ABSTRACT
Chapter seven highlights the development of roles and responsibilities between 1950 and 1963 of welfare officers, mental welfare officers, and childcare officers in local authorities; almoners and psychiatric social workers in clinics and hospitals; and probation officers as officers of the court. Concerns expressed by voluntary societies about their future are highlighted. Early discussions about how the method of casework could provide the basis for a single profession of social workers and of assertions about the differentiation of social work from health services, particularly in relation to the role of health visitors, are evaluated. It is argued that 1963 was the pivotal point at which the balance of social work moved from its earlier origins to its current form.
