Critical issues of the romanian social assistance system

• Author: C. Marc/C. Bacter/C. S. Timofte
• Position: University of Oradea, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Department of Sociology and Social Work/University of Oradea, Faculty of Social and Human Sciences, Department of Sociology and Social Work/University of Oradea, Faculty of Law, Department of Law and Administrative Sciences
• Pages: 97-110

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşo v

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 11 (60) No. 1 - 2018

CRITICAL ISSUES OF THE ROMANIAN SOCIAL

ASSISTANCE SYSTEM

C. MARC1 C. BACTER2 C. S. TIMOFTE3

Abstract: The paper presents the results of a qualitative study on

the current situation of the Social Assistance system as it is seen by

interviewed Bihor county social workers. The problems mentioned

include a shortage of social workers in the system, lack of coherence

in legislation, low level of social services coverage, especially in rural

areas, clients' dependency on the system. In order to improve the

situation, the people included in the study mentioned the following

solutions: identifying the true needs of the vulnerable groups,

developing prevention in social work, clients' true involvement in the

assistance process, promoting clients' labour market and societal

integration.

Key words: benefits, dependency, social assistance system, social

services, social workers.

1. Introduction

The current situation in Romania is presented in the Social Report of The

Research Institute for the Quality of Life published in February 2017:

impoverishment of the population (which has reached the alarming level of 40%)

and a huge social inequality; one of the lowest employment rates in the European

Union; a significant percentage of people working in rural areas are household

farmers or are subsistence farmers; informal work represents 32-36% of the total

work in economy; deterioration of wages; a minimalist social policy and funding

social protection at half the level in the developed European countries; limited

effectiveness of the antipoverty policy (social assistance benefits contribute much

less to getting people out of poverty as compared to the European average);

excessive bureaucracy (Zamfir et al., 2017).

The issue of being on welfare has been constantly brought to the attention of

the general public, all that taking place in the context of a general government

1 University of Oradea, Fac ulty of Social and Human Sciences , Department of Sociology and Social

Work, cristiana_marc@yahoo.com

2 University of Oradea, Fac ulty of Social and Human Sciences , Department of Sociology and Social

Work, claudianbacter@gmail.com

3University of Oradea, Faculty of Law, Department of Law and Administrative Scie nces,

clau_timofte@yahoo.com