There have been increasing legislative efforts to facilitate the entry of faith-based organizations into the mainstream of social service providers. However, there is little data related to their potential effectiveness. Social service director have a unique perspective on faith based providers as competitors or collaborators in the field that sectarian providers will enter.

Purpose: This study examined the perspectives of the directors of social welfare organizations about the entry of faith based organizations in the social services market place; their ability to deliver quality social services to vulnerable populations; and the potential for competition and collaboration with them.

Methods: Twenty directors of social service organizations were interviewed in depth interviews in a purposive sample. Agencies that served primarily Latin American, African-American and Afro-Caribbean youth and families in an urban area were specifically targeted. These agencies are located in communities that have a long history of churches-based groups that are active in their communities.

Organizational types, size and service types served as criteria for respondent selection and enhanced maximum variation. A semi structured research protocol was developed by the researchers. Interviews were audio taped and transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed with the assistance of Atlas.ti qualitative data analysis software. Using a grounded theory approach to data analysis, interviews coded and thematic patterns were identified. Codes were reviewed by multiple raters until agreement was achieve. The development of themes was facilitated by the relationship mapping features Atlas, which allowed researchers to explore the relationships between codes.

Results: Findings revealed that contrary to some perspectives, agency directors tended to welcom involvement of faith based organizations. Findings related to the specific types of services they should provide with services not requiring a great deal of expertise such as clothing, food and volunteers considered most appropriate for faith based organizations. Directors in health and mental health organizations were less optimistic about the ability of such organizations to provide counseling or other more technically oriented services. Further themes were identified that 1) focused on the realities of how work gets done with vulnerable populationss and 2) what the organizational and staff characteristics are needed to accomplish these activities and 3) the impact of funding faith based organizations on the overall delivery system. Potential areas of conflict were identified and strategies to enhance cooperation were discussed.

Implications for Practice: As faith-based social services gain political support shifts in funding priorities impacting the service delivery system can be expected, at a time when funding is increasingly competitive. Rather than ring alarms, as has the popular press, about separation of church and state, directors of existing social services agencies gave important and pragmatic insights into how entry of faith based organizations might be most productively engaged, as well as cautions about the dangers related more to expertise rather than belief. These findings may provide considerable insight to policy makers and to social workers in community and organizational practice.