social service summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see social service.

social service, also called social work, Any of various professional activities or methods concerned with providing social services (such as investigatory and treatment services or material aid) to disadvantaged, distressed, or vulnerable persons or groups. The field originated in the charity organizations in Europe and the U.S. in the late 19th century. The training of volunteer workers by these organizations led directly to the founding of the first schools of social work and indirectly to increased government responsibility for the welfare of the disadvantaged. Social service providers may serve the needs of children and families, the poor or homeless, immigrants, veterans, the mentally ill, the handicapped, victims of rape or domestic violence, and persons dependent on alcohol or drugs. See also welfare.

Jesuit Summary

Jesuit, member of the Society of Jesus (S.J.), a Roman Catholic order of religious men founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, noted for its educational, missionary, and charitable works. The order has been regarded by many as the principal agent of the Counter-Reformation and was later a leading force

social security Summary

Social security, any of the measures established by legislation to maintain individual or family income or to provide income when some or all sources of income are disrupted or terminated or when exceptionally heavy expenditures have to be incurred (e.g., in bringing up children or paying for

Grace Abbott Summary

Grace Abbott was an American social worker, public administrator, educator, and reformer who was important in the field of child-labour legislation. Abbott wrote articles on this subject, as well as on maternity and on juvenile employment, for the Encyclopædia Britannica (see Law Relating to

Jane Addams Summary

Jane Addams was an American social reformer and pacifist, co-winner (with Nicholas Murray Butler) of the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1931. She is probably best known as a co-founder of Hull House in Chicago, one of the first social settlements in North America. Addams graduated from Rockford Female