Righting Wrongs

About the Book

This book offers a comprehensive presentation on advocacy, a planned change method, for graduate and undergraduate social work education, for human service agencies, and for community groups. It integrates individual professional practice, activity by groups of lay people, established social service agencies, and coalitions.

Advocacy is treated as a method or process used by many different groups and professions, and as a field of study in itself as one of the planned change methods (others include community organization, community building, litigation, and legislation). The emphasis is on principles to which strategies and tactics are related, with a strong focus on case advocacy as well as on larger-scale efforts. The parameters of advocacy are explored with depth and sensitivity, with the recognition that advocacy is complex and that decisions must be made under pressures of time, politics, organizational limitations, and competition for scarce resources.

The book clarifies what advocacy is and sets parameters for a word that has been used loosely. It is the only one specifically focused on advocacy, not on community organizing or other forms of organizing (such as union and grassroots), although it draws upon these and other relevant sources. The concept and practice of advocacy are extended to the enhancement, empowerment and therapeutic uses affecting the individual participants. There is detailed discussion of participation in advocacy, including the emotional and experiential factors, and major training elements.

About the Author

Robert M. Sunley, a professional social worker, has organized advocacy efforts and trained social workers, gaduate students, trainers, board members, and volunteers in methods of advocacy. He has also done consulting, teaching and writing on the subject and has served on the board of a foundation funding social change efforts. He has experience in family service agencies and psychiatric clinics in New York City and Long Island.

His "Family Advocacy: From Case to Cause" and "Advocating Today" have been widely used in social work agencies, social work education, and community groups. He holds a B.A. from The New School for Social Research and an M.S.W. from Adelphi University.