THE BASICS OF

SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM IN POLAND

Assembled by

Jerzy Szmagalski1

Warsaw 2009

LEGISLATION

We, the Polish Nation - all citizens of the Republic (...) Hereby establish this Constitution (...) as the basic law for the State, based on respect for freedom and justice, co-operation between the public powers, social dialogue as well as on the principle of subsidiarity in the strengthening the powers of citizens and their communities.

From a Preamble to The Consitution of The Republic of Poland enacted in 1997

Social Rights in the Constitution Article 67 1. A citizen shall have the right to social security whenever incapacitated for work by reason of sickness or invalidism as well as having attained retirement age. The scope and forms of social security shall be specified by statute. 2. A citizen, who is involuntarily without work and has no other means of support, shall have the right to social security, the scope of which shall be specified by statute. Article 69 Public authorities shall provide, in accordance with statute, aid to disabled persons to ensure their subsistence, adaptation to work and social communication. Article 71 1. The State, in its social and economic policy, shall take into account the good of the family. Families, finding themselves in difficult material and social circumstances - particularly those with many children or a single parent - shall have the right to special assistance from public authorities. 2. A mother, before and after birth, shall have the right to special assistance from public authorities, to the extent specified by statute. Article 72 1. The Republic of Poland shall ensure protection of the rights of the child. Everyone shall have the right to demand of organs of public authority that they defend children against violence, cruelty, exploitation and actions, which undermine their moral sense. 2. A child deprived of parental care shall have the right to care and assistance provided by public authorities.

1 Warsaw University, Faculty of Appled Social Sciences and Resocialisation, j.szmagalski@uw.edu.pl

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3. Organs of public authority and persons responsible for children, in the course of establishing the rights of a child, shall consider and, insofar as possible, give priority to the views of the child. 4. The competence and procedure for appointment of the Commissioner for Children's Rights shall be specified by statute. Article 75 1. Public authorities shall pursue policies conducive to satisfying the housing needs of citizens, in particular combating homelessness, promoting the development of low-income housing and supporting activities aimed at acquisition of a home by each citizen. Selected Provisions of the Social Welfare Act of 2004

Art. 2. 1. Social assistance is the institution of the social policy of the State which aims at providing individuals and families with possibilities to overcome difficult life situations that they are not able to overcome by themselves with the use of their own competence, resources and opportunities.

2. Social assistance shall be organised by the Government and local government administration bodies, in the course of cooperation in this area, on the basis of partnership relations, with social and non-governmental organisations, the Catholic Church, other churches, denominational affiliations, as well as natural and legal persons.

Art. 3. 1. Social assistance shall support individuals and families in their efforts aimed at satisfying their needs, and it shall allow them for living in conditions which conform to human dignity.

2. The main objective of social assistance shall be to prevent situations referred to in Art. 2, sec. 1, by way of taking up actions aimed at self-dependence in life of individuals and families as well as at their integration with the environment.

3. The type, the form and the size of any benefit should correspond with circumstances justifying the provision of assistance.

4. Needs of persons and families benefiting from social assistance should be taken into account if they conform to objectives and do not exceed the possibilities of social assistance.

Art. 4. Individuals and families benefiting from social assistance shall be obliged to cooperate in solving problems arising out of their difficult life situation.

Art. 7. Social assistance shall be awarded to individuals and families, in particular, due to the following reasons: 1) poverty; 2) orphanhood; 3) homelessness; 4) unemployment; 5) disability; 6) chronic or serious disease; 7) violence in a family; 8) need to protect motherhood and numerous families; 9) helplessness in matters related to care and education, household keeping, in particular in single

parent and numerous families; 10) inability to adjust to life the young leaving institutions of care and education; 11) difficulties in integration experienced by persons who received the refugee status; 12) difficulties in adjusting to life upon the release from penal institutions; 13) alcoholism or drug addiction; 14) misfortune of fate or a crisis situation; 15) natural or ecological disaster.

Art. 15. Social assistance shall consist, in particular, in the following activities: 1) awarding and payment of benefits as provided for in the Act; 2) social work; 3) administration and development of requisite social infrastructure; 4) analysis and assessment of phenomena which give rise to the demand for social assistance benefits; 5) performance of tasks resulting from identified social needs; 6) development of new forms of social assistance and mutual aid within the scope of identified needs.

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Art. 70. 1. A family experiencing difficulties with the fulfilment of its tasks and a child from that family shall be provided with assistance, in particular, in the form of: 1) family guidance; 2) family therapy understood as psychological, pedagogical, and sociological activities which aim at

regaining by the family of its capacity to fulfil its tasks; 3) social work; 4) ensuring due care and education for children outside family.

2. A family shall receive assistance, in particular, through the activities of: 1) a specialist prepared to work with a family or in the local community; 2) day-care institutions of care and education; 3) other entities whose activities provide necessary support for a child and a family.

Art. 91. 1. A refugee shall be provided with assistance aimed at supporting the process of his/her integration.

2. The assistance referred to in sec. 1 shall be provided by the competent starost2 with respect to the place of residence of the refugee concerned.

3. The assistance referred to in sec. 1 shall be provided at the refugee’s application submitted within 14 days as of the awarding of the status of the refugee.

4. The application referred to in sec 3 shall cover the refugee’s children under age and his/her spouse, provided that they have the status of the refugee.

ADMINISTRATION Since the reform of Poland’s administrative system effective January 1st 1999 a three-tiered self-government is in force and new arrangements in social welfare system follow. 1. Municipal self-government (gmina) - the basic level of public administration introduced as early as in

1990. The daily needs of a local community are met here. The social services for local inhabitants are to be provided by the Social Welfare Centre (Ośrodek Pomocy Społecznej). This agency is obliged to distribute financial aid to the needy as well as to offer social work.

There are 2.489 communes (gminas) in Poland. An average gmina has 10-15 thousand inhabitants: rural gminas averaging 3 thousand inhabitants and the largest urban gminas having populations of several hundred thousand inhabitants. Obligatory rate of employment of social workers in gmina (still to be achieved in many gminas) is 1 social worker per 2,000 inhabitants.

2. County self-government (powiat) - the middle level of public administration designed to maintain

many of the institutions of everyday public life. It is responsible for local issues which, due to the subsidiarity and proportionality principles cannot be ascribed to gminas. Powiats are large enough to maintain efficiently many of the everyday institutions of public life, such as secondary schools, general hospitals, as well as police and fire stations, sanitary inspection and tax offices. Moreover, they are small enough - on average 80-100 thousand inhabitants - to place the control over these institutions in the hands of the citizens that they serve. The agency responsible for the development, maintenance and monitoring of social services on district level is The CountyCentre for the Aid to Families (Powiatowe Centrum Pomocy Rodzinie). This agency is obliged to fulfil a range of tasks such as: maintaining of residential care and foster family care, running of a crisis intervention centre, providing care for the homeless, supporting social re-integration of ex-convicts and young people leaving foster care, development of sheltered flats. assess the social welfare needs supplement basic services provided in gminas with more specialised as crisis intervention, foster family care,

There are 308 powiats. 65 largest urban gminas have been endowed with powiat status.

3. Regional self-governments (voivodship) – this level of public administration is endowed with

independent legal identity, its own budget and extensive powers in the area of economic policy. Major tasks of voivodships self-government in the area of public services include, among others, health protection (i.e. maintaining facilities which have a regional service area) and social welfare (i.e. counteracting unemployment through designing regional development strategies and contracting regional agreements with the central government). There may be created The Regional Social Policy Centre to develop and co-ordinate social welfare services in a region.

2 The head of a county

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There are 16 voivodships with populations ranging between approximately 1 and 5 million, and an average population of approximately 2.4 million.

The state government exercises its statutory obligations of control over social welfare system through the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.

SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION

Social Welfare Act of 2004 stipulates general qualification standards for people entitled to employment for social workers’ positions in the public social services. The function of a social worker may be performed by any person that holds a vocational title diploma in the occupation of a social worker, higher school BA (licencjat) diploma in the specialisation: social work, or that has completed higher studies in the specialisation: social work, in one of the following fields of studies: pedagogics, political sciences, social policy, psychology, sociology or family related sciences. In 2006 the BA (licencjat) in social work as a separate field of higher education has been introduced.

Professional development of social workers is maintained by standardised system of further education courses.

LITERATURE

Kantowicz E., Poland [in:] Annamaria Campanini, Elizabeth Frost (eds.), European Social Work,

Commonalities and Differences, 2004, Carocci, Roma. Krzyszkowski, J., Social Care and Social Work in Poland since 1989: Evidence from Recent

Research, Social Work in Europe, Volume 10, No 3, 2003 Szmagalski J., Structural Problems in the Development of Social Work in Central Europe under

Transformation. The Case of Poland, Social Work & Society, No 2/2004