Polish Association of Social Workers

00-554 Warszawa, ul. Marszałkowska 34/50

PASW was founded in 1986 on the initiative of social workers who had participated in the drafting of "The Welfare Act”, which was the first such a statute enacted after 1945.

PASW is a nationwide organization and currently has 8 local district branches. The association includes groups which take actions at the local level. Among us are: social workers, representatives of schools of social work, and research workers.

PASW is a non-government organization, incorporated in accordance with Polish law. It functions on the basis of an approved statute which specifies, among other things, the main objectives of the organization.

The purposes of PASW are:

1.      To support the social security system that satisfies basic human needs and contributes to the development of human potential,

2.      To promote actions according to the ethics of the profession of social worker,

3.      To increase and to maintain the high prestige of the profession of social worker,

4.      To explain and popularize  the role and significance of social worker’s profession,

5.      To maintain and improve the standard of the services offered to clients,

6.      To promote professional skills, knowledge of individual, group, family and community problems, and the skills of how to solve them,

7.      To stimulate cooperation with various public institutions and non-government organizations which realize the goals of welfare.

In 1996 PASW established the first Polish Code of Ethics for Social Workers. The Code contains the standards of ethical conduct relative to professional work practices, relations with colleagues, clients, employers and the community.

In 2001 PASW organized a national conference on the Code of Ethics. The following representatives took part in this conference: members of government administration, local authorities, various organizations, social workers.

The need for ethical conduct is necessary for all social workers in their every day-practice, and this was approved by the community of social workers.

The current Code of Ethics is accepted, simply because of the fundamental changes that are currently take place in our country and the process of globalization we all take part in.

PASW includes a special group of social workers who do research and analyse materials, comments on the Code and we assumed that by 2003 new proposal will come into living.

Moreover, PASW is preparing guidelines for a separate act regulating the activities of the profession of social worker.

We are interested in ethical issues and any support in this field, like materials or guidelines may help in our work.