One of the many divisions in the department is the Administration for Children and Families. Their responsibilities are Public Welfare, Head Start, and Temporary Assistance for Families (TANF).
Welfare restructuring will allow for early childhood development for children in low income homes; preserving the family unit, foster care, helps the states prove paternity and collect child support, adoptions, supports the different states with their welfare responsibilities.
The department provides help to those in need of getting their basic and emotional needs met and helping people become independent. It is a blessing to have needs met by family, friends, church or employment. Some individuals cannot get the support they need to function so they need another avenue to get those needs met. At this point, the Department of Health and Human Services comes in to assist individuals as well as communal entities to conquer obstacles that keep them from getting basic needs met. ”The Department of Health and Human Services is the base of a giant network of departments and programs whose goal is to protect the health of every American and provide necessary assistance and services, particularly those in need or without the essential tools and resources to be self-sufficient” (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2010).
The department gives assistance to most if not all of the different classes in society. The types of services provided by the department fluctuates from rental assistance, family counseling, children services, and drug prevention to name a few but there are many others.
The department offers numerous diverse interventions to an array of United States citizens: groups, families, individuals to support them with their necessities.
These interventions are to help clients lessen problems that they are facing to maintain their health. Some of the intervention services are aging, drug, alcohol, crisis intervention, anger management, case management, welfare, mental health, tobacco counseling, and health, to name a few but there are many more.
The Department of Health and Human Services has many functions as well as career choices. It is a general term for people who directly help other people for a career.
There are many organizations within the Department of Health and Human Services that one can find gainful and meaningful employment such as group homes, alcohol abuse centers, drug abuse facilities, health care facilities, and many more family oriented agencies or facilities. There are many skills and duties for each profession and each individual going into the health and human services field has to have a clear understanding of its nature. They have to be constantly aware of conditions that limit them from reaching a goal in providing the best services to the client. They must have the ability to decide on intervention plan and implement it. Along with the specialized skills required to have an effective career in health and human services a person needs to have special qualities, such as a desire to help people, patience, a caring attitude, understanding, communication skills, time management, and strong accountability. The Department of Health and Human Services assists individuals as well as communities to work efficiently within principal facets of life. The department helps individuals with basic, social, and psychological needs as well as safety, food, health, and shelter. The Department of Health and Human Services also helps with psychological needs dealing with trauma or psychological consequences from natural disasters. The major purpose is to assist people with obstacles in meeting their basic, social, and psychological needs such as nonexistent family support, scarcity of friends, mental illness, absence of education, and unemployment, or disabilities.
Some things have not changed over the years, the rich keep getting richer, and the poor keep getting poorer as well as glowered upon, but the Department of Health and Human Services still holds the same principals and goals to improve people and their communities. Choosing a career in Health and Human Services field, means that the person can make a difference in someone else’s life while also challenging their own mental, physical, spiritual, and intellectual mind. The author may have industrial skills and get a job keeping industrial workers safe. There are also jobs to make ergonomic devices and workspaces as well as analyzing data as a biostatician. The degree of schooling is the degree of which the career can go. There are so many career pathways for public health professionals. The areas these professionals work in are as follows: environmental health, maternal health, child health, transmittable diseases, etc. The position held by these professionals is educator, health manager, epidemiologists, etc. The person looking for a career in this field can tailor his career path to his interests and strengths.
The United States has made magnificent steps in dealing with the many disease and injuries that inundated the country in the 20th century because of the execution of public health actions such as inoculations, better sanitation, and healthier behaviors. However, there is much more work that needs to be addressed such as infectious disease, chronic illness, and injury. Health and Human Service Professionals are important, and they are essential to enhance the health of the community because as long as there are people there will be a need for the Department of Health and Human Services.
References:
Berkowitz, E. (1998). "Health and Human Services, Department of." In A Historical Guide to the U.S. Government, ed. G. T. Kurian. New York: Oxford University Press.
Restler, S., & Woolis, D. (December 2003). Human Services. Retrieved August 15, 2012, from EBSCOhost database.
Stanfield, P. S., Cross, N., & Hui, Y. H. (2009). Introduction to the health professions (5th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
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