HSS 102 Social Welfare Policy
Research Paper
“Social Welfare Policy is the collective response to social problems and Social Welfare Programs are the product of social welfare policies.” Identify a social welfare problem that interests you. Examples of social problems include poverty, homelessness, mental illness, unemployment, substance abuse, family violence, immigration, aging, child welfare, health care, social justice, racial discrimination, sexism, LGBT, and veterans.
Discuss the relevance of your social problem or issue with respect to the creation of social welfare policy. Describe the impact of values and beliefs on the outcome of social welfare policy that results to address this problem. Share your ideas for possible future action.
For this assignment, you should,
1. Choose a social welfare problem or issue that interests you from the suggestions above. Please see
me if you need help in selecting a topic.
2. Conduct research on your topic. Your research must include
1. at least two (2) professional journal articles and
2. at least one (1) government publication from the internet.
To help structure your paper follow the required outline:
a. Identify a social problem or social issue and explain why it is a social welfare policy issue
b. What are the causes and impact of this social problem and what is the effect on society?
c. Describe the client population affected by this problem. How many people in the U.S.? Are they men and/or women? What is the general racial/ethnic background of this population?
d. What are the “values and beliefs” that affect how this problem is defined as a social problem?
e. What ideologies, theories, or paradigms of social welfare are relevant to define this problem?
