It is clear, then, that before case-work agencies can be adequately
equipped to perform these services, the supply of visitors trained as
has been suggested will have to be increased, and certain bodies of
material with reference to the various national groups will have to be
organized and made available in convenient form, both for use in
courses in colleges and schools of social work and in the offices of
the societies.
One way in which an effort might be directed toward bringing about an
increase in the supply of trained visitors would be the establishment
of scholarships and fellowships in schools of civics and of social
work, by which able persons from among the different national groups
might be encouraged to take advantage of such opportunities as those
institutions provide. This procedure has been elaborated in Chapter
VIII in connection with service to nondependent families.
Special funds might also be provided in connection either with the
various agencies or with schools of social work, which would render
possible the collection and organization of such facts as would be
valuable in understanding the problems presented by families from any
special group. This body of fact would, of course, increase as sound,
sympathetic, and thorough work was developed.
Such studies would include information about the communities from
which different groups come, as, for instance, the practice and
influences prevailing in different villages in southern Italy, in
Sicily, in northern Italy. The religious, national, and village
festivals differ in almost every place. A native of Villa Rosa now
receiving care from a public-health agency in Chicago has carefully
pointed out to a visitor the differences between the festivals of
Palermo and Villa Rosa. The different ways of preparing for and
meeting the great events of family life, such as death, marriage,
birth, are of vital importance.
Most important are the food practices, and the attitudes toward the
care and discipline of children. A similar point has been developed in
Chapter VIII and it need not be stressed. The fact is that while
really sound and thorough case work cannot be done without such
information, few agencies have such information, and all devices for
accumulating it should be made use of.
The gathering of this body of information and its application require
considerable time. In the meantime, while differences of opinion among
the existing agencies on such questions as the use of the foreign or
the native-born visitor who speaks the foreign language, the visiting
housekeeper, or the specialized bureau, are being worked out,
specialized agencies for dealing with the problems of the immigrant
family should be developed. Such agencies as the Immigrants'
Protective League could prove of very great service in discovering
promising visitors, in accumulating experience as to the nature of
those problems, and in furnishing opportunities to professional
students for practice work under supervision.
Further, there is the question of the resources within the group and
the ways in which they can be taken advantage of. Reference has been
made to the problem of securing and retaining the co-operation of the
national Church. There are often national charitable societies. The
case worker should be able to explain the methods and purposes of her
society to these immigrant societies; but often there is a complete
failure to interpret, and the two agencies go their separate ways,
sometimes after the demoralization of the family both try to serve.
A few years ago a group of foreign-born men, prominent in business and
politics in Chicago, organized a charitable association within their
own national group. They felt that the United Charities did not
understand their people and were not meeting their needs. These men
had no understanding of accepted case-work principles, and the
superintendent of the society herself says that she does not use
scientific methods and does not co-operate with the United Charities.
She doubts whether her organization is doing much good, but she sees
that the lack of understanding of the traditions and habits of the
people on the part of the United Charities cripples their work among
her people.