The Families First Act. The Families First Act. Textbook: Segal, Elizabeth A. (2016). Social Welfare Policy and Social Programs: A Values Perspective, Fourth Edition. Publisher: Wadsworth
Some tips to prepare your Policy Analysis – final paper.
Remember, during this course, you are becoming the expert policy advocate in your selected legislative area of interest. The major project paper for this course is the Policy Analysis Paper and a Annotated Bibliography assignment requires students to collect relevant journal articles.
Organize your information to answer the questions in the policy analysis outline provided below, and begin to write the paragraphs for each section of the final paper. You will conduct a review of the literature and media outlets to collect update information from available publications, legislation proposals, and significant policy events or live hearings related to your legislation. The focus of the project is a piece of legislation or proposal (rather than a general topic).
1. Review Segal’s models of social welfare policy analysis on pp. 130-142. (Refer to the applications of the model).
2. Conduct research on your selected legislation using local and national organizations, congressional hearings, and media outlets for current events, activities, and legislative updates. Source outlets are available related to your selected legislation. Do not use Wikipedia or any similar sources or references for this reports for this assignment or future classes.
5. Prepare an outline to record your answers to the subheadings and questions listed found in Segal, Chapter 6 under the section, Questions for a Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy, p. 136
6. At a minimum, the final paper will include the specific subheadings directly in your paper to outline your content and inform the reader of the specific questions or topics that you plan to address from the Questions fora Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy in the course textbook, p. 136.
Use these subheadings to draft the outline that you will use in final version of your Policy Analysis paper: You will place the specific subheadings directly in your paper to outline your content and inform the reader of the specific questions or topics that you plan to address from the Questions for a Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy in the Segal textbook, p. 136.
Because each piece of legislation or policy proposal presents different sources of information based on the life cycle and stage of the policy, you may choose headings that apply to your area,and, you may add subheadings to report your specific findings and you may indicate questions for which you are unable to locate an answer.
a. SOCIAL PROBLEM: Introduction of the social problem(s) related to your selected legislation.
b. RESEARCH: Be sure to identify the specific information sources that you are reporting in your paper, e.g., news item, media event, legislative activity, congressional hearing, or existing policy briefs.
c. PUBLIC REACTION: For example, how is the media covering and portraying this issue? What values and beliefs are important?
d. IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS:AFFECTED POPULATIONS: Identify the populations (or groups) who are affected.
e. LEGISLATIVE INTENDED IMPACT: For example, describe the intended consequences or goal of the legislation.Identify who supports the public policy? Identify who opposes the public policy?
f. SUMMARY: Summarize your response to the question,“what impact might this event have on social change or social welfare programs?” Briefly discuss any ideas or suggestions for improving the policy.
NOTE: There are numerous online policy-related resources. You may consult a partial listing in the course bookmarks unit.
Evaluation
Submitted written assignments will be graded based upon the organization and quality of ideas, presentation (grammar, punctuation,spelling, and APA formatting), and use of evidence and course content to support ideas. The content of written assignments and oral presentations must utilize key concepts and course terminology.
Note: Any submitted paper containing content, e.g. sentences and phrases printed directly from a source or web site without proper credit using APA citation such (publisher/author, year, p. #) for all quoted (or unquoted) material will receive zero credit for the assignment. This evaluation of zero credit also applies to any submitted paper that (1) contains an entire block of quoted material from a source document without any original introductory or opening phrase or sentence and a closing sentence to summarize the material in your own words and (2) a paper that is written either in part, or entirely, by pasting language or text printed from external sources into the subheadings of the paper. .
The glossary (starting on p. 411) and even the INDEX can be short-cut ways to finding search terms or placing the law you are analyzing into a category or place in government. These are in your textbook.
Remember the discussion about values earlier in the text? I want to remind you how essential understanding the range of values, how people and organizations invest and show that investment publicly, to understand who WILL or who MIGHT or who DID support the legislation or the law you are analyzing. That is, knowing what they value could help you identify both supporting and opposing organizations or individuals (of stature) that can help provide that part of your analysis. Knowing who are stakeholders is important. Investigate the WHOLE legislation, If you do the whole, you will necessarily be more broad and general and if you choose the more specific, the more specific, detailed and focused you will be. In the latter, you might imagine writing your paper as an inverted triangle, where the broad base is at the top and the narrower portion is the specificity of your paper. Here, your paper will begin addressing the broad topics of the context and historical situation of the legislation and then begin to narrow, perhaps with what prompted the specific legislation at that time (or now if contemporary or present), and work your way down to the details of the analysis as found on page 100 in Box 4.3. Envisioning the breadth and working towards depth helps some students outline and organize their thoughts for such a paper.
Box 4.3: The questions posed here reflect Dr. Segal’s view and while I have no problems with her model (in fact she was one of my instructors at The Ohio State University) and I do support the idea of a “critical model,” I want you to be aware that there are many other models of policy analysis out there. You can be as formal as you like and nearly as eclectic* as you like when choosing or adopting portions of a model’s philosophy or strategies. However, for integrity’s sake and for not basically stealing other people’s ideas, acknowledging the source of a part of the model is primary but also for integrity’s sake, being aware of the values and organizing principles of a model is essential so that you apply and use, EVEN THE PORTIONS YOU MAY CHOOSE, in a manner consistent with which they were envisioned and created and tested. This preserves your integrity as a social worker and the integrity of the work behind the development of the model.
Remember WHY you, as a social worker/social work or issue policy expert, are engaging in policy analysis.
Critical Model Questions for Social Welfare Policy Analysis(Use these Sub Headings)
MODIFIED: Questions for a Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy Analysis
I. SOCIAL PROBLEM – This probably requires literature review for definitions (not like a dictionary); more
What is the problem? like an "operational definition" – for the purpose of this policy, X is defined as Y.
What are the definitions of the problem?
What is the extent of the problem?
Who defines this as a problem?
Who disagrees with the dominant definition?
What are the conflicting social values and beliefs underlying the definition of the problem?
What are the underlying causes or factors?
Who are the groups affected by this problem, and do they belong to a particular race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, education, family size or type, geographic location and size, and/or other special group?
Ex:
II. POWER IMBALANCE OR STRUGGLE – You will likely find more about this area from private reporting from think tanks, advocacy groups, political party positions, and newspapers.
Who loses from this social problem, so long as it remains a problem? And if/when it is "solved"?
Who gains from this social problem, so long as it remains a problem? And if/when it is "solved"?
Who opposes it? Who supports it?
What role(s), if any, do race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, social class, age, ability, sexual orientation, education level, gender identity, family size, birth order, geographic location and size, and/or any other personal attribute play in this issue?
Who seems to have power and who does not?
Ex:
III. PUBLIC REACTION (aka Opinion polls are a good source here)
What do voters/potential voters think?
What do people think who do not typically vote?
What do people with higher incomes think?
What do people with lower incomes think? **Students note: you can play this game/analysis with any identity aspect.
How is the media covering and portraying this issue?
What values and beliefs are important?
Whose values and beliefs are dominant?
Whose values and beliefs are minimal?
Ex:
IV. POLICIES, PUBLIC LAWS, OR ADMINISTRATIVE RULES – Congress.gov and Google (look for Legislative History for (TOPIC)(ISSUE)(PROBLEM) or your policy title. You can search for Public Laws and then your search terms at National Archives. For Administrative Rules you can search the Code of Federal Regulations for rules about your policy. (You can also check https://www.regulations.gov/ to see what comments the public has about certain policy proposals (called the public comment period).
What are other existing relevant or related public policies?
If there are no public policies, why not? You will probably have to speculate but you could include in Google search.
What are the objectives of these identified policies?
What hidden agendas were noted or found?
Who supports the policies?
Who opposes the policies?
Who has spoken out in favor of the policies? Who has spoken out against the policies?
How might race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, family size or type, geographic location or size, and/or any other personal attribute seem significant in these policies?
Ex:
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS – this is more challenging as there is no single database of programs resulting directly from a given policy; however, you can backtrack by reviewing a program which you might find here: Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance. You might find info at Performance.gov or evidencebasedprograms.gov
Which social programs have been implemented as a result of the policies?
Are the programs effective?
What are the strengths and weaknesses?
Who is primarily served by the programs?
Who has oversight for the programs?
What, if any, role does disproportionate involvement of any one group based on race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, geographic location/size, family size or type, and/or any other personal have in these programs?
Ex:
VI. ACTUAL IMPACT – Reports from the Congressional Budget office but also advocacy groups and other reports (probably a Google search is in order here).
What are the costs and benefits?
How has the social problem changed, if it has changed?
What unintended results, usually called unintended consequences, are there or might there be?
Ex:
VII. LEGISLATIVE-INTENDED IMPACT – this is probably around where the problem was defined – what is the goal, outcome, desired result, optimal impact, social impact and so forth – those are search terms you can use and this MIGHT be found in DATABASES with scholarly reports of EVALUATION of your policy (if it exists); otherwise, it is a projection which might be found as in #VI above.
What was supposed to be the result?
Who was supposed to be affected?
How was the social problem supposed to be changed?
Ex:
VIII. PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS – the "public" is a lot of people > voters, constituents > service users > service providers > evaluators > city and state planners > and so forth. Thinking of specific "publics" might help you decide where to look for their expectations (which include the legislators or the litigants (judicial branch) or regulators (administrative rules) to look for this. Also, don’t forget the scholarly literature and search terms as well as Google search for advocacy groups beyond "social work" and newspapers and online research reports – even letters to the Editor and Opinion Editorials (called Op-ed pieces).
How much did the social problem decrease?
In what ways is the situtation from the problem above better now?
Who is satisfied with the outcome?
Who is dissatisfied with the outcome?
Ex:
IX. AFFECTED POPULATIONS Affect>emotion Effect>result. Here you can be touched slightly or heavily and you, the analyst can make that call. We want to know this to see if they would help us support or oppose the policy and their level of involvement may make a difference in likelihood. Evaluation reports might get you to this information; Advocacy pages and a well-crafted set of search terms in Google will help.
Who is touched by the policy and programs?
What positive effects are there?
What negative effects are there?
What populations have been or are at risk of being affected disproportionately by this policy?
Ex:
_________________________________________________________
TABLE 6.2 | QUESTIONS FOR A CRITICAL MODEL FOR SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY ANALYSIS
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Some tips to prepare the POLICY ANALYSIS paper.
Some tips to prepare your Social Welfare POLICY ANALYSIS project paper.
Some tips to prepare your Policy Analysis – final paper. Note: This project requires at least four weeks to research and prepare your final paper. Check the course assignment calendar for the actual due date close to end of the session.
Remember, during this course, you are becoming the expert policy advocate in your selected legislative area of interest. The major project paper for this course is the Policy Analysis Paper, which requires at least four to five weeks to research and to complete your responses to the items in the policy analysis outline. Check the course assignment calendar for the actual due.
Keep in mind, that each assignment in this course will support your progress in gathering information that you will use to complete the final policy paper. For example, the Annotated Bibliography assignment requires students to collect relevant journal articles available in the UI&U Virtual Library collections.
Each week you will take a step to conduct research, organize your information to answer the questions in the policy analysis outline, and begin to write the paragraphs for each section of the final paper. Each week, you will conduct a review of the literature and media outlets to collect update information from available publications, legislation proposals, and significant policy events or live hearings related to your legislation. The focus of the project is a piece of legislation or proposal (rather than a general topic).
For the remaining weeks of the course, students will perform the following tasks:
1. Review Segal’s models of social welfare policy analysis on pp. 130-142. (Refer to the applications of the model).
2. Conduct weekly research on your selected legislation using local and national organizations, congressional hearings, and media outlets for current events, activities, and legislative updates. Source outlets are available related to your selected legislation. Do not use Wikipedia or any similar sources or references for this reports for this assignment or future classes at Union Institute & University.
3. Consult the UI&U’s Virtual Library or external internet database to collect data and publications related to your selected policy issue. Remember, you may also refer to the NASW publications to identify potential data sources and references.
4. To organize your research each week, save your references and prepare a reference list using the appropriate APA format for each type of reference such as internet source, journal article. For information on citing references (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association Sixth Edition (2010) and refer to the UI&U Writing Center and the Purdue Owl Writing Lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
5. Prepare an outline to record your answers to the subheadings and questions listed found in Segal, Chapter 6 under the section, Questions for a Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy, p. 136 (download a copy from the CampusWeb course main page.
6. At a minimum, the final paper will include the specific subheadings directly in your paper to outline your content and inform the reader of the specific questions or topics that you plan to address from the Questions fora Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy in the course textbook, p. 136.
Use these subheadings to draft the outline that you will use in final version of your Policy Analysis paper: You will place the specific subheadings directly in your paper to outline your content and inform the reader of the specific questions or topics that you plan to address from the Questions for a Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy in the Segal textbook, p. 136.
Because each piece of legislation or policy proposal presents different sources of information based on the life cycle and stage of the policy, you may choose headings that apply to your area,and, you may add subheadings to report your specific findings and you may indicate questions for which you are unable to locate an answer.
a. SOCIAL PROBLEM: Introduction of the social problem(s) related to your selected legislation.
b. RESEARCH: Be sure to identify the specific information sources that you are reporting in your paper, e.g., news item, media event, legislative activity, congressional hearing, or existing policy briefs.
c. PUBLIC REACTION: For example, how is the media covering and portraying this issue? What values and beliefs are important?
d. IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS:AFFECTED POPULATIONS: Identify the populations (or groups) who are affected.
e. LEGISLATIVE INTENDED IMPACT: For example, describe the intended consequences or goal of the legislation.Identify who supports the public policy? Identify who opposes the public policy?
f. SUMMARY: Summarize your response to the question,“what impact might this event have on social change or social welfare programs?” Briefly discuss any ideas or suggestions for improving the policy.
NOTE: There are numerous online policy-related resources. You may consult a partial listing in the course bookmarks unit.
7. BE SURE TO CHECK THE COURSE ASSIGNMENT CALENDAR FOR THE ACTUAL DUE DATE. You must upload your paper to the file exchange located in the ‘Coursework/Assignments unit that reads: Assessment Artifact.
Evaluation
Submitted written assignments will be graded based upon the organization and quality of ideas, presentation (grammar, punctuation,spelling, and APA formatting), and use of evidence and course content to support ideas. The content of written assignments and oral presentations must utilize key concepts and course terminology. Reference: UI&U Research Paper (rubric).
Note: Any submitted paper containing content, e.g. sentences and phrases printed directly from a source or web site without proper credit using APA citation such (publisher/author, year, p. #) for all quoted (or unquoted) material will receive zero credit for the assignment. This evaluation of zero credit also applies to any submitted paper that (1) contains an entire block of quoted material from a source document without any original introductory or opening phrase or sentence and a closing sentence to summarize the material in your own words and (2) a paper that is written either in part, or entirely, by pasting language or text printed from external sources into the subheadings of the paper.
Dr. C Memo for Finishing Policy Paper Wk 6 12.3.16
Folks, ever have one of those weeks where technology, normally your friend, acts up? Well, I have composed this very message 2 times this week and though it seems put together to you (perhaps), it took a bit of time to organize and to present to you but both times I lost the original to a tech glitch (timed out Wifi at Panera and a power outage at home) so I’m typing in Word and pasting so I expect this third time to be the charm.
It has information in it that I usually provide such a class about this time in relation to the final assignment. You are showing what you are learning about how to think about policy issues, problems and solutions in this final assignment and thus holds a great deal of significance.
Check comments sent to you for your Annotated Bibliography for YOUR topic but remember this: other sources may be used and an expansion of sources (references in APA) (see #2 and #3 below for more on this). That is, you should probably have more than a few but you are not required to use all of the sources found in this AB assignment.
Your author provides an amazing, if starting, set of resources in Box 4.8 (pp. 109-113). I’m sure you noticed reading the text but it is a great starting point. I am trying to secure the list electronically so you just click-through but, alas, I don’t have one yet. These kinds of sites can help provide background on the law and/or the socio-historical context that fostered the sense such legislation was needed (as a new law or to be continued as a renewed or reformed legislation). This list includes Think Tanks, invaluable to the analysis.
In addition to the types of sites found above, you might also consider media sites (websites or papers or magazines) for media sources such as news sources but also government sites where the Cabinet offices of the Executive Branch have many reports. For example, the Department of Justice, which houses the Bureau of Justice Statistics as one of many programs, has reports on jails, prisons, and detention centers at the local, state, regional and national levels.*
Remember your civics classes when conducting your research AND engaging in your own analysis. Here’s what I mean. . .3 branches of government. . .
Branch v/Level> Federal State Local
Executive President Governor Mayor
(aka Administrative) Cabinet Administrative offices* Administrative Offices
Legislative Congress General Assembly* City Council; County Commission
Judicial U.S. Supreme Court State Supreme Court Common Pleas; Municipal Court
Circuit Courts Courts of Appeal Courts of Appeal > State
*Using Ohio as my example > Different states call levels and offices by different names
Authorizing Document U.S. Constitution State Constitution Local Charter or other
What I want you to notice is how similar the STRUCTURE is across levels. There is usually some INDIVIDUAL in charge (Executive) aided by administrators and bureaucracy in the form of agencies and organizations. There are oversight bodies in the form of entities passing legislation (Legislative) and interpreted by the courts (Judicial) and this is the essence of “checks and balances” of power and authority.
You might consider how decisions at one level might be applied or have implications for actions at another level and this is related to critical thinking.
Media: Some argue that the media is or should be the 4th estate or the 4th branch of government and to be a watchdog on the other levels and branches. Considering them, whether online or on the page/screen is worth consideration.
Remember, there are many purposes or intended effects and outcomes desired by the proposal of legislation and some of them have nothing to do with the bill becoming law. Some have to do with establishing a “record” of introducing a type of legislation that incumbent members of Congress, running for re-election in their home districts, can say they proposed (lead) even if they don’t pass. People who are unfamiliar with how Congress and bill-making happens might be duped by this. Now you won’t be.
Other purposes include, out of perceived fiscal necessity or political expediency, that a line needs to be established as a cutoff point for inclusion in the legislation. Often this is by income or a percentage of income (e.g. qualification for SNAP (old food stamps) is at 200% of the poverty level. Anyone whose income is below the figure is eligible and anyone above is not. That seems so simple and yet it is arbitrary and for those sitting very near the line, perhaps discriminatory. Some of you might know this line from, say, financial aid applications. My real point, however, is that policy serves to be INCLUSIVE (viewed favorably) and EXCLUSIVE (or divisive) (viewed less favorably or cynically). If you want to divide people or see where the divisions have previously been drawn, you need only check eligibility requirements for almost any governmental or non-governmental service. These lines can be invisible to the less informed but you are joining the INFORMED and once informed, you cannot turn back or turn your back on this aspect of policy work.
The glossary (starting on p. 411) and even the INDEX can be short-cut ways to finding search terms or placing the law you are analyzing into a category or place in government. These are in your textbook.
Remember the discussion about values earlier in the text? I want to remind you how essential understanding the range of values, how people and organizations invest and show that investment publicly, to understand who WILL or who MIGHT or who DID support the legislation or the law you are analyzing. That is, knowing what they value could help you identify both supporting and opposing organizations or individuals (of stature) that can help provide that part of your analysis. Knowing who are stakeholders is important. I think of stakeholders as both but that is not a typical view of stakeholders but I think that people invested in opposing something become invested in (a) the “thing” in their opposition. It’s like when people say they “hate” so and so. For many philosophers and psychologists, hate is close to love in that it takes energy, thought, and time much like love and therefore is something to notice, at least. I believe the same about stakeholders. To be clear, SPONSORS and CO-SPONSORS are a type of stakeholder but the real stakeholders aren’t political officeholders usually; rather, the people or institutions to be impacted are the stakeholders involved and the organizations and institutions and agencies who support or oppose the legislation because of their involvement, due to their VALUES, makes them stakeholders too.
Although all of you picked a law or legislation enacted or introduced at the federal level and through Congress, I want to remind you that the policy analysis process can apply to ordinances and state laws in a similar way (learning the parties and getting information, strangely, becomes more difficult the more local the law is you are researching or analyzing). I also want to mention that most of you do this because, in the old days and much doesn’t change with technology here, it is difficult to write a policy practice textbook that could encompass all of the jurisdictions and elements unique to each to make the book a seller to many customers. It is difficult to write about N Carolina when things are done differently in Alaska, for example. So, we TEACH at the federal level because there is more UNITY in teaching and more UNIVERSALITY of application here. Several years ago, faculty at VA Commonwealth U started an organization, Influencing State Policy, to address issues states faced when policies under Pres. Reagan changed the landscape. Now that that has become the “norm,” our group changed its name to Influencing Social Policy. Enjoy our new webpage and consider applying for the contest!
Your legislation might be the broad picture (PWORA) on welfare reform or it might be a TITLE of that same legislation (e.g. TANF). Titles are similar to chapters in a book with sub-topics. In federal and much state legislation they are called Titles (think of Title IX on college athletics and scholarships). That is, you might decide to investigate the WHOLE legislation or, and also appropriate, would be to investigate a smaller portion of the law such as the above. If you do the whole, you will necessarily be more broad and general and if you choose the more specific, the more specific, detailed and focused you will be. In the latter, you might imagine writing your paper as an inverted triangle, where the broad base is at the top and the narrower portion is the specificity of your paper. Here, your paper will begin addressing the broad topics of the context and historical situation of the legislation and then begin to narrow, perhaps with what prompted the specific legislation at that time (or now if contemporary or present), and work your way down to the details of the analysis as found on page 100 in Box 4.3. Envisioning the breadth and working towards depth helps some students outline and organize their thoughts for such a paper.
Box 4.3: The questions posed here reflect Dr. Segal’s view and while I have no problems with her model (in fact she was one of my instructors at The Ohio State University) and I do support the idea of a “critical model,” I want you to be aware that there are many other models of policy analysis out there. You can be as formal as you like and nearly as eclectic* as you like when choosing or adopting portions of a model’s philosophy or strategies. However, for integrity’s sake and for not basically stealing other people’s ideas, acknowledging the source of a part of the model is primary but also for integrity’s sake, being aware of the values and organizing principles of a model is essential so that you apply and use, EVEN THE PORTIONS YOU MAY CHOOSE, in a manner consistent with which they were envisioned and created and tested. This preserves your integrity as a social worker and the integrity of the work behind the development of the model.
Remember WHY you, as a social worker/social work or issue policy expert, are engaging in policy analysis (no, it is not just to pass this class! J). Rather, you are working to determine the strengths or limitations of a policy (evaluation if it has passed or been ruled upon) or if it can do what it aims to do the way it is proposed (implementation). You might be evaluating, you might want to stop the legislation or modify it, you might want to describe it to clients and/or colleagues to garner support for a position about it or, in the case of a law, to see if it should continue as is or also be modified or ended altogether. Understanding WHY will go a long way in helping you conduct an analysis of your policy – be it a bill, a law, a Supreme Court decision or an executive rule from an administrative agency or a public petition.
You have a little over 2 weeks or 15 days to finish your final assignment here. You are making great progress if you are continuing to think about the policy and do even a little bit of work on YOUR topic a couple of times a week or for a few hours on the weekend even. That is, as long as you are trying, you are learning because even coming up empty or not exactly where you wanted you learned about the path you took and how it might pay off for something in the future, if not now for this assignment.
A word about time: In practice, 15 days is an eternity – sometimes or often enough that it is a joke amongst those who do policy work, advocacy work, and proposal writing for grants funding. Each of these thrive in the “last minute” area for a variety of reasons not all related to someone’s procrastination. Last minute releases, someone having access to a list you don’t and they forward it, or things like that contribute. Finding people to partner with or sign off internally can be a challenge the bigger your agency and that can contribute. So, 15 days is a long time – but it is not all you have going nor is it forever but it IS doable and it is enough to do well – especially for first-time policy expertise development such as you are doing!
OK, I may have additional points to add and I may have left some out of my original two emails. If I think of them, I will send them to you ASAP. Please ask me any questions you have about any of these points or anything else for that matter.
You are doing great. Slow and steady (even in 8 weeks) wins the race. Dr. C
Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy Analysis
MODIFIED: Questions for a Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy Analysis
I. SOCIAL PROBLEM – This probably requires literature review for definitions (not like a dictionary); more
What is the problem? like an "operational definition" – for the purpose of this policy, X is defined as Y.
What are the definitions of the problem?
What is the extent of the problem?
Who defines this as a problem?
Who disagrees with the dominant definition?
What are the conflicting social values and beliefs underlying the definition of the problem?
What are the underlying causes or factors?
Who are the groups affected by this problem, and do they belong to a particular race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, education, family size or type, geographic location and size, and/or other special group?
Ex:
II. POWER IMBALANCE OR STRUGGLE – You will likely find more about this area from private reporting from think tanks, advocacy groups, political party positions, and newspapers.
Who loses from this social problem, so long as it remains a problem? And if/when it is "solved"?
Who gains from this social problem, so long as it remains a problem? And if/when it is "solved"?
Who opposes it? Who supports it?
What role(s), if any, do race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, social class, age, ability, sexual orientation, education level, gender identity, family size, birth order, geographic location and size, and/or any other personal attribute play in this issue?
Who seems to have power and who does not?
Ex:
III. PUBLIC REACTION (aka Opinion polls are a good source here)
What do voters/potential voters think?
What do people think who do not typically vote?
What do people with higher incomes think?
What do people with lower incomes think? **Students note: you can play this game/analysis with any identity aspect.
How is the media covering and portraying this issue?
What values and beliefs are important?
Whose values and beliefs are dominant?
Whose values and beliefs are minimal?
Ex:
IV. POLICIES, PUBLIC LAWS, OR ADMINISTRATIVE RULES – Congress.gov and Google (look for Legislative History for (TOPIC)(ISSUE)(PROBLEM) or your policy title. You can search for Public Laws and then your search terms at National Archives. For Administrative Rules you can search the Code of Federal Regulations for rules about your policy. (You can also check https://www.regulations.gov/ to see what comments the public has about certain policy proposals (called the public comment period).
What are other existing relevant or related public policies?
If there are no public policies, why not? You will probably have to speculate but you could include in Google search.
What are the objectives of these identified policies?
What hidden agendas were noted or found?
Who supports the policies?
Who opposes the policies?
Who has spoken out in favor of the policies? Who has spoken out against the policies?
How might race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, family size or type, geographic location or size, and/or any other personal attribute seem significant in these policies?
Ex:
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS – this is more challenging as there is no single database of programs resulting directly from a given policy; however, you can backtrack by reviewing a program which you might find here: Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance. You might find info at Performance.gov or evidencebasedprograms.gov
Which social programs have been implemented as a result of the policies?
Are the programs effective?
What are the strengths and weaknesses?
Who is primarily served by the programs?
Who has oversight for the programs?
What, if any, role does disproportionate involvement of any one group based on race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, geographic location/size, family size or type, and/or any other personal have in these programs?
Ex:
VI. ACTUAL IMPACT – Reports from the Congressional Budget office but also advocacy groups and other reports (probably a Google search is in order here).
What are the costs and benefits?
How has the social problem changed, if it has changed?
What unintended results, usually called unintended consequences, are there or might there be?
Ex:
VII. LEGISLATIVE-INTENDED IMPACT – this is probably around where the problem was defined – what is the goal, outcome, desired result, optimal impact, social impact and so forth – those are search terms you can use and this MIGHT be found in DATABASES with scholarly reports of EVALUATION of your policy (if it exists); otherwise, it is a projection which might be found as in #VI above.
What was supposed to be the result?
Who was supposed to be affected?
How was the social problem supposed to be changed?
Ex:
VIII. PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS – the "public" is a lot of people > voters, constituents > service users > service providers > evaluators > city and state planners > and so forth. Thinking of specific "publics" might help you decide where to look for their expectations (which include the legislators or the litigants (judicial branch) or regulators (administrative rules) to look for this. Also, don’t forget the scholarly literature and search terms as well as Google search for advocacy groups beyond "social work" and newspapers and online research reports – even letters to the Editor and Opinion Editorials (called Op-ed pieces).
How much did the social problem decrease?
In what ways is the situtation from the problem above better now?
Who is satisfied with the outcome?
Who is dissatisfied with the outcome?
Ex:
IX. AFFECTED POPULATIONS Affect>emotion Effect>result. Here you can be touched slightly or heavily and you, the analyst can make that call. We want to know this to see if they would help us support or oppose the policy and their level of involvement may make a difference in likelihood. Evaluation reports might get you to this information; Advocacy pages and a well-crafted set of search terms in Google will help.
Who is touched by the policy and programs?
What positive effects are there?
What negative effects are there?
What populations have been or are at risk of being affected disproportionately by this policy?
Ex:
_________________________________________________________
TABLE 6.2 | QUESTIONS FOR A CRITICAL MODEL FOR SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY ANALYSIS
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You are here: Academics > SOCIAL WORK – SOW > INTRO SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY-ISSUE > SOW 425 21 A – INTRO SOCIAL WELFARE POLICY-ISSUE > Some tips to prepare the POLICY ANALYSIS paper.
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Some tips to prepare the POLICY ANALYSIS paper.
Some tips to prepare your Social Welfare POLICY ANALYSIS project paper.
Some tips to prepare your Policy Analysis – final paper. Note: This project requires at least four weeks to research and prepare your final paper. Check the course assignment calendar for the actual due date close to end of the session.
Remember, during this course, you are becoming the expert policy advocate in your selected legislative area of interest. The major project paper for this course is the Policy Analysis Paper, which requires at least four to five weeks to research and to complete your responses to the items in the policy analysis outline. Check the course assignment calendar for the actual due.
Keep in mind, that each assignment in this course will support your progress in gathering information that you will use to complete the final policy paper. For example, the Annotated Bibliography assignment requires students to collect relevant journal articles available in the UI&U Virtual Library collections.
Each week you will take a step to conduct research, organize your information to answer the questions in the policy analysis outline, and begin to write the paragraphs for each section of the final paper. Each week, you will conduct a review of the literature and media outlets to collect update information from available publications, legislation proposals, and significant policy events or live hearings related to your legislation. The focus of the project is a piece of legislation or proposal (rather than a general topic).
For the remaining weeks of the course, students will perform the following tasks:
1. Review Segal’s models of social welfare policy analysis on pp. 130-142. (Refer to the applications of the model).
2. Conduct weekly research on your selected legislation using local and national organizations, congressional hearings, and media outlets for current events, activities, and legislative updates. Source outlets are available related to your selected legislation. Do not use Wikipedia or any similar sources or references for this reports for this assignment or future classes at Union Institute & University.
3. Consult the UI&U’s Virtual Library or external internet database to collect data and publications related to your selected policy issue. Remember, you may also refer to the NASW publications to identify potential data sources and references.
4. To organize your research each week, save your references and prepare a reference list using the appropriate APA format for each type of reference such as internet source, journal article. For information on citing references (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association Sixth Edition (2010) and refer to the UI&U Writing Center and the Purdue Owl Writing Lab at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
5. Prepare an outline to record your answers to the subheadings and questions listed found in Segal, Chapter 6 under the section, Questions for a Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy, p. 136 (download a copy from the CampusWeb course main page.
6. At a minimum, the final paper will include the specific subheadings directly in your paper to outline your content and inform the reader of the specific questions or topics that you plan to address from the Questions fora Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy in the course textbook, p. 136.
Use these subheadings to draft the outline that you will use in final version of your Policy Analysis paper: You will place the specific subheadings directly in your paper to outline your content and inform the reader of the specific questions or topics that you plan to address from the Questions for a Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy in the Segal textbook, p. 136.
Because each piece of legislation or policy proposal presents different sources of information based on the life cycle and stage of the policy, you may choose headings that apply to your area,and, you may add subheadings to report your specific findings and you may indicate questions for which you are unable to locate an answer.
a. SOCIAL PROBLEM: Introduction of the social problem(s) related to your selected legislation.
b. RESEARCH: Be sure to identify the specific information sources that you are reporting in your paper, e.g., news item, media event, legislative activity, congressional hearing, or existing policy briefs.
c. PUBLIC REACTION: For example, how is the media covering and portraying this issue? What values and beliefs are important?
d. IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS:AFFECTED POPULATIONS: Identify the populations (or groups) who are affected.
e. LEGISLATIVE INTENDED IMPACT: For example, describe the intended consequences or goal of the legislation.Identify who supports the public policy? Identify who opposes the public policy?
f. SUMMARY: Summarize your response to the question,“what impact might this event have on social change or social welfare programs?” Briefly discuss any ideas or suggestions for improving the policy.
NOTE: There are numerous online policy-related resources. You may consult a partial listing in the course bookmarks unit.
7. BE SURE TO CHECK THE COURSE ASSIGNMENT CALENDAR FOR THE ACTUAL DUE DATE. You must upload your paper to the file exchange located in the ‘Coursework/Assignments unit that reads: Assessment Artifact.
Evaluation
Submitted written assignments will be graded based upon the organization and quality of ideas, presentation (grammar, punctuation,spelling, and APA formatting), and use of evidence and course content to support ideas. The content of written assignments and oral presentations must utilize key concepts and course terminology. Reference: UI&U Research Paper (rubric).
Note: Any submitted paper containing content, e.g. sentences and phrases printed directly from a source or web site without proper credit using APA citation such (publisher/author, year, p. #) for all quoted (or unquoted) material will receive zero credit for the assignment. This evaluation of zero credit also applies to any submitted paper that (1) contains an entire block of quoted material from a source document without any original introductory or opening phrase or sentence and a closing sentence to summarize the material in your own words and (2) a paper that is written either in part, or entirely, by pasting language or text printed from external sources into the subheadings of the paper.
Dr. C Memo for Finishing Policy Paper Wk 6 12.3.16
Folks, ever have one of those weeks where technology, normally your friend, acts up? Well, I have composed this very message 2 times this week and though it seems put together to you (perhaps), it took a bit of time to organize and to present to you but both times I lost the original to a tech glitch (timed out Wifi at Panera and a power outage at home) so I’m typing in Word and pasting so I expect this third time to be the charm.
It has information in it that I usually provide such a class about this time in relation to the final assignment. You are showing what you are learning about how to think about policy issues, problems and solutions in this final assignment and thus holds a great deal of significance.
Check comments sent to you for your Annotated Bibliography for YOUR topic but remember this: other sources may be used and an expansion of sources (references in APA) (see #2 and #3 below for more on this). That is, you should probably have more than a few but you are not required to use all of the sources found in this AB assignment.
Your author provides an amazing, if starting, set of resources in Box 4.8 (pp. 109-113). I’m sure you noticed reading the text but it is a great starting point. I am trying to secure the list electronically so you just click-through but, alas, I don’t have one yet. These kinds of sites can help provide background on the law and/or the socio-historical context that fostered the sense such legislation was needed (as a new law or to be continued as a renewed or reformed legislation). This list includes Think Tanks, invaluable to the analysis.
In addition to the types of sites found above, you might also consider media sites (websites or papers or magazines) for media sources such as news sources but also government sites where the Cabinet offices of the Executive Branch have many reports. For example, the Department of Justice, which houses the Bureau of Justice Statistics as one of many programs, has reports on jails, prisons, and detention centers at the local, state, regional and national levels.*
Remember your civics classes when conducting your research AND engaging in your own analysis. Here’s what I mean. . .3 branches of government. . .
Branch v/Level> Federal State Local
Executive President Governor Mayor
(aka Administrative) Cabinet Administrative offices* Administrative Offices
Legislative Congress General Assembly* City Council; County Commission
Judicial U.S. Supreme Court State Supreme Court Common Pleas; Municipal Court
Circuit Courts Courts of Appeal Courts of Appeal > State
*Using Ohio as my example > Different states call levels and offices by different names
Authorizing Document U.S. Constitution State Constitution Local Charter or other
What I want you to notice is how similar the STRUCTURE is across levels. There is usually some INDIVIDUAL in charge (Executive) aided by administrators and bureaucracy in the form of agencies and organizations. There are oversight bodies in the form of entities passing legislation (Legislative) and interpreted by the courts (Judicial) and this is the essence of “checks and balances” of power and authority.
You might consider how decisions at one level might be applied or have implications for actions at another level and this is related to critical thinking.
Media: Some argue that the media is or should be the 4th estate or the 4th branch of government and to be a watchdog on the other levels and branches. Considering them, whether online or on the page/screen is worth consideration.
Remember, there are many purposes or intended effects and outcomes desired by the proposal of legislation and some of them have nothing to do with the bill becoming law. Some have to do with establishing a “record” of introducing a type of legislation that incumbent members of Congress, running for re-election in their home districts, can say they proposed (lead) even if they don’t pass. People who are unfamiliar with how Congress and bill-making happens might be duped by this. Now you won’t be.
Other purposes include, out of perceived fiscal necessity or political expediency, that a line needs to be established as a cutoff point for inclusion in the legislation. Often this is by income or a percentage of income (e.g. qualification for SNAP (old food stamps) is at 200% of the poverty level. Anyone whose income is below the figure is eligible and anyone above is not. That seems so simple and yet it is arbitrary and for those sitting very near the line, perhaps discriminatory. Some of you might know this line from, say, financial aid applications. My real point, however, is that policy serves to be INCLUSIVE (viewed favorably) and EXCLUSIVE (or divisive) (viewed less favorably or cynically). If you want to divide people or see where the divisions have previously been drawn, you need only check eligibility requirements for almost any governmental or non-governmental service. These lines can be invisible to the less informed but you are joining the INFORMED and once informed, you cannot turn back or turn your back on this aspect of policy work.
The glossary (starting on p. 411) and even the INDEX can be short-cut ways to finding search terms or placing the law you are analyzing into a category or place in government. These are in your textbook.
Remember the discussion about values earlier in the text? I want to remind you how essential understanding the range of values, how people and organizations invest and show that investment publicly, to understand who WILL or who MIGHT or who DID support the legislation or the law you are analyzing. That is, knowing what they value could help you identify both supporting and opposing organizations or individuals (of stature) that can help provide that part of your analysis. Knowing who are stakeholders is important. I think of stakeholders as both but that is not a typical view of stakeholders but I think that people invested in opposing something become invested in (a) the “thing” in their opposition. It’s like when people say they “hate” so and so. For many philosophers and psychologists, hate is close to love in that it takes energy, thought, and time much like love and therefore is something to notice, at least. I believe the same about stakeholders. To be clear, SPONSORS and CO-SPONSORS are a type of stakeholder but the real stakeholders aren’t political officeholders usually; rather, the people or institutions to be impacted are the stakeholders involved and the organizations and institutions and agencies who support or oppose the legislation because of their involvement, due to their VALUES, makes them stakeholders too.
Although all of you picked a law or legislation enacted or introduced at the federal level and through Congress, I want to remind you that the policy analysis process can apply to ordinances and state laws in a similar way (learning the parties and getting information, strangely, becomes more difficult the more local the law is you are researching or analyzing). I also want to mention that most of you do this because, in the old days and much doesn’t change with technology here, it is difficult to write a policy practice textbook that could encompass all of the jurisdictions and elements unique to each to make the book a seller to many customers. It is difficult to write about N Carolina when things are done differently in Alaska, for example. So, we TEACH at the federal level because there is more UNITY in teaching and more UNIVERSALITY of application here. Several years ago, faculty at VA Commonwealth U started an organization, Influencing State Policy, to address issues states faced when policies under Pres. Reagan changed the landscape. Now that that has become the “norm,” our group changed its name to Influencing Social Policy. Enjoy our new webpage and consider applying for the contest!
Your legislation might be the broad picture (PWORA) on welfare reform or it might be a TITLE of that same legislation (e.g. TANF). Titles are similar to chapters in a book with sub-topics. In federal and much state legislation they are called Titles (think of Title IX on college athletics and scholarships). That is, you might decide to investigate the WHOLE legislation or, and also appropriate, would be to investigate a smaller portion of the law such as the above. If you do the whole, you will necessarily be more broad and general and if you choose the more specific, the more specific, detailed and focused you will be. In the latter, you might imagine writing your paper as an inverted triangle, where the broad base is at the top and the narrower portion is the specificity of your paper. Here, your paper will begin addressing the broad topics of the context and historical situation of the legislation and then begin to narrow, perhaps with what prompted the specific legislation at that time (or now if contemporary or present), and work your way down to the details of the analysis as found on page 100 in Box 4.3. Envisioning the breadth and working towards depth helps some students outline and organize their thoughts for such a paper.
Box 4.3: The questions posed here reflect Dr. Segal’s view and while I have no problems with her model (in fact she was one of my instructors at The Ohio State University) and I do support the idea of a “critical model,” I want you to be aware that there are many other models of policy analysis out there. You can be as formal as you like and nearly as eclectic* as you like when choosing or adopting portions of a model’s philosophy or strategies. However, for integrity’s sake and for not basically stealing other people’s ideas, acknowledging the source of a part of the model is primary but also for integrity’s sake, being aware of the values and organizing principles of a model is essential so that you apply and use, EVEN THE PORTIONS YOU MAY CHOOSE, in a manner consistent with which they were envisioned and created and tested. This preserves your integrity as a social worker and the integrity of the work behind the development of the model.
Remember WHY you, as a social worker/social work or issue policy expert, are engaging in policy analysis (no, it is not just to pass this class! J). Rather, you are working to determine the strengths or limitations of a policy (evaluation if it has passed or been ruled upon) or if it can do what it aims to do the way it is proposed (implementation). You might be evaluating, you might want to stop the legislation or modify it, you might want to describe it to clients and/or colleagues to garner support for a position about it or, in the case of a law, to see if it should continue as is or also be modified or ended altogether. Understanding WHY will go a long way in helping you conduct an analysis of your policy – be it a bill, a law, a Supreme Court decision or an executive rule from an administrative agency or a public petition.
You have a little over 2 weeks or 15 days to finish your final assignment here. You are making great progress if you are continuing to think about the policy and do even a little bit of work on YOUR topic a couple of times a week or for a few hours on the weekend even. That is, as long as you are trying, you are learning because even coming up empty or not exactly where you wanted you learned about the path you took and how it might pay off for something in the future, if not now for this assignment.
A word about time: In practice, 15 days is an eternity – sometimes or often enough that it is a joke amongst those who do policy work, advocacy work, and proposal writing for grants funding. Each of these thrive in the “last minute” area for a variety of reasons not all related to someone’s procrastination. Last minute releases, someone having access to a list you don’t and they forward it, or things like that contribute. Finding people to partner with or sign off internally can be a challenge the bigger your agency and that can contribute. So, 15 days is a long time – but it is not all you have going nor is it forever but it IS doable and it is enough to do well – especially for first-time policy expertise development such as you are doing!
OK, I may have additional points to add and I may have left some out of my original two emails. If I think of them, I will send them to you ASAP. Please ask me any questions you have about any of these points or anything else for that matter.
You are doing great. Slow and steady (even in 8 weeks) wins the race. Dr. C
Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy Analysis
MODIFIED: Questions for a Critical Model for Social Welfare Policy Analysis
I. SOCIAL PROBLEM – This probably requires literature review for definitions (not like a dictionary); more
What is the problem? like an "operational definition" – for the purpose of this policy, X is defined as Y.
What are the definitions of the problem?
What is the extent of the problem?
Who defines this as a problem?
Who disagrees with the dominant definition?
What are the conflicting social values and beliefs underlying the definition of the problem?
What are the underlying causes or factors?
Who are the groups affected by this problem, and do they belong to a particular race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, education, family size or type, geographic location and size, and/or other special group?
Ex:
II. POWER IMBALANCE OR STRUGGLE – You will likely find more about this area from private reporting from think tanks, advocacy groups, political party positions, and newspapers.
Who loses from this social problem, so long as it remains a problem? And if/when it is "solved"?
Who gains from this social problem, so long as it remains a problem? And if/when it is "solved"?
Who opposes it? Who supports it?
What role(s), if any, do race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, social class, age, ability, sexual orientation, education level, gender identity, family size, birth order, geographic location and size, and/or any other personal attribute play in this issue?
Who seems to have power and who does not?
Ex:
III. PUBLIC REACTION (aka Opinion polls are a good source here)
What do voters/potential voters think?
What do people think who do not typically vote?
What do people with higher incomes think?
What do people with lower incomes think? **Students note: you can play this game/analysis with any identity aspect.
How is the media covering and portraying this issue?
What values and beliefs are important?
Whose values and beliefs are dominant?
Whose values and beliefs are minimal?
Ex:
IV. POLICIES, PUBLIC LAWS, OR ADMINISTRATIVE RULES – Congress.gov and Google (look for Legislative History for (TOPIC)(ISSUE)(PROBLEM) or your policy title. You can search for Public Laws and then your search terms at National Archives. For Administrative Rules you can search the Code of Federal Regulations for rules about your policy. (You can also check https://www.regulations.gov/ to see what comments the public has about certain policy proposals (called the public comment period).
What are other existing relevant or related public policies?
If there are no public policies, why not? You will probably have to speculate but you could include in Google search.
What are the objectives of these identified policies?
What hidden agendas were noted or found?
Who supports the policies?
Who opposes the policies?
Who has spoken out in favor of the policies? Who has spoken out against the policies?
How might race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, family size or type, geographic location or size, and/or any other personal attribute seem significant in these policies?
Ex:
V. IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAMS – this is more challenging as there is no single database of programs resulting directly from a given policy; however, you can backtrack by reviewing a program which you might find here: Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance. You might find info at Performance.gov or evidencebasedprograms.gov
Which social programs have been implemented as a result of the policies?
Are the programs effective?
What are the strengths and weaknesses?
Who is primarily served by the programs?
Who has oversight for the programs?
What, if any, role does disproportionate involvement of any one group based on race, ethnicity, gender, class, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, geographic location/size, family size or type, and/or any
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