ABSTRACT
The explosive interest in case management as a component of system design and delivery for the human services confronts the profession of social work with a challenge. It is exciting and gratifying to witness widespread policy and program recognition of what have been social work's traditional focus and functions. For social work practitioners embarking on practice careers, the excitement, opportunities, and professional challenges case management offers are readily apparent. The interest in case management as a component of the delivery of human services is pervasive. It cuts across the public and private sectors and all fields of practice. In addition to the use of case management in publicly funded programs, the 1980s have witnessed its adoption as an anticipated tool of cost containment in private health and mental health benefit plans. Case management has been identified as a return to conservative helping strategies and a lowering of professional sights from large-scale system improvement.
