Finding and Using Resources: Creating Resources

Abstract

Finding ways of making better use of existing resources, as discussed in the previous chapter, may not be enough and extra resources have to be found. This chapter deals with a variety of resources which social workers are often involved in creating and supporting. The social worker may be creating an alternative or additional base for providing social care which is quite separate from the agency. The base may be a physical one, such as the building or room for some social care use. It may be an organisational base, perhaps a new organisation which will provide social care separately from the agency. There may be arrangements on an informal basis for care by neighbours, friends and relatives of a client, or for the involvement of volunteers who are as yet unknown to the client. Each of these might provide a complete package of care for the client, or, more likely, the social worker might have to negotiate a mixed package, drawing on a variety of resources, and fitting them together in a way which seems most relevant to the needs of the client. This chapter deals mainly with more structured ways of creating resources; the previous chapters have offered some help with the processes of fitting the package together.