Czechoslovakia, social work, social policy

An important milestone in the historical development of Czechoslovakia was a year 1989, called the "Velvet Revolution". There was a transformation of society after a long period of socialism towards democracy. The aim of this paper is to present the status in the social sphere with regard to social work before 1989 and then to emphasize the significant changes that have occurred in the nineties of the 20th century. The main topics of the paper are: the system of social policy, social work in the system of social policy, education in social work, the practice of social work, legislation concerning social work, progression of social services, an increase number of a target groups and the involvement of state and non-state actors in social assistance. Most of social systems have a continuity with the past. Extensive changes in the nineties of the 20th century followed the traditions that have their origin in the 19th century. An example is a relatively well-developed social security reforms from the time of Bismarck. Also, the development of social work did not interrupted after World War II, as it is commonly known, but on the contrary, social work have been developed significantly. Subtext of this paper is to emphasize the importance of researching the history of social work as a means to reinforce the importance of social work as a profession, academic discipline and support evolving science on the threshold of the 21st century.