ABSTRACT
Legislation increases in scope and the social worker must at least know his or her way through and also around a growing number of acts and regulations. The scope of social work itself changes, so that residential work, for instance, now counts as a form of social work, whilst it remains unclear whether community work is part of social work or whether social work itself is best seen as part of community work. Finally, ways of doing social work or preferred models of practice change so quickly that several commentators speak of changes in fashion. The account shows how firmly the main concepts from which social work is built up are embedded in a simple but articulate description of the experience of receiving social work help. The chapter describes the main problems of contemporary social work - uncertainty about method, about intellectual foundations and about social roles and function.
