This book has been written to respond to this problem. It aims to provide social work students with a text to help them acquire an understanding and appreciation of the basic knowledge and skills necessary for beginning competence in social work practice particularly with small groups, both in traditional settings such as hospitals, courts, and family and child-caring institutions, and in recently developed or emerging settings such as human settlements and women-oriented agencies. In addition, the book aims to provide social workers and administrators of group-serving agencies with a clear and up-to-date description of how small groups can be used as primary means of helping clients. The hope is that this book will also be of help to members of agency boards and volunteers who desire a deeper understanding of social work operations as well as to those in other countries, especially those who are in the social welfare field, who want to know about the nature of social work in the Philippines.

Social workers practice far and wide where issues of social justice and fairness are found. This book was inspired by Pollack and it is about the world of social work and Philippine courts. It is not a legal textbook. Yet, it is about legal cases – cases which fortifies social work practice in the Philippines.