Case of Social Work`s Profession: Local Social Welfare Administration in the Estonian Small Local Government

After the restoration of independence social work became part of the post-communist society again in 1995.The occupation of social worker is still not specified on the level of local government of Estonia in the beginning the 21st century.On the national level there is no law or legal standard setting the requirement to employ a civil servant as a social worker in local government.(This study does not include the new requirements for child protection workers).As a consequence of this problem many municipal employees in the field of social work lack professional training.Gray& Gibbons (2007) have argued that ethical guidelines do not guarantee ethical social work practice when professional intervention requires professional knowledge.Using a general name "social care (welfare) administration," the administrations employ nonprofessionals, professionals of other fields or non-educated employees.Even more disputable is the practice of including the members of the local council's Committee of Social Affairs who lack any professional knowledge in the decision-making process of clients' cases.