‘WATER TOO DEEP’ – ABSURDITIES IN SOCIAL WELFARE PERCEIVED BY SOCIAL WORKERS

Abstract

On the basis of opinions provided by social workers the authoress presents absurdities regarding social welfare perceived by specialists in their everyday professional practice. The authoress confronts the image of the social worker profession that emerges from the Act on Social Assistance with the literature on the subject and practitioners’ experience, which involves performing numerous tasks, accommodating many contrary duties and overcoming many difficulties in the daily practice that result from legally and institutionally imposed procedures. The authoress selects five absurdities concerning the areas of assistance in social work as provided by the specialists: statutory overload of tasks and functions of the social worker profession; creation of internal barriers in social welfare institutions; lack of health care and no protection of social workers’ lives; overload of excessive social expectations; and passing the limits of one’s own professional competencies.