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Abstract
From May until December 1990, the author was seconded half-time to work on the Newcastle Lord Mayor's Newcastle Earthquake Appeal Fund. The role was to assess, where requested, some of the more complex applications, provide advice and information, casework support and advocacy to the applicants, and report to and negotiate with the Chairman of the Appeal Fund.
Despite misgivings about whether this was an appropriate role for social work in general, and this inexperienced worker in particular, the author attempted to use radical casework skills, as identified by Fook (1987), Leonard (1975), Moreau (1979), and Rees and Wallace (1975). It was hoped that there would be an opportunity to use radical social casework skills to empower applicants of a disaster monetary assistance fund. This hope existed, despite counter-arguments relating to the stigma of financial assistance, as presented by Furlong (1987). The strategies of radical social casework are considered against the background of this practice experience.