ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on helping people to build the analytic skills necessary for policy practice, and considers the historical, political, and economic contexts that shape social policy. It explores needs determination as the foundation on which effective social policy is built. The chapter examines traditional problem analysis methods and also explores how examining strengths, goals, and needs can build a foundation for more effective policy and programs. It links needs determination to other steps in the policy analysis process, and also examines those steps in greater detail and presents a framework for analyzing social policy. The chapter builds on understanding of policy analysis to consider the policy development process and policy practice within social work in more depth. It illustrates how the processes of need analysis and claims-making shape existing policy. The goal of the policy as well as the type of intervention the policy prescribes is determined by policymakers who may not possess expertise in the underlying issue.
