Volunteering from the perspective of social work participants

The demand for voluntary involvement in the field of social work is increasing. This is driven in part by fears that the informal networks surrounding people in vulnerable situations are evaporating, due to the advance of... [ view full abstract ]

The demand for voluntary involvement in the field of social work is increasing. This is driven in part by fears that the informal networks surrounding people in vulnerable situations are evaporating, due to the advance of individualization and professionalization (Putnam, 2000). Another reason behind the increasing appeal for voluntary involvement has to do with the ambitions of national and local governments to make citizens less dependent upon public services (Newman & Tonkens, 2011). Less frequently mentioned reasons obviously involve the current economic crisis and anticipated cutbacks in social services. One consequence of the increased demand for volunteers in the context of social work is that social work participants are being faced with social services provided by volunteers. This without knowing what it matters to the quality and effect of the services and how it affects social work participants possibilities for social inclusion.
In this symposium we aim to explore what it matters to social work participants that social services are provided voluntarily instead of paid. The symposium consists of four papers and closes with a discussion with the audience. The first paper considers the question what it matters to social work participants whether services are provided voluntarily or by paid employees. The second paper explores task division of volunteers, informal networks and paid workers in the field of debt counseling. The third paper provides preliminary insight into ways in which volunteer-professional collaboration can be strengthened from the perspective social work participants. The final and fourth papers presents two models for volunteer management. The symposium will end with a discussion with the presenters and the audience. Central question is: How can the collaboration of volunteer social services and paid social work contribute to the social inclusion of social work participants? And what does this mean for the competency’s of social workers?