friendly visitors

Volunteers and, later, paid employees of the Charity Organization Societies (COS) who eventually became known as social workers. Their primary job was to investigate the homes of needy people, determine the causes of problems, provide guidance for solving problems, and—as a last resort—provide material assistance to those clients deemed“worthy.”Friendly visiting was supplanted by casework as the“visitors”developed greater professionalism, more-thorough training, and better understanding of the causes of problems. This term is used currently in some social services organizations to refer to a professional practice of systematically going to the houses of clients, usually shut-ins.