Nasw Social Welfare Policy

Social Welfare Policy

FMLA was developed due to a multitude of reasons. There was an increase in the number of households in which a single parent worked or if two-parents both worked. Congress stated that it was important that parents were able to participate in the early stages of a child’s life both for the children's development as well as the family as a whole. They found that there was an absence of employment policies to accommodate working parents. At the time parents were forced to choose between job security or parenting. In 1993, and even still today there is the sexist view that women were responsible for family caretaking. In the written Act congress states that “due to the nature of the roles of men and women in our society,

NASW states that strengthening and providing support to families are central characteristics of the social work field. They believe that family “is the primary socializing agent and the primary economic unit in our culture” (Wheeler & Mcclain, 2015 pg 221). They also discuss the changes that the United States family units have undergone. Families are dealing with multiple economic responsibilities that have not always been an issue in the past and there are currently gaps in the services and resources that are provided to families. They argue that employers need to be better at making sure employees are getting what they need to survive. They say that wages that allow a family to live above the poverty line, as well as better health care options, and paid family leave will help to reduce family stress and help to support and strengthen the families of the United States. In turn, this would help to decrease homelessness and family violence. NASW believes that, “employee policies, wages, and work roles are critical to the stability of families and to the development and protection of both children and adults” (Wheeler & Mcclain, 2015 pg 124). They advocate for attention to be spent on private-sector policies to foster better

In comparison the United States is far behind in what is offered to new parents. For example, Ireland began to address maternal leave from work as early as 1952 with their Social Work Welfare Act no 11. After 1969, they took another leap that the United States has yet to take and they introduced a law in which twelve paid weeks were required, however they would not have job protection until 1981. In 1981, the Maternity Protection Act entitled expectant mothers to paid maternity leave and the right to return to work after their childbirth. The period of maternity leave was fourteen weeks, which they then had the option of taking up to four more weeks of unpaid maternity leave. The Act applied to all women who worked eight hours or more per week. Another difference between the United States and Ireland’s policies is that Ireland recognizes the need for both parents to have leave. In 1998, Ireland passed the Parental Leave Act No. 30 with gave a parental leave or 14 unpaid and job-protected weeks per parent. Between the years of 2001 and 2007, the number of weeks and the amount of pay that an individual was allowed increased. In 2007, the maximum length of leave was increased to forty-two weeks, of those twenty-six were paid at 70% of their earnings. Recently, in 2016, Ireland introduced paid paternity leave, in the past paternity leave was