ABSTRACT
The competition between public-health and social-work departments was compounded by that between the voluntary and statutory social-work agencies. Both Family Welfare Association (FWA) and Family Service Units (FSU) had distinguished histories in the delivery of services to poor families. However, as local-authority departments and voluntary agencies increasingly employed social workers to support and socialize such families, a terrain was created where professional responsibility for the families was contested. The 1948 Children Act, which had established Children's Departments and provided for the appointment of Children's Officers, had recognized the role of the voluntary agencies in the provision of care to children and families, but had given local authorities power to monitor their work. The tension between material assistance and psychological help, which was a feature of both the 1970s studies, was much less important to Peter Phillimore's work.
