Service Trends in a Conservative Era: Guilt by Association?

The article presents the authors' perspective of the service trends in a conservative era. We agree with Robert Schilling and his colleagues that much argument touting simplistic, private sector solutions to all manner of social ills-often accompanied by anti-professionalism--has all too frequently permeated the policy initiatives and rhetoric of the present administration. Most researchers locate social support in a general model of coping, stress, and adaptation. With respect to how social support is "delivered," we believe the authors are overly concrete in their preoccupation with "natural helping networks." Interventions designed to increase and enhance sup- ports for high risk families have demonstrated that effective helping is not dependent on having a preexisting support network, which only awaits activation, but that volunteer and even paid staff can be integrated successfully into a network perceived by clients as helpful. We believe the task of the profession is not to seek out ideologically correct service solutions, but to examine critically the strengths and limits of a variety of formal and informal helping approaches with the goal of increasing the range of options available to individuals and families in need.