Bachelor of Community Services: Social Welfare System Report

This report proposes a suitable social welfare system for a 76-year-old senior citizen living alone in Australia, addressing his needs based on a provided case scenario. It identifies relevant social welfare programs, such as the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP), and evaluates their suitability, emphasizing the need for home-based care and support. The report highlights the importance of informal care, psychological therapy, and security measures for elderly individuals. It recommends the CHSP as the most appropriate system, while also pointing out the need for enhanced security services. The study concludes with a focus on the welfare system for the elderly population in Australia, suggesting further research and improvements, especially in providing security services.

SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM
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Introduction
The study has revolved around proposing a
suitable social welfare system as per the given case
scenario. For that reason, the scenario has been
analysed in order to identify the needs of the client.
Furthermore, some available social welfare
programs or organizations have been identified that
can be helpful in this situation to aid the client. In
addition, the relevant social support and resources
have been identified for the whole target group as
identified from the case scenario. This has been
done in order to evaluate all the identified social
welfare programs on the basis of their relevance to
the given case. Moreover, the one social welfare
program has been proposed so that the client can be
benefitted from the proposed welfare system.
Background of the case
As per the given case scenario, the client is a
senior citizen aged 76 years who lives alone in his
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house after the death of his wife two years ago.
Among the identified issues, one of the most
significant is that he is unable to drive because of
his poor eye sight and he lives in a criminal prone
area. This implies that he cannot escape in case of
danger all by himself. However, he denies living in
any foster or nursing home also. He has loving
family who visit him every week but still he has to
manage all his house cores and he has to take care
of his health alone. As per the scenario, he is not
much social that implies that he does not have a
neighbourhood to which he can naturally go for
asking for help when needed. Moreover, he wishes
to contribute to the community he lives in any way
that he can.
Welfare systems for the scenario
After researching the available social
welfare programs in Australia, some systems have
been identified that can be helpful in the given
situation. In Australia, various social welfare
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programs have been recently working in order to
give social support and care to the elderly people.
For example, information centres like My aged
Care, social programs like Commonwealth Home
Support Programme, Residential care, Flexible care
and so on (Australian Government Department of
Health, 2019). On the other hand, other social
support programs such as Commonwealth
Continuity of Support Programme and Support
Services for Remote and Indigenous Aged Care can
also be beneficial for the client.
According to Doxey & McNamara (2015),
the importance of social welfare systems are
intensely significant for the people like the client
who live alone in their houses and for some reasons
cannot access the benefits of nursing homes. Thus,
it can be said that among the above mentioned
social welfare systems, the Residential Care is the
appropriate social welfare system for the concerned
client. This care programme is initiated by the Aged
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Care Act 1997. This department of social welfare
community in Australia is responsible for every
relevant policy, services and researches that are
needed to aid the old people who cannot live by
themselves in their homes (Australian Government,
2019). Under this social welfare department, the
social welfare system namely Commonwealth
Home Support Programme or CHSP can be
recommended as the suitable social welfare system
for the concerned client here (Australian
Government Department of Health, 2019).
Resources needed for the scenario
Social welfare system is very impactful in
providing the needed support services for the target
group people. In this case, the target group is the
elderly population who need home based care
services or support. So, the recommended social
support includes informal care support services. It
has been noticed that over 40% elderly people in
Australia prefer to be in their homes and thus needs
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assistance for at least one household activity
(Australian institute of health and welfare, 2019).
For example the client in the given scenario needs
assistance for his house cleaning. Thus informal
care resources are recommended for this issue. This
informal care includes other supports in the areas of
communication, security, mobility, transport, self
care, health care, emotional tasks and so on
(Churchill & Fawcett, 2016).
All these identified support are needed to
give complete social welfare assistance to not only
the concerned client but also to other elderly people
who are on the same road. On the other hand, most
of the elderly people feel alone as they grow old and
thus psychological therapy support may be
immensely helpful for dealing with them (NSW
Australia, 2019). On the other hand, a strong
security support is needed that will look after the
area where aged people live so that the crimes of
those areas can be strictly handled. So, the resources
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that are needed in this situation include Australian
commonwealth services, NGOs, health care
organizations, policy makers, funding,
governmental support, security systems and more.
Evaluation of the welfare programs
Commonwealth Home Support Programme
has been identified as the most suitable social
welfare system for the target group of elderly
people. This is because this welfare system provides
lost of accommodation and care options for
especially those old individuals who face
difficulties in surviving alone in their homes. This
welfare system has been advocated by Australian
government. In addition, this system follows the
Aged Care Act 1997. Among the social support
options, some of the most notable is the facilities
regarding personal care and nursing care at home.
The main benefit of using this system is that this
system provides a 24*7 service to the clients
(AASW, 2019). So, it will be helpful as the elderly
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people can need the assistance any time and a
service is needed to assist them immediately
(McClure, Sinclair & Aird, 2015). Besides, this
social welfare system has also been involved in
constantly improving the services according to the
needs of the old people. This programme has been
commenced in the year 2015 with the collaboration
of Home and Community Care programme,
National Respite for Carer programme, the
Assistance with Care, Day Therapy centres and so
on.
So, moreover, it can be said that this system
can be proved to be the most beneficial to assist the
client and other elderly people of Australia as well
over the age of 65. As per the support systems
provided by this system, it can be said that there is a
lack of providing security services for the elderly
people. This has been identified that elderly people
are easier targets for criminals and thus they fall
under the risk groups while it is about crime (NSW
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elder abuse helpline & resource unit, 2019). So, the
recommended social welfare system can become
fully beneficial if they look after the security issues
more in the future. On the other hand, elderly
people need to be associated with their close family
members. This is because the consent of the family
members is needed in order to give ethical social
services to the elderly people in need.
Conclusion
This study has focused on social welfare
system suitable for the elderly group of people with
special reference to the given case scenario and the
client mentioned in it. For that reason, the case
scenario has been evaluated and it has been found
that the client needs personal care. Thus, some
available social services, welfare systems have been
identified that can work fine in this situation.
Furthermore, some resources and social support
areas have been identified and recommended that
can be helpful to aid the target group. Moreover, the
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recommended social welfare system has been
evaluated further in the study.
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Reference list
AASW (2019), Scope of Social Work Practice
Social Work in Aged Care, Retrieved on:
29th May, 2019, From:
https://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/83
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Australian Government (2019), myagedcare,
Retrieved on: 29th May, 2019, From:
https://www.myagedcare.gov.au/about-us
Australian Government Department of Health
(2019), Commonwealth Home Support
Programme, Retrieved on: 29th May, 2019,
From:
https://agedcare.health.gov.au/programs/co
mmonwealth-home-support-programme
Australian Government Department of Health
(2019), Programs, Retrieved on: 29th May,
2019, From:
https://agedcare.health.gov.au/programs
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Australian institute of health and welfare (2019),
Australia's welfare 2017: in brief, Retrieved
on: 29th May, 2019, From:
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-
welfare/australias-welfare-2017-in-brief/
contents/ageing-and-aged-care
Churchill, H., & Fawcett, B. (2016). Refocusing on
early intervention and family support: A
review of child welfare reforms in New
South Wales, Australia. Social Policy and
Society, 15(2), 303-316. Retrieved on: 29th
May, 2019, From: doi:
10.1017/S1474746416000038
Doxey, G., & McNamara, P. (2015). A new role for
social work in remote Australia: Addressing
psycho-social needs of farming families
identified through financial
counselling. International Social
Work, 58(1), 32-42. Retrieved on: 29th May,
2019, From:
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http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/downloa
d?
doi=10.1.1.964.2325&rep=rep1&type=pdf
McClure, P., Sinclair, S., & Aird, W. (2015). A new
system for better employment and social
outcomes. Report of the Reference Group on
Welfare Reform to the Minister for Social
Services, Final Report. Retrieved on: 29th
May, 2019, From:
www.dss.gov.au/welfarereform
NSW Australia (2019), Older people, Retrieved on:
29th May, 2019, From:
https://www.nsw.gov.au/services/services-
by-need/older-people/support-services/
NSW elder abuse helpline & resource unit (2019),
for everyone, Retrieved on: 29th May, 2019,
From:
http://www.elderabusehelpline.com.au/
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