THE SOCIAL WORKER WHEN FACED WITH NEW EMERGENCIES. A STUDY IN THE ITALIAN CONTEXT

This paper focuses on the interventions set up in different social contexts by social workers, in the current service system and social policies in Italy. Specifically, it looks at the results of a study carried out in the Marche Region, which examined both critical elements and significant strengths. In Italy, the reform of social assistance, Law no. 328/2000 laid a strong emphasis on the creation of individualised interventions, which integrate health and social care and are realised with the support of third sector agencies. However, in recent years the social workers on the one hand have had to deal with the growing problems of families and with increasingly complex questions, on the other the economic crisis has led to a radical reduction in social spending; this has had a profound effect on the organisation of social services as well as on the interventions of those operators who work in this field.