Social Services and Social Policy

Social work should guarantee the accessibility to social services to satisfy the vital needs of an individual and to create living conditions which would be reasonable to human level. The states establish the laws which should to create the legal systems of social services. Those legislations states who has a right to social services and when that services should be provided.

The law of Republic of Lithuania on Social services gives the concept of social services: "Social services denote the provision of assistance to individuals in various non-monetary forms as well as in care funds. (Article 2. 1.)". Lithuania started to create this concept of social services after the declaration of independence in 1991. Lithuania even had not the social policy while in Britain in 1948 were three departments responsible for personal social services: health department (responsible for public health and various aspects of this), welfare department (responsible for residential care and help to elderly and disabled people), and Children's departments, responsible for child care. Now Lithuania has such departments and they deals with community problems, but in Lithuania such work is done just by the officers of social policy, especially in laws is declared that it depends and on social workers. However, the Britain's social policy made progress in community, because there is strong idea of community care and this help is not an institution, it is done by voluntary people who are not indifferent to others problems. Unfortunately, Lithuanians think that the state should take care of people, but they don't realize that they are the state and can do much more than the government...

All in all, social services are needed all over the world, and they are guaranteed in many countries, but young countries such as Lithuania has mach work to do to make better tomorrow to its citizens.