Introduction x，~<br > Social work is a new profession， born of the twentieth cen-<br > tury. Unlike the older professions which developed speciali-<br > zations in their maturity， social work grew out of nmltiple<br > specializations in diverse fields of practice. It was riot until<br > 1955， in fact， that the National Association of Social Workers<br > was formed to unite into one professional organization tile<br > many groups committed to particular specialties.<br > Social casework， the earliest and best defined social work<br > method， has a history similar to that of its parent profession.<br > Casework began with tile diverse hmnanitarian efforts of<br > volunteers in the nineteenth century， it was not until 1917，<br > ltowever， that Mary Richmond wrote the first text on case-<br > work， 8octal Diagnosis. Twelve years later， the Milford Con-<br > ference.undertook the task of conceptualizing a commoll base<br >: for casework as practiced in many specialized settings I i the<br > ~ :ensuing years， casework theoreticians spent mucb of their en-<br > ergy trying to develop a generic theory that would synthesize<br > fl~e intet~ests of many specialities into a common professional<br > identity， The exceptio~a to tbis preoccupation with generic<br > theory was the theoretical schism between the diagnostic and<br > functional schools during tile forties. After sur~，iving that<br > ~Olltroversy， casework theoreticians l ene~ed their search for<br > Simiiar ities between divergent viewpoints and virtually ig-<br > nored differences in theory and practice.<br > In tile 1950s， the profession reached a point of security in<br > .its identity that permitted a critical examination of its tra-<br > ，ditional .practices. Casework became committed in fact as<br > well as in word， to the scientific method， and empirical<br > studies proliferated. Many of these studies addressed tile<br > question of casework s effectiveness. Given the paucity of<br > scientific understanding ol tile social problerns casework was<br > attempting to solve， such evaluative studies were prematuce<br > and potentially harlnfnl to a young profession. Despite this，<br > attempts to assess casework s elficiency led to two positive<br > ~ollsequences. Dissatisfied with tilt_! way sonic reseal die] s had<br > hlterpreted tasework theory tlleorcticians became nloce pre-<br > clue， specifi% and internally consistent in their conceptuali-<br > zation of practice Second casework theory became more of<br > -aB Op0n systen tat increasingly Jeceptive to ne~ inputs.<br > "These new inpnts included not only findings from empirical<br >