Social protection, social assistance to the population are institutions that characterize a humane and conscious civil society. In this area, the role of the professional who provides such support is very significant - a social worker. With the features of his work, as well as documents regulating his work, it is worthwhile to familiarize yourself more thoroughly.
Social protection
In general, social protection of the population is a set of measures aimed at observing the rights of a citizen and satisfying his social needs. A high level of such protection of the population is a sign of a strong and prosperous state.
Social protection is mainly provided in three ways - social security, social assistance and social insurance. In the Russian Federation, its guarantor is the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, whose head for today is M.A. Topilin. It is provided by the state Russian extra-budgetary funds:
- compulsory medical insurance;
- social insurance of the Russian Federation;
- Russian Pension Fund.
These organizations operate at the local, subject and national levels.
Types and measures of social protection
Social protection of the population consists of a number of measures:
- Protecting children's rights and monitoring compliance.
- Help in overcoming unemployment.
- Material and moral support for large families.
- Payment of benefits to low-income families.
- Determination of the minimum wage, the smallest amount of scholarships, allowances, pensions.
Social protection is divided into state and non-state. The first includes:
- free education;
- payment of pensions;
- privileges;
- free healthcare;
- social services, social services.
Non-governmental social protection is represented by:
- charity;
- voluntary social insurance programs;
- accessible private programs for the protection and restoration of health, etc.
Today in the world there are two models of state social support:
- Beveridge (English). Minimum social assistance to every citizen, regardless of his social status.
- Bismarck (German). A citizen receives support from the state according to the amount of social contributions that he pays to the treasury throughout his life. For socially unprotected categories, different rules and state protection programs apply.
Social help
Social assistance is either monetary support or in-kind (it, in particular, is provided by the center of social assistance) to citizens in difficult financial situation. Such payments are financed either from the state treasury or from the fund of voluntary donations of those who care.
Social assistance is provided both as a result of checking the sources of income for those in need, and without carrying out these measures. Usually, assistance to people in especially difficult living conditions exceeds support to other citizens living more or less tolerably.
Social work with family
One of the most priority and necessary areas of social protection is work with the family. Its key tasks are:
- support for cells in difficult situations;
- assistance in overcoming insoluble problems;
- prevention of new difficulties;
- carrying out work, as a result of which “difficult” families learn on their own how to overcome such difficulties on their way.
The Social Assistance Center mainly works with the following types of families:
- members of which are supported by the state (disabled people, pensioners);
- created by minor parents (parent);
- with a high risk of depriving the mother and / or father of parental rights;
- caught up in a difficult situation: parental disability, alcohol or drug addiction of a family member, involuntary resettlement, HIV infection, the parent is in prison, faced with unemployment, abuse, violence, orphanhood, homelessness.
Functions of the social center for family work
Social work with the family is multifunctional:
- Coordination of work on social support of "difficult" families.
- Preparation of personal files of such families.
- Social inspection.
- Development of a plan to accompany the family, taking into account the wishes of the latter.
- Providing targeted support and assistance.
- Prevention of domestic violence.
- Reporting to the relevant services and authorities about the fact of child abuse in ward families.
- Protecting the interests of families in court when such a need arises.
- Providing other interested in helping government agencies information about wards families.
- Distribution of social advertising.
Social Work Specialist Requirements
A professional social worker may not have work experience, but must have a secondary or higher education of a social, legal or pedagogical direction. Requirements for a professional of II and I (highest) qualifications are much stricter: higher narrow-profile education, work experience in previous categories.
The job description of a specialist in social work requires knowledge in the following areas:
- relevant legal normative documents regarding social protection and assistance, support for families and socially vulnerable citizens, protection of motherhood and childhood, state policy in relation to these categories of citizens;
- effective ways to improve the quality of social assistance;
- the basics of psychology: a child, a pensioner, a disabled person, people in a difficult situation, etc .;
- the basics of the Labor Code, labor protection;
- sanitary and hygienic rules for caring for the elderly and disabled.
Also, the job description of a specialist in social work says that in his professional activities, knowledge on philosophy, political science, cultural studies, history, pedagogy, social medicine is actively used. It is important to know the stages of development of a social institution and its current state in the Russian Federation and in the world, forms, principles, methods of helping people of different ages and social status, general tools, key concepts, methods of analysis and monitoring in social work.
Necessary human qualities of a professional:
- unselfishness;
- purposefulness;
- sociability;
- goodwill;
- tolerance;
- social intuition;
- hard work;
- stress resistance;
- analytical type of thinking;
- observation;
- working capacity.
Social Worker Functions
The current job description of the social work specialist involves the assignment of the following functions to the employee:
- Formation of a database of "difficult" families (social cards) that need the help of single pensioners and people with disabilities.
- Determination of the sources of ill-being, the size and nature of the assistance provided, the provision of it itself.
- Guardianship of dysfunctional cells of society, especially those with children with developmental disabilities or disabled people, families of internally displaced persons, participants and victims of military conflicts, orphaned parents, as well as disabled people (including due to disability), elderly people.
- Assisting in the employment of wards and other ways to overcome their material difficulties.
- Collaboration with internal affairs bodies for the prevention of illegal activities and the asocial lifestyle of the wards.
- Analysis of the work done, forecasting the results of social assistance.
- Implementation of federal and regional social programs, preparation of their projects and proposals.
- Participation in methodological unions to improve the quality of social assistance provided.
- Coordination of the activities of non-profit charitable associations that also provide assistance to wards.
- Consultation of interested citizens on the subject of their activities.
- Documentation of work done.
Rights and obligations of a social work specialist
Social Worker's Rights:
- to offer and implement projects to improve the quality of social services provided;
- Contact management for assistance in the exercise of their functions;
- require for familiarization the documentation and information necessary for their work;
- improve their qualifications.
The job description of a social work specialist ascribes to him the following duties:
- responsibility under the Labor Code of the Russian Federation for the improper performance of their duties:
- responsibility under the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and the Code of Administrative Offenses for offenses in the process of work;
- liability under the Criminal Code, Civil Code, Labor Code of the Russian Federation for causing material damage.
A social worker is a responsible and necessary profession in any developed society. Social work and social protection itself have a lot of areas of activity, ways to improve and actualize them.