers, self-help organizations, parole offices, and probation services.

The shape of U.S. social services underwent a transformation in 1996 with the introduction of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which replaced the long-standing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). Welfare roles dramatically declined, from 5 million AFDC recipients in January 1995 to 2.2 million families on TANF in June 2001. The future of both private and public social services hinged largely on the future shape of TANF, set to be revamped during 2003. Since TANF is the dominant provider of U.S. welfare services, its successes and failures directly affect the ongoing services of other support agencies.

Organization and Structure

Public welfare programs fall under one of three general categories: social insurance, public assistance, or social services. Funded by mandatory contributions from employers and employees, social insurance programs are designed to protect people who experience a sudden loss of income due to the disability, temporary employment, retirement, or death of a wage earner.

Public assistance programs are designed to help the financially needy with services commonly known as welfare, particularly through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Food Stamp program. Financed by federal, state, and local tax dollars, these programs provide benefits to people who show financial need and meet specific program qualifications.

Public social services were developed to meet needs through services such as counseling, day care, emergency youth shelters, alcohol and drug abuse services, and foster care. These programs are operated by state, county, and/or city governments, along with public and private agencies.

The availability of these services, as well as the sources for their funding, vary greatly. Some programs are open to all people, while others are available for a fee. Some are accessible only to those already receiving assistance from other public assistance programs.

Federal Agencies. Until the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, which transferred public assistance programs from federal agencies to state jurisdiction, many locally administered individual and family social services were under the jurisdiction of both state and federal agencies. Several public welfare programs were under the direction of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including TANF, the largest social welfare program in the United States.

TANF is a bipartisan creation that encourages welfare recipients to find jobs and become self-sufficient, while at the same time promoting strong family units. The program allocates a block grant of $16.8 billion to states and U.S. territories, which covers benefits, administrative expenses, and services. Individual states have a vast amount of power in determining their own programs, with the exception of a few federal mandates on eligibility. Under its original rules, recipients of aid must work after two years of assistance; families can only receive aid for five cumulative years; and food stamps can only be received for three consecutive months out of every 36.

Other Agencies. More than 100,000 social service organizations operate at the state, county, and local levels. For nearly 20 years, money from the private sector has made possible the activities and services of many of these groups. With the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, most public assistance programs were operated at state, county, and local government levels.

Background and Development

Social welfare in the United States began with the Social Security Act of 1935. The Great Depression, brought on many economic events culminating with the 1929 stock market crash, led Americans to realize that unforeseen circumstances could lead anyone into poverty. The Social Security Act was established to circumvent this eventuality. The act provided protection against the loss of income due to old age, involuntary unemployment, and blindness; in 1956 it was amended to include disability. The act also established Aid to Dependent Children, a financial support program for children who had lost one or both parents.

The next major change in U.S. policy toward social welfare came during the 1960s and was known as the "War on Poverty." Precipitated by the civil rights movement that began in the 1950s, national social policy was changed during the 1960s to improve the standard of living for the poor. The federal government expanded existing programs such as AFDC and established new ones such as the Food Stamp Program.

During the 1970s, the federal government attempted to improve management and control over these public assistance programs. To eliminate variations of coverage among the states, uniform national standards were set for programs where the federal government and the states shared responsibility. Programs serving similar needs were consolidated into block grants to the states, in which federal money was strictly limited in return for increased discretion in state spending.

Realizing that the current welfare system has been producing generations of recipients, both the state and federal governments began looking at welfare reform during the 1980s. President Reagan cut federally funded social spending by $20 billion in 1981. The Family Support Act of 1988 forced AFDC recipients into job training or education. But by the 1990s, state governments, whose federal funding was slashed during the 1980s, looked at more drastic measures, like cutting AFDC payments for mothers who have additional children while on welfare.

AFDC was a federally funded program that provided cash and noncash services to families with needy children. Available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico, AFDC aided children in families where need was brought by parental unemployment, disability, death, or continued absence. Financed by federal and state funds, payments usually were made directly to AFDC recipients. The federal government's share of AFDC payments was based on the need of each state. The government provided a higher percentage of federal matching funds to states with lower per capita incomes and a lower percentage to states with higher per capita incomes. The federal government also paid a certain percentage of costs related to program administration and training and the costs for acquiring and implementing management information systems. This public assistance program was later handled by individual state governments.

In August 1996, President Clinton made good on his 1992 presidential campaign promise to "end welfare as we know it," by passing the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, effectively replacing AFDC with TANF. The legislation ended the 61-year federal guarantee of aid to the poor and children, giving states broad power to design their own welfare programs, imposing a five-year lifetime limit on receiving welfare, and requiring recipients to begin working within two years after receiving benefits. President Clinton stated that the reform "gives us a chance we haven't had before, to break the cycle of dependency" that affects millions of Americans.

TANF supplies an annual block grant to states to run their own programs. A five-year lifetime limit on receiving welfare requires recipients to work within two years, and half of all welfare recipients would eventually have to be working 30 hours a week. States that already have welfare programs in place under federal waivers would not have to comply with some federal work rules. The bill allowed childless, able-bodied individuals ages 18 to 50 to receive Food Stamp benefits for only three months in any three-year period unless they were working part-time and undergoing job training. These people could receive food stamps for another three months in that time frame if they were laid off from a job.

From 1993 to 1998, welfare recipients decreased by more than 41 percent—a total of 5.7 million people. The number of recipients reduced by approximately 2 percent monthly. In fact, 1998 saw the lowest total number of welfare recipients (8.7 million) since 1970, the lowest number of families receiving aid (3.2 million) since 1972, and the lowest percentage of the population (3.2 percent) since 1968. In addition to the new legislation, these results were attributed to the nation's strong economy.

Current Conditions

According to TANF's annual report, released in February 2003 and reflecting 2001 statistics, 92 percent of approximately $81 billion in TANF funds distributed to the states since the program's inception had been spent. Seventy-six percent went directly through states' TANF programs, 10 percent was allocated to the Child Care and Development Fund, and 6 percent went to the Social Services Block Grant. During fiscal year 2002, TANF caseloads declined for the sixth straight year to 4,995,719, down 6.2 percent from the previous year and down 59.2 percent from the program's inception in 1996. Over the same period, the number of families receiving TANF support declined 54.1 percent, to 2,024,691.

TANF law expired in October 2002 but continued to operate under an extension while Congress considered revisions and renewal. Debate was heated regarding the future form of TANF, and the issues surrounding the future of program were complex and highly political in nature. For example, proponents pointed to TANF's success by noting that welfare rolls declined at rates that even surprised TANF advocates. On the other hand, opponents questioned whether removal from TANF rolls equaled economic self-sufficient status. A 1998 study by the National Governor's Association reported that the majority of former welfare recipients earned between $5.50 and $7.00 per hour, leaving them well below the national poverty level. According to another study, three-fourths of women who left welfare in 1997 held low-paying, below-poverty-level jobs.

Industry Leaders

Other than TANF, the largest programs in this industry are the Food Stamp Program, disaster relief services, eldercare, adoption services, and self-help organizations.

Food Stamps. Established by the Food Stamp Act of 1964, the Food Stamp Program was available in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and the Virgin Islands. The Food Stamp Program assisted more than 10 million households and 25 million individuals. Under this program, low-income individuals living in households meeting nationwide standards for income and assets might receive coupons redeemable at most grocery stores for food. As a result of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, the caseload for the Food Stamp Program was reduced dramatically. From March 1994, a peak caseload year, the number of participants in the program fell to two-thirds by 1998. Moreover, the number of beneficiaries in the Food Stamp Program dropped by 36 percent (five million people). The U.S. Department of Agriculture administered the Food Stamp Program at the federal level through its Food and Consumer Service (FCS). State welfare agencies administered the program at the state and local levels. In 2002, the number of average monthly individual recipients totaled just over 19 million. After three consecutive years of decline, the number of participating families grew to nearly 8.2 million in 2002, an increase from 7.4 million in 2001.

Disaster Relief. Founded in 1881 by Clara Barton, the American Red Cross responded to thousands of tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, fires, hazardous materials spills, transportation accidents, and other calamities that occur in the United States each year by providing emergency and disaster assistance through their trained paid and volunteer staff.

After a major disaster, the Red Cross supplied basic emergency shelter, food, medicine, and first aid to victims and distributed home clean-up items throughout affected areas. Red Cross disaster relief also included feeding emergency workers; referring disaster victims to other available resources; handling inquiries from concerned family members outside the affected area; and supplying blood and blood products, as well as disasterrelated counseling to victims.

The Red Cross enabled disaster victims to resume independent living by assisting with the payment of groceries, clothing, basic household items, medicine, temporary housing, emergency home repairs, transportation, and tools. The American Red Cross provided all of its disaster assistance for free.

The Red Cross also offered assistance when other resources, such as insurance benefits and government assistance, were unavailable or inadequate in meeting disaster-related needs. All Red Cross assistance was provided on an individual basis, based on verified disaster-caused needs, and free of charge. American Red Cross chapters also worked within their communities to help the public prepare for, prevent, and cope with disasters and emergency situations.

Just hours after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the American Red Cross was on the scene in Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and New York, providing emergency relief services. In the aftermath, the Red Cross was flooded with donations from around the nation. There was an immediate influx of blood donations—unfortunately not immediately needed because there were so few survivors—and by June 30, 2002, the agency's fiscal year-end, the Red Cross had received over $1 billion in monetary and in-kind donations. Of that total $618 million was spent during the year in support of September 11 victims and their families. Another nearly $420 million was left unspent at fiscal year-end but was earmarked for Liberty Fund, set up to funnel donations to victims of the terrorist attacks.

Eldercare. According to demographers, population trends predicted that the needs of the rapidly growing elderly population would equal, if not exceed the needs for child care. U.S. workers were left primarily to their own resources for finding elderly care services. In fact, as the 1990s began, a Bureau of Labor Statistics' survey of medium and large firms indicated that only 3 percent of the 32.4 million employees contacted had an eldercare benefit program that included employer subsidies for day care or time off to handle eldercare needs. Although numerous private and public agencies existed that provide elder care, neither employers nor employees often knew where to get assistance. Coordinated efforts began between employers and social service providers, however, to address the needs of those with eldercare responsibilities.

One option for eldercare was senior citizen day care centers. A practical alternative to costly in-home care, day care centers provided social interaction and activities that improved the livelihood of the aged. According to the National Adult Day Services Association, more than 4,000 elderly day care centers existed in the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century—almost three times the number of centers in 1991.

Adoption Services. Thousands of social service agencies worked with adoption services, but only 250 handled most of the caseload. Traditional agencies, such as Catholic Charities, managed about 70 percent of the business, while other intermediaries, usually attorneys, handled the remainder. According to the National Committee for Adoption, which represented over 100 non-profit agencies, nearly 1 million couples sought to adopt every year. Based on the information available in the early 2000s, the number of adoptions varied by decade—in 1951, unrelated adoptions rose from 33,800 in 1951 to an all-time high in 1970 of 89,200 children. From 1975, numbers dropped dramatically and averaged 49,000 yearly for the next ten years. Numbers rose to 61,600 in 1996. In general, the number of available babies affected the number of adoptions. Less than two-thirds of those were infants. The combined effects of legalized abortion and the declining social stigma of unwed mothers were possible reasons for the shortage of available babies.

Self-help Organizations. The self-help movement, which began in 1935 with Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), has turned into a modern-day, low-cost alternative to expensive mental health services. Since self-help organizations have been inexpensive to operate, these popular organizations have become appealing to lawmakers concerned with rising health care costs.

The AA formula of strict anonymity and its 12-step recovery program have proven to be quite successful. In 2003, over 100,000 AA chapters could be found in 150 countries with an estimated worldwide membership of over 2 million people. Moreover, between 12 and 15 million Americans were estimated to have become involved in nonprofit self-help groups like AA.

Certain studies show that self-help membership was increasing annually. Growth may be attributed to the anonymous nature of these groups, although anonymity has made accurate counting impossible. Most self-help participants have been white, middle-class baby boomers, but the movement itself has encompassed all kinds of Americans. The roster of groups includes Overeaters Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, and Debtors Anonymous.

Workforce

According to the Census Bureau, in 2001 taxable and tax-exempt individual and family social services establishments in the United States, employed 821,890 workers, down from 923,300 in 1998. (Almost half of all nongovernmental social service employees worked for individual and miscellaneous social service organizations.) In 2001 mean hourly wage was $12.14, with an annual mean of $24,250. Management positions had a mean annual salary of $45,990; chief executives averaged $77,090. Community and social service organization positions, such as substance abuse counselors, family therapists, and social workers, were paid a mean annual salary of $26,600.

Nearly two-thirds of all social service establishments have fewer than ten employees. However, half of all workers have been employed by larger establishments, those with 50 employees or more. The industry also has employed a high percentage of older workers, 36 percent being 45 years old or older.

One-third of nongovernmental jobs in social services have been in service occupations, such as homemaker/home health aides, food preparation workers, nurse aides, and child care or elderly care workers, according to the Department of Labor. These jobs usually have required little formal training in social services or an education beyond high school.

One-fourth of nongovernmental social service jobs have been professional specialty occupations, such as social workers, human services workers, adult education teachers, and counselors. These jobs usually have specific entrance requirements, similar to most professional specialty occupations. Some jobs required specific clinical knowledge, such as the duties of a licensed nurse. Some of the fastest growing occupations in the United States can be found in the field of social services. By the year 2005, the number of homemaker/home health care aides in all industries has been projected to grow 88 percent, human service workers by 71 percent, and social workers by 34 percent, according to the Department of Labor. The anticipated growth in social service work has been based on the expanding needs of the elderly, disabled, mentally ill, mentally retarded, and families in crisis.

Research and Technology

The federal government has been actively involved in researching technological options available for use in an electronic system to deliver public assistance benefits. Targeted for implementation sometime within the first two decades of the twenty-first century, the program would provide greater efficiency to the welfare system, especially in detecting fraud, waste, and abuse. The electronic delivery system would also reduce the costs associated with a paper-based, manual issuance, and redemption public assistance program.

Further Reading

Besharov, Douglas J. "The Past and Future of Welfare Reform." Public Interest, Winter 2003.

Bricker-Jenkins, Mary, and Beth Brookland. "Activists Take on Welfare Reform: Two Views." Dollars & Sense, September-October 2002.

"CARF and NADSA Forge Agreement To Develop Accreditation Process For Adult Day Services." Washington: National Council on the Aging, 1999. Available from http://www.ncoa.org .

"Facts on Adoption." Washington: National Council for Adoption, 2000. Available from http://familymedicine.about.com .

"HHS Announces Sixth Straight Year of Declines in Welfare Caseloads." U.S. Newswire, 13 February 2003.

"HHS Releases TANF Annual Report to Congress; Report Documents Successes in Moving Americans from Welfare to Work." U.S. Newswire, 11 February 2003.

Lens, Vicki. "TANF: What Went Wrong and What To Do Next." Social Work, July 2002.

Peterson, Janice. "The TANF Reauthorization Debate: Key Welfare Reform Issues and Concerns." Journal of Economic Issues, June 2002.

Red Cross Annual Report, 2002 2002. Available from http://www.redcross.org .

Rowe, Gretchen, and Linda Giannarelli. "TANF Benefits in a Sagging Economy." Policy & Practice of Public Human Services, June 2002.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. "Fact Sheet," 5 May 2000. Available from http://www.acf.dhhs.gov .

U.S. Census Bureau. 1997 Economic Census—Health Care and Social Assistance. Washington, DC: GPO, 2000.

U.S. Department of Agriculture. Food and Nutrition Services. "Food Stamp Program Data," February 2003. Available from http://www.fns.usda.gov .

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. "The Administration for Children and Families Overview," 5 May 2000. Available from http://www.acf.dhhs.gov .

——. "Welfare Caseloads Decline/New Grants to Promote Job Retention," 5 May 2000. Available from http://www.acf.dhhs.gov .

U.S. Department of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2001 National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, 2001. Available from http://www.bls.gov .

"Welfare-to-work; Bush Plan Ignores Proven Strategies." Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), 13 February 2003.



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