THE FAILURE of, social services, departments to look closely at ther areas torasses the needs and expectations of the ‘communities they serve has often been put down to the crisis level of work in many fteas and the lek of ability and interest of Some casework tained staff. More is being ‘one, and one way of finding the time and expertise is {0 join forces with «raining fourses {0 enable. students 10 make a fontribution tothe needs of the area {through project work "Among. the projecis from a course at Leeds University this year is @ community study of Sharston, a small mining village (of 200plus people near Wakefield, by Crispin Elison and John Hardwick, who worked from an area office of Wakefield Social services department. ‘Theit study faises intersting questions about what Social workers should intervene in, as well fs providing a lot of information to help Gayto-day work planning, and casing Some light on atiude to socal services in ‘small traditional community The authors started by looking at the reasons for a low family ceferal rate in Sharlston, by compating census data about the area, with a community with a similar fulture covered by the same area offic They approached Key people inthe mnmunity, and carried outa small survey fo evaluate the sense of community in the fatca, and attitudes to the socal services, AAthough the sample was not_coraly representative because of the limitations of, fr atudent survey, it gave an idea of the Tange of needs and opinions in the village of interest to social workers ‘They came to the conclusion that the very lose network of socal relations inthe Millage, and particularly the close family ties, was the main reason for the low involvement from social services, although there were other factors, Seventy one per ‘ent ofthe 50 people interviewed lived in households where one of both adults had lived in the village all ther lives. Eighty four per cent of the respondents were Telated to one ot more households in the Millage, and 26 per cent had five or more families in Sharlston who were relatives, ‘Close socal tis, allied to a very high proportion of households sith a member ‘working in the local mine, meant tha, when asked. what they did for centertainment, only 1 per cent referred to fetivties outside the village, and 76 per tent of households had at least one member ‘of thelocel Working Men's Club. There seemed to be anxiety about the ‘behaviour of the children inthe area, and fan awareness of the responsibilty of parents in dealing with problems of Nandilism, although much was blamed on Children rom. a. neighbouring village ‘These views were felt 1o be realistic by local School teachers and police 'A successful birth control campaign, together with the impression gained that focal women tended to stay at font rather than go out 10 work, and the fact that ‘unemployment was minimal, led to the families than was the case in some oihes areas, in spite of comments about poor favironment, and lack of facies’ for shildeen's play. Not all the questions were about family relationships, and questions about religion, Where there, was. little uniformity, Dutsiders, who "were fairly acceptable possible changes inthe illage and attitud To deviant people, both of which produced fauygoing responses, le to the view that family. relationships were the mos! important factor leading 19 a sense of Where socialcouncillor, and use of the social services epartment was regarded. as “something unfortunately necessary, especially in old lage.” In spite of reasonable publicity atthe time, most people did not know that their area’ office had moved two years Previously and would have gone (0 the fwrong town to seek it As in other places, although there was general feeling of Support for the social servoes in gene people interviewed confused the social Services department with other agencies, in particular "the social security” When asked tna they thought. local authority soc ‘workers would be dealing with inthe area, opinion the few. who ventured an ‘mentioned care of the elderly and children ‘most often, Dut also mentioned sray dogs, Street lighting, housing repairs and bus fervices. Here at least, the problem of the image of social work isa major one. Clearly, some ofthese atitudes arose from a desire for independence and one of i ‘questions raised was how far this could be distinguished from the tendency. %0 ‘iamatie the social services as something Intended for the less well of, and whether independence could be encouraged without theattendaat stigma, ors seem t0 affect family but not those for the elderly ‘oped, perhaps ‘because the latter are often referred by other agencies, while families tend to be self-referral. "The environment and Taclities in the community. This, added 10 the lack of pressure on families, tended to reduce the Incidence of problems that would come 02 Spontaneous ideas for improvement were put forward, 63 per cent of them about facies for children “The people living in the village then fe happy with their home and did not want change that would fundamentally affect their way of life, even if it improved the environment or gave them more facilites, In this situation, social workers from the area office must decide whether t0 intervene when they see problems. which according to their value system could and should be resolved. The prevaling feling in social work is that the wishes of the community should be respected, and it is teue that Intervention which goes against thei wishes could cause much damage to such a community. Bit in the end may not lack of change in a changing world also be damaging? Sota services department In any case, Ellison and Hardwick thought that people in the area would be Tes likely than in some places to bring the village are poor, as the photographs show, but unlike outsiders 10 the village, two: thitds of respondents thought there had been no significant changes in the village, problems tothe social services depariment, and three quarters could not foresee because, of their attitudes towards it) changes, This may have been a practi Perhaps, because of the sense of response, however, because community, most people interviewed would go #0 a relative or neighbour rather than the social services “ora local work fights tradition — loses How do social workers decide when to intervene in an apparently happy community? asks Malcolm Payne, lecturer in social work, Bristol University