Descriptive Study of the Homemaker Service Unit of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York With Analysis of the Twenty Families Served in One District Office During the Year 1953
Abstract
The Catholic Church, throughout its history, has consistently insisted on the primacy of the family in the whole social order. It has just as consistently maintained that parents are the natural guardians, protectors and educators of their children. That the child's place is in his own home and under the care of his own parents is a basic principle of Catholic social doctrine. Only when, and insofar as, parents are incapacitated for such care and training may or should other agencies undertake parental responsibilities. Since the care and upbringing of the child is today generally conceded to be the natural right and duty of the parents, and since the fulfillment of this duty depends upon sound family relationships, the first concern of the family agency is to find ways and means of strengthening and preserving the family unit so that it can continue to perform its primary function, that of rearing children. All possible resources must be marshaled to keep the family intact. Homemaker service is an auxiliary service of the family agency which has grown out of this conviction of social workers that to the fullest extent to which it is desirable and possible children should be helped to remain in their own homes. The primary purpose of the service is to prevent temporary removal of children and to maintain the family group with as little change as possible during emergency periods when the mother is unable to carry normal responsibility for the home.
Subject Area
Social research|Individual & family studies|Social work
Recommended Citation
Meany, Mary Estelle, "Descriptive Study of the Homemaker Service Unit of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York With Analysis of the Twenty Families Served in One District Office During the Year 1953" (1954). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30670833.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30670833
