• Between theory and practice
    • Triad of determinants of social workers' safety: System determinants (7)
      Safety is one of the basic human needs. In the occupational context, safety determines the quality of one's work. Social service workers are one of the professions that provide social services to deversified groups of the system's users. This involves various risks and threats to safety. System determinants include five main factors: security policy, legal system, financial and material security, work organization and technological support, and professional stability. Each of the factors is equally essential in creating the culture of social workers' safety.
    • Selected issues concerning social policy in the context of an aging society (17)
      The subject of the article addresses the challenges faced by social policy in the context of social changes in Poland.  The needs of the oldest generations are internally diverse and therefore an effective policy must make accurate assessments. The article discusses the main characteristics of the Polish people and the analysis of two aspects of social policy towards the elderly and old age.
    • Social services - Between the theory and practice of social action (33)
      The article examines the issue of the condition of social services provided by social welfare institutions with the example of Wielkopolska Province. The first part of the study describes the status of services in the welfare system and their role in the provision of social support. Next, the article focuses on empirical data and refers to desk research from public sources. This data is used to present a socio-demographic portrait of the social categories that are currently reporting (and will be reporting in the coming years) the highest demand for services. Then, the araticle shows the supply of services in the context of available institutional resources and selected forms of assistance provided by social welfare institutions.
    • Theoretical basis of vollunteering (in the field of social work) in the concepts of social action (57)
      The purpose of the article is to show the variety (albeit limited to only some) of social action concepts, and thus the possibility of finding such theoretical foundations that can contribute to new reflection on activities performed on a volunteer basis in the field of social work.
    • Education of children socialized in the culture of poverty as a challenge to social work (75)
      The paper addresses the issues relating to the education and socialization of children living in the culture of poverty, i.e. the situation when the privation affecting the family is not merely a convergence of many incidents, but it becomes a long-lasting experience which results in generational encumbrance. The consequences of such a situation are noticeably in many spheres of children's and adolescents' lives, particularly at home, school and among peers. The main purpose of the paper is to indicate educational problems of children living in poverty and describe the areas which impede socialization and educational interventions. The paper highlights the velue of education as a real chance to brak the cycle of generational poverty stemming from the culture of privation. It also presents school as an institution which reinforces inequalities, and family - as an institution which socializes to poverty. The araticle contains indications on social work with children from poor families. The paper contains research analyses performed based on such sources as "Memoirs of the Unemployed", published in Poland in 2003-2006 (5 volumes) and in 1933. The analyses undertaken in the paper are referred to the concept of the culture of poverty proposed by Oscar Lewis.
    • Selected institutional, legal and administrative instruments for the support of people with intellectual disabilities in Poland (95)
      The article is of a review nature and it is related to the problems of selected forms of support provided to people with intellectual disabilities in Poland. The purpose of the araticle is to present and evaluate the justifiability and functionality of basic instruments of support for people with intellectual disabilities in the legal and social dimension, and to specify the position of this category of our country's residents within the system of education, employment and career development policies aimed at them. The issues related to the situation of people with intellectual disabilities are treated holistically, presenting tendencies related to systemic factors that shape the normalization concept and provide a fooundation for social integration policy carried out for people with intellectual disabilities.
  • Research
    • Value system in relation to sociodemographic determinants among family assistants (113)
      This paper discusses the value system of family assistants as people who provide support on a provessional basis. This issue is taken up as professionals are participating in support networks more and more frequently. These people run the most risk of professional burnout. A coherent value system helps to perform one's everyday duties more effectively. The study aimed to examine the link between the hierarchy of values and sociodemographic determinants among family assistants. To find the answer, 40 family assistants were surveyed using the RVS. The results show that the value system is not related to sociodemographic determinants amoang family assistants.
    • My second home... - The quality of life in a residential home from the perspective of seniors (123)
      The aim of the research was to explore and interpret the reasons for seniors living in a residential home, the most appreciated care standards in the context of the quality of life improvement, and the elderly's expectations for the institution. The research subject were the statements of seniors living in the facility for over five years who could relate to their position and life experiences retrospectively. Qualitative research was the strategy used. Data was collected by means of narrative interviews and analyzed in view of the research questions raised.
    • Relations with natural parents of children in foster families (136)
      Foster families, as a temporary form of childcare, should take care that their foster children maintain relationships with their biological parents, to whom they should eventually return. The article attempts to analyze the existence of these relationships and their impact on the functioning of the foster family and the child placed in it. It is an attempt to verify the author's own research conducted for her doctoral thesis in 95 foster homes in 2010 and 2011 in Biała Podlaska and Biała Podlaska County, which was carried out with the use of a diagnostic survey - with the researach conducted in late May and early June 2015 in the same area for Piotr Jaworski's BA thesis at a seminar under the direction of the author.
  • Practice
    • Case study in social workers' assessment and therapeutic work (145)
      Social casework is widely used by social assistants in care and education institutions and rehabilitation and psychological counseling to provede social assistance in a broad sense to individuals, takin into account their current environmental situation. Social casework is treated in terms of a process that aims, on the hand, at developing personality predisposition that facilitates adaptation to the functioning in society, and on the other hand, at developing the ability to cope with the demands of the ever changing worls. Social workers play an important role in selecting the method of social casework: by providing assessment and therapeutic interventions, they undertake assistance activities aimed at strengthening and developing the client's potential. Special importance is attached to empowerment and its fundamental principle to overcome the individual's difficulties and make him or her independent from the supporting institution, including the social worker, by providing him or her with knowledge and skills that are necessary to function in society independently and effectively.
    • Preventive potential of day care centers with the example of "Promyczek" Community Center in Szczecin (158)
      Pedagogical practice proposes various attempts to overcome limitations and difficulties emerging while working with at-risk children and youth. Street work in the most sensitive areas of the city requires activation of powerful resources in educators and teachers who take up this job. In my article, I present the enormous potential of inconspicuous places - namely day care centers (community centers) functioning in "slums". I refer to this potential as "preventive potential". It consists of activities in all the basic areas of social pedagogy: upbringing, care, compensation, assistance, help and prevention. By referring to the sources, i.e. the most fundamental assumptions developed by Helena Radlińska and her successors, I try to present the potential of community centers as dependent on the involvement of dedicated educators, wisely accompanying children and their parents during difficult moments, and showing them the way to independence.
  • International news
    • Refugees/Iimmigrants in France - Challenges, opportunities and threats (177)
      In this article, I present figures on refugees in Europe (and France) in 2012-2016. I describe the history of immigration to France, the procedure for granting refugee status and measures for the integration of minority ethnic groups. I also briefly describe the activities of NGOs working for the integration of refugees and immigrants in France.
  • For discussion
    • Penalization trap of a flawed social policy (199)
  • Bookshelf
    • Beata Szulz (Reviewer), Małgorzata Ciczkowska-Giedziun, "Praca socjalno-wychowawcza z rodziną. Od teorii do praktyki" (207)
    • Tomasz Różański (Reviewer), Artur Fabiś, Marcin Muszyński, Łukasz Tomczyk, Maria Zrałek, "Starość w Polsce. Aspekty społeczne i edukacyjne" (212)
    • Rafał Pląsek (Reviewer), Piotr Binder, "Młodzi a bieda. Strategie radzenia sobie w doświadczeniu młodego pokolenia wsi pokołchozowych i popegeerowskich" (215)
    • 2016 Annual bound volume - Contents (219)