Historical Impact Can Bring Rewards

Active board engagement in philanthropy is an ever-increasing necessity of healthy nonprofit agency functioning. Part of the energy and enthusiasm of that board engagement lies not only within the story of “who we are today,” but also in the history of who we’ve been and our impact on the community and the nation. Too frequently, we find our agencies simply defined by the activities or the services we delivered today, rather than the broader mission they carry, and even their community impact and presence.

I don’t think we do a good enough job of setting “the context”—sharing the proud history of who we are with our board members, staff, and communities. In these times of rapid change and societal value shifts, it can be helpful to consider the history of our collective journey and the impact and presence we’ve created for families and children.

I recognize that each agency within the Alliance network has its own history of which to be proud. Collectively, I’d argue we are amazing. This belief was reinforced for me by Bill Durkin. Bill is a consultant working with the Alliance for Children and Families’ development committee of the board. He recently sketched out pieces of the history of our movement and our impact. With Bill’s permission, I have shared some of it here.

Our field has surely evolved as we’ve confronted each new challenge and opportunity of successive decades, and we will continue to do so. In reviewing this proud history, it is clear to me that an unwavering core principle of our network has been, and continues to be, our mission-based commitment to the needs of families and children. 

By any measure, the Alliance for Children and Families is a leading national organization comprised of a network of more than 300 private, nonprofit human service agencies offering an array of community-based programs and services to all generations, serving close to 8 million people each year in more than 6,700 communities. 

The Alliance traces its origins to the beginning of the family service movement in the early 20th century and the development of orphanages, which later became residential treatment facilities for children and youth. Today, the Alliance is guided by a mission “To strengthen the capacities of North America’s nonprofit child- and family-serving organizations to serve and to advocate for children, families, and communities.”

Through critical support from a host of members through the years, as well as prominent national foundations and individuals, the Alliance’s research, teaching, publications, and long-term planning activities are all designed to provoke higher levels of professionalism and management performance in human service organizations.

In the course of nearly 100 years, the Alliance has greatly expanded the impact of its work after shaping the inception of what we now know as the social work profession. Recognizing the increasingly complex environment in which human service administrators, professionals, and volunteers exist, the organization works to fuse intellectual capital with superior membership services and valuable products to sustain and enhance a unique network of peers. 

Alliance members today reflect the changes that have taken place in the field over many years. Most can no longer be defined by one type of service. They are multi-faceted and community-minded. They provide therapeutic counseling whether it is directed to children, families, individuals, or groups. They are assets to local governments, schools, and social services because of their ability to provide parent and family life education services, child abuse services, domestic violence counseling, trauma debriefing, and substance abuse services, to name just a few. Since so many social problems are exacerbated by poverty, it is not surprising that many Alliance members are featuring cutting-edge economic empowerment services.

As its 100th anniversary approaches, the Alliance consists of the merged assets of two organizations with roots extending to the very beginning of philanthropy in America. Although Family Service America was formed in 1911 and the National Association of Homes and Services for Children in 1975, some of their member agencies date to the Civil War era, they took on the challenges of rapid immigration, the Industrial Revolution, economic depressions, and the ravages of war that put many children, families, and communities in dire straits.

Response Begins Movement

The response to the deteriorating conditions in American cities in the late 1800s can be seen as a major step toward formal recognition of the human service field.

Slum conditions in cities, as well as death or disability to a parent due to war and industrial accidents, caused the number of orphanages to expand from 71 in 1861 to 600 by 1890. During these same years, models of community services for families were emerging. The first formal programs to enlist volunteers to serve as paternal guardians developed in 1843 with the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor.

In the early 19th century, the settlement house movement took shape. Founded by Jane Addams and other pioneers, settlement houses worked to change social and economic conditions. With Addams’ leadership, the settlement house movement aimed to improve urban living and working conditions, as they were also influential in advocating for new laws creating children’s courts, compulsory school attendance, and limits to child labor.

Social Work as a Profession Brings Legitimacy

Similarities between family service organizations and settlement house efforts set the stage for establishment of social work as a profession. Both believed poor people were adversely affected by circumstances of city life. Both relied on motivated volunteers from the wealthy class.

After the White House Conference on Dependent Children in 1909 highlighted social work and, for the first time, the role of the federal government in social welfare, it was clear a profession was forming, advancing a systematic body of knowledge and skill obtained through education and training as well as shared group identity and values.

The challenge for social work in its early years was convincing people it had scientific and ethical values beyond benevolence and well-wishing. By 1917, one of the founding leaders of the national association, Mary Richmond, wrote Social Diagnosis, the first textbook on social casework.

The early years of the profession followed World War I and brought major changes. The family service mission of controlling financing and administration of private charity was absorbed by what became United Way. Volunteers who had documented conditions of the poor as friendly visitors were replaced by professional social workers. In turn, the volunteers began to serve appointments as agency board members as that became a privileged role for the first time. As social work passed beyond volunteerism to a vocation requiring skills, knowledge, and techniques, an emphasis was placed on specialists over generalists.

National Organizations Form

What ultimately became the Alliance for Children and Families was formed in Boston in 1911 as the National Association of Societies for Organizing Charities with 62 members in 25 states. The intent was to stress coordination of relief resources regardless of whether its members delivered the services. The guiding belief of this group was that poverty could not be resolved simply by providing money to poor families.

After changing the name to American Association in 1919, the organization was again re-named in 1930 to the Family Welfare Association of America since the Great Depression precipitated a doubling of individuals practicing social work. It was increasingly a recognized force and, for the first time, key positions in the White House and president’s cabinet were filled by professional social workers including one of his most influential advisors.

World War II rapidly delivered full employment and rising salaries that changed the nature of services for families and children. In 1946, the organization changed its name once again to Family Service Association of America. About the same time, foster care placements expanded rapidly as research studies raised intense questions about institutionalization.

In the 1950s, an incorrect perception of the level and scope of poverty in America led to a 1960s backlash. This set the tone for an activist decade as explosions in cities triggered by poverty, unemployment, and crowded conditions were met by an explosion of welfare expenses by the end of the decade. (Interestingly, between 1961 and 1981 federal funding of member agencies grew from 17 percent to 79 percent even before the decline in United Way resources began in the 1980s.) 

This coincided with a determined effort by Family Service Association of America to develop advocacy as a functional part of the organization. Members realized that with a unified voice they could be of more influence, and this function has continued to increase in importance each decade thereafter.

Orphanages proved to be a safety net for many children involved in the child welfare system, but as times changed and services evolved, so too did the organizations providing services. The National Association of Homes for Children was formed in 1974 due in part to the organizations’ desire to bring a more unified voice to national public policy initiatives at the state and national level. Its many accomplishments included improvement in service delivery, treatment methodology, and the recognition that families must be supported and educated. The name was changed to National Association of Homes and Services for Children in later years.

In the 1970s and 1980s, both Family Service America (name changed in 1984) and the National Association of Homes and Services for Children made great contributions to the field, such as the formation of the Council on Accreditation (with the Child Welfare League of America) and the position paper “Foster Care in the United States,” which provided cutting edge opinion on issues related to residential care and treatment.

The 1998 merger of Family Service America and the National Association of Homes and Services for Children brought a new legacy of accomplishments. It also brought yet another new name—Alliance for Children and Families.

The history of the Alliance for Children and Families and the entire field show that as social work and related practices changed, so too did the national organizations. They evolved with the field and found ways to make a difference, while also bringing added clout to the many providers throughout the country.

Over the many years since slum conditions in cities spurred a movement, the importance of settlement houses, neighborhood centers, family service providers, and child welfare organizations in finding ways for children and families to succeed, in finding ways for neighborhoods to thrive, and finding ways for communities to provide connections for all their citizens, has not diminished.

Bob Jones is chair of the Alliance’s Resource Development Services Advisory Committee. He is president and CEO of Alliance member Children’s Aid and Family Services, Paramus, N.J., and a former member of the Alliance Board of Directors.

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