The first new social work history to be written in over twenty years, Social Work Practice and Social Welfare Policy in the United States presents a history of the field from the perspective of elites, as well as service providers and recipients. A particularly unique feature of the book is that it chronicles and analyzes the development of social work practice theory. As with other parts of the book, this is done on two levels: from the top down, looking at the writings, conference presentations, and training course material developed by leaders of the profession, and from the bottom up, looking at case records for evidence of techniques that were actually applied by social workers in the field. The data for the "bottom up" content in the book was obtained from archival records of agencies including the Philadelphia Almshouse, the Green Bay Wisconsin Department of Public Welfare, Minneapolis Family and Children's Services, the New York Charity Organization Society, the Boston Children's Aid Society, and the Boston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

This text also places social work practice in its institutional context. It is argued that social work has had a significant role in three social institutions: public assistance, mental health, and child welfare. With this in consideration, the author argues that social work has completely lost its place in public assistance; has achieved its major professional goal of becoming a fully licensed and privileged provider of mental health services, but is at risk of losing its dominance in this institution due to the emergence of competing mental health professions; and maintains dominance only in child welfare. He concludes that the profession needs to reengage with public assistance (TANF); develop strategies to regain dominance in mental health (expansion of the DSW as a practice degree is suggested); and continue to emphasize child welfare as a central professional concern.