Law of the health and Medical Service for the Aged has just passed the parliament on August 10, 1982. The object of this act is to provide medical care to the aged over 70 years old and public health services to persons over 40 years old, in order to secure healthy living of the aged in a aging society. But, does the act really secure healthy living for the aged? This paper analysed the provisions of the act in comparison with the services now provided by Nagoya City and Aichi Prefecture, and made clear that enforcement of the act would make the health services even worce than now. As the act is situated as a part of the Administrative Reform suggested by the Second Ad Hoc Commission, this paper will help to clarify the nature of the Reform.

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The workers of the district public welfare offices has been endeavering to improve their practice through the voluntary research movement in corporation with many researchers on public assistance, and has achieaved considerable progress. But, recent trends of national policy has brought the administration of public assistance many serious problems on securing the right to maintaining decent living to the nation. Especially, "Making Adequate" policy on the administration of Daily Life Security Law, which has been strengthened in recent years as a part of Administrative Reform suggested by the Second Ad Hoc Comission, is cutting down the right of the nation by emphasizing the importance of the traditional mutual help of special Japanese type of extended family and local community. This paper aims to explain the present function and level of administration of Daily Life Security Law in the district public welfare offices and the trends of national policy on public assistance. And in relation to these it summarizes the achievement and the tasks imposed of the workers' voluntary reseach movement.

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In May 1979 the Conservative Party led by Mrs. M. Thatcher took the helm of British government. After that date the Conservatives introduced several policies, i. e. prevention of inflation, cutting public expenditure, reduction of income tax and improvement in relationships between capital and labour. In particular Prime Minister Thatcher promoted so called cheap government policy which included financial cuts in education, housing, welfare and so on. But, several social problems arose as a result of economic depression, high ratio of unemployment and riots brought about by these monetarist policies. Therefore, the Conservatives changed their social policy somehow and corresponded deliberately to each social problem. However, this does not mean the basic conversion from passive social policy to a positive one, but means a minor change which maintains the policy stance of traditional free market economy of the Conservatives. Moreover, because present political power will be judged from the nation by the general election of 1984, this kind of conversion on social policy can be grasped as political strategy. In these social, economic and political circumstances social workers in field settings must deal with more clients than before the cheap government policy. Their caseload has increased in general rather than before, and their frustrations have increased. When the Barclay Committee Report was published in May 1982, many debates resulted from these situations. The Barclay Committee Report which consisted of a Majority Report and two Minority Reports suggested a split of opinion between members. The Majority Report showed new ideas of community social work. The Hadley Minority Report showed a case of neighbourhood-based social work. The Pinker Minority Report asserted to maintain the present social work system and to continue client-centered casework. The publication of the Barclay Committee Report stimulated arguments on the role and tasks of the social worker in social administrators and social workers. Nevertheless, British social policy and social work will face a turning point in several years.

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This article describes the principles and strategies of the Reagan Administration's welfare policies, its effects on the lives of the poor, and its implications for the social work profession in the United States. The article first briefly discusses statistical information on social welfare expenditures and policies of the past federal administrations since 1935. Then in contrast to these, the social welfare principles and strategies advanced by the Reagan Administration are discussed. These may be summerized as follows: 1) Cutbacks in federal budget, particularly social programs in order to boost defense spending, 2) advocates "small" government; fewer regulations and interventions, 3) transfer of federal welfare responsibilities to local and state governments, and 4) reliance on private resources such as foundations, charities, and self-help groups. The Reagan Administration also proposed the preservation of the "social safety net" which vaguely defined the eligible welfare recipients as well as explained the administration's expectation of the welfare recipients' behaviors. Such examples are the principles of "self-help," "work fare," and "use of resources in the private sector." In response to the Reagan Administration's welfare policies, social workers have been fighting back against the cutbacks and structural changes along the side of labor unions and other liberal-minded organizations. However, social workers have also learned a few important lessons through the experience. One such lesson is greater recognition that social workers must become more active with all levels of the political systems in order to achieve their professional goals. In particular, the advent of "block grant" appears to make more demands on social workers to be involved in local and state political processes where major decisions for welfare appropriations are expected to be made in the future. Innovations in service deliveries also should be promoted in view of the limited resources available for social services. Development of more effective use of self-help groups and volunteers, efforts for community organizing, and more efficient and effective use of professional manpower are a few such examples.

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In trying to help the mentally and physically handicapped at home from the standpoint of community care, there are certain social difficulties preventing us from doing so. Considering those factors, let us study the helping methods and the future problems. For the purpose of this study, we used a case of a regional group of handicapped people in Chita City, Aichi Prefecture. This project was begun in 1974. We tried to approach this group from the following three points: 1. To project new materials by which their potentiality is discovered and their growth is promoted. 2. To grasp their lives as a whole, and to seek clues regarding community care. 3. To promote participation in activities for the handicapped by the local citizens. Through these approaches, we reached the following conclusions: 1. New possibilities were discovered according to each person's ability, and remarkable changes in growth were recognized. 2. Unfortunately, we are unable to obtain the desired results, since our activities were hindered by the conservative family system. 3. Because the handicapped themselves, the residents, and the citizen volunteers, all participated in building their own center, we believe that a high level both in quality and quantity was established, with a high level of participation. Also, since the members had promoted the integration with the citizens, we believe that they themselves had greatly matured in regard to future programs. In conclusion, we believe that this type of project could and should be constantly (continually) promoted.

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Today, 162 public child guidance centers (CGC) have been established in Japan and 4442 staffs are working there (May 1981). They may treat about 250 thousands cases a year. The contents of the cases are full of variety, for example; children in need of protective care, handicapped children, juvenile delinquents. It is said that CGC can not take a positive role because of its little numbers, its few staffs, deficiencies of organization, and various, contradictory views toward children. Moreover, it is pointed out as one of the problems that the workers at CGC are not always in solidality. In recent years, however, we find some labor movements and research activities of workers at CGC. So that it might be said that prospects of CGC are changing not best but at least better. The purposes of this paper are (1) to clarify the problems of which CGC is in face, and (2) to show the process and fruits of the labor movements at Kyoto-City for making Child Welfare Center which includes CGC and other institutions concerned, and (3) to propose some ideal images of CGC in future. The principles by which I would re-examine CGC are as follows; (1) to guarantee children's human rights, (2) to attach importance to the speciality and the scientific mind and knowlede of CGC staffs, (3) to have close relation to the community, and (4) to reform the present conditions.

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This article is intended to give some foreseeable recommendations by analyzing our survey results about the present situation of the employment of the physically handicapped. The objective of this survey is all companies in N Prefecture whose size of enterprize have already reached the legal employment rate (1.5%) as laid down by the Law concerning Promotion of Employment of the Physically Handicapped in 1976, which means the companies with over 67 full-time employees. Some findings related to the prospect of the employment of the physically handicapped are as follows; 1) The companies, whose attitude towards the employment of the physically handicapped is most positive, are (i) by industry (medium groups), finance/insuarance-71.4% and construcion-66.1%. (ii) by size of enterprise, 1000 persons over'-62.5%, and '500 to 999 persons'-33.3%. 2) The companies which have already achieved the legal employment rate (1.5%) are lightly more interested than the ones which have not. 3) The companies which have already employed the physically handicapped and also the ones with the larger number of the physically handicapped employees show their positive attitude. 4) The companies which have manegerial problems with such employees are less keen to employ them. With these findings, we presume that there might be 'a sort of mechanism of the employment of the physically handicapped', which is that once any company has experience in the employment of the physically handicapped and the more the number of such employees increases, the more positive is its attitude towards the employment of the physically handicapped. We also suspect this could be caused partly by the companies being able to succeed in reaching a certain standard of physical arrangements for such employees at their farms or offices, and partly by the companies being able to overcome the prejudices against the physically handicapped and to appreciate their abilities. As a conclusion, it can be suggested that the more physically handicapped with good vocational training go into the labour marcket and enjoy fair opportunities of employment, they will be able to be a real power in paving the way for future general employment of the physically handicapped.

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