Social Work: History, Recent Debates and High-Risk Groups

The present study is an invitation to reflection regarding the social work profession in the context of the recent evolutions and changes at the international level. In the first part of the study we will analyse the „painful process” of validation and legitimating of the social work professional and its scientific status, further presenting the recent debates regarding the profession’s mission. In the economy of the study we also included exemplifying references to diverse geographic, historical, administrative and organizational contexts.

The global networking in social work indicates a new phase in the evolution of this profession and a structural re-positioning. The mention of these aspects is not unintentional, since the social work as social movement has been associated since the beginning with the change and critical reflection on the social realities.