Aspects of the development of social work as a helping profession

In different countries the profession of social work has „done its work” for more or less than a century. In Lithuania its history is revived and closely related to social transformation that has taken place after the restoration of Independence in 1990. The question of how fully, if at all, social work has achieved professional status has been debated throughout the last century. It is known that efforts to evaluate whether social work is a „semi-profession” or a „fullydeveloped” profession have been made by J. Baird. Already in 1972 social work was considered as a profession. In the opinion of J. Baird to evaluate the status of the profession depends on whether social work is being measured by classical criteria of once „free” professions, or by contemporary criteria that are relevant to helping professions which are substiantially committed to public and governmental service enterprise. The present picture of the professionalization of social work has changed. American social work's aspirations to professionalization is a natural process in a liberal market economy, because the profession is created and strengthened as a result of the personal interests of those earning a living by it. The status of social work as a profession is not unequivocally fixed. There are some aspects that are considered as negative to the professionalization of social work. Namely, the private practice of social work which is said has been growing dynamically since the middle of the 20th century. But with the dramatic rise of medical care, social workers are said to return to their original mission. The nature of professional practice in any particular state is grounded in the historical and cultural context as mediated through political, economical and social systems. This makes social work difficult to define at the global level, and attempts to identify a universal essence of social work are problematic. Despite this apparent difficulty, there are some general definitions of social work. Definitions provoke many questions. Is it possible to develop a universal definition of social work? If so, how well does this definition describe social work throughout the world? Does this definition apply to social work where I live? And the like. At the beginning of the 21st century, the European countries have faced many problems of a different nature. In order to understand the nature of these problems an attempt is made to categorize them. Much is asked of social workers, and they are ones that are expected to make a difference by empowering human beings to change self and society. The conclusion is that it is worthwhile to explore, review social work as a profession because, according to Midgley, there is a „need to develop a broad international approach to the study of social work to generate a global awareness that enhances the ability of social workers to transcend their preocupation with the local and contextualize their role within a global setting