Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Seite 130

Special Editions
work training. They were living an applied science where the head and the
heart met to secure better protection for the vulnerable who count on the
law for protection.
The Destitute Persons Act was enacted in 1965, when poverty was rampant.
Under the Act, if one did not have a place to stay or a means of subsistence,
the person can be provided care and attention in a welfare home. This
seemed like the humane way of approaching homelessness which is a social
problem faced by many countries. Subsequent amendments made begging
by a habitual beggar an offence punishable with a fine or even a short
imprisonment. But this on itself will not change a habit. The contribution
of social work was to address a longer term resolution of some of the preconditions that required shelter in a welfare home. One of the significant
changes that ensued in the amendments was the appointment of a Review
Committee in each welfare home to monitor the case of each resident
under review. If after the review, a resident was found suitable for discharge
conditionally or unconditionally, he would be released. This applied
discipline into ensuring that the problems of residents were addressed and
that individuals were not unwittingly detained without incisive work done to
have residents regain their independence and to gain employment where
this was appropriate.
A social legislation that addressed the needs of older people was the Homes
for the Aged Act. The pressure to ensure that older people in residential care
were adequately cared for arose when various types of housing were used
to provide shelter. The standard of care varied very widely. When families
could no longer care for older people they had to resort to private nursing
home or, for the more fortunate, homes run by charitable organisations
which were of better standard. The government’s home then was also filled
to capacity. In the light of the emerging challenge, the Homes for the Aged
Act was introduced in 1988 to bring the homes under supervision and
regulation. This together with the building of more homes addressed the
problem of older persons living in homes under unregulated conditions and
for unregulated private nursing homes to flourish with impunity before that
period.
A ground-breaking incision in a piece of social legislation could well be the
review of the Probation of Offenders Act. In it and for the first time in history,
volunteers were prescribed powers which enabled persons in the community
to be trained to carry out statutory work. This allowed the authorities to tap on
volunteers to strengthen the interventions in casework involving offenders,
with the ultimate goal of rehabilitation. Under the Community Probation
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