A human service system is an organized community of interest; a group of people with similar concerns that cause similar patterns of behavior. The manager’s responsibility is to “steer” the system, to provide a common direction towards a specific goal where it does not exist or to exploit and support the common direction where it does.
This paper is concerned with changing the way we do business in human services. While it is somewhat outdated, it still provides prospective on the problems of delivering appropriate human services. The goal is to develop a single system of supports for children and their families and to do so outside the present ‘box’. – WHAT WE ARE DOING IS NOT WORKING.
While the rest of the world of business is frantically seeking to develop a quality approach to business, the world of human services flounders with experts who attempt to bend the concept of quality to a system of coercion. Is it possible to find methods to make human services worthwhile?
Even the best school districts have students that they find very difficult to serve. These are the kids who manifest emotional, social and behavioral difficulties. They participate in destructive behavior [vandalism, substance abuse, truancy, violence, etc.] and generally are not learning. Attempts to intervene effectively often seem to backfire. The ‘state of the art’ approaches have failed to provide any help to these kids.
Children come to school with many different perceptions – and misconceptions – about themselves, others and future prospects. Helping children understand the tools of perceiving automatic thoughts and changing them is a basic strategy for building resilient adults. Schools also should teach children that they are responsible for their own actions and that the choices they make have consequences for which they will be held accountable.