My biggest reward is a child’s hug, earned through trust
Aneta, a social worker from Probishtip, explains the challenges and rewards of her work.
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Aneta Tomeva has been working as a social worker in the Center for Social Work in Probishtip for over 15 years. In her profession, she says, there is never a day without challenges, and it’s impossible to work by a to-do list.
‘It’s a very dynamic job. You have to react quickly and give priority to certain issues. At one moment you’re preparing documents for cash benefits, in the next there is a call for a family violence case.’
Though challenging, Aneta sees her profession as a beacon of hope for families who find themselves in difficult situations.
“When a family comes to our attention, it means they are seeking additional support to overcome their challenges. They have often lost faith in themselves and lost trust in the system, and we need to work together towards bringing stability and normalcy back into their lives.”
Aneta’s work follows a structured case management process - starting with assessing the needs of the child and family, planning support, coordinating with key sectors such as education and health, referral to relevant services in the community, while continuously monitoring progress through regular follow-ups.
Depending on their situation and vulnerabilities, families can access various types of social protection benefits and services. Low-income families and families with persons with disabilities can apply for cash benefits and child allowances. For more complex situations, especially children in precarious family situations, there are social protection services which require a hands-on approach in working closely with the families.
“In cases of strained marital relations, family violence or children at risk, our counselling and direct support to families, is most important. Together, we develop a plan of work with the family and agree on interventions, including psychosocial support and work with parents on improving the relationships with their children. In these cases, the household visits are crucial,” says Aneta, who sees this part of the work as the core of what it means to be a social worker.
The importance of household visits
One of the families that Aneta provides regular support to has been dealing with various challenges, including poverty and health issues. Aneta knows their family relationships, medical history, the children's academic progress – almost like a trusted family member.
In one of her regular visits, she checks in on the health of the father who is battling cancer. She asks about his status and medication and provides him with referral information for a health practitioner. Aneta also asks about the children, two adolescent girls, and checks on their school attendance.
The mother shares that one of her daughters has been experiencing panic attacks recently. “Have her come to my office tomorrow,” says Aneta. She plans to speak with the girl and if necessary, refer her to a psychologist for additional support. However, referral to additional support is always a challenge, as there is no psychologist in Probishtip, and the closest one is in Kochani, some 23 km away.
Supporting families facing multiple vulnerabilities often takes years of follow-up. For some families dealing with poverty and serious health issues, continuous support from the social protection system is essential. Household visits are the most important tool for social workers to identify evolving needs and evaluate progress.
The administrative burden
Depending on the family situation and the types of social protection benefits and services they are using, Aneta visits different families two to four times per month. It should be more frequent, but this part of the work is constrained due to administrative responsibilities assigned to social workers. "Sometimes I feel more like an administrative worker than a social worker," says Aneta. "When a family is at social risk, it's our job to help them return to a normal life. However, we're often burdened by procedures and paperwork, which prevents us from providing the highest quality service."
The Centers for Social Work face significant challenges due to under-resourcing, high staff turnover, recruitment difficulties and increased caseloads. The shortage of qualified personnel, coupled with administrative tasks, hinders effective case management, especially in preventive social work.
On the other hand, Aneta feels that social workers need more autonomy and flexibility to independently determine the appropriate assistance and the urgency of addressing a problem based on their assessment.
‘Previously, Centers for Social Work had a separate budget line they could use in difficult situations, especially to provide one-time assistance, so the centers could immediately pay a certain amount of funds to a person who needed them. Now we do not have our own budget, and the process takes us two months.’
Multisectoral collaboration is key
Despite the challenges, Aneta highlights the strong intersectoral collaboration as one of the most important, positive aspects in her work. "We have good cooperation with the police, schools, kindergartens, health centers. Wherever a certain problem is detected, we are informed.’
This is particularly important when it comes to cases of violence in the family. In collaboration with the Ministry of Interior, they have established a multisectoral group at a local level and practice of conducting joint hearing, to avoid further victimization of survivors of violence.
‘For this reason, the hearing is done jointly and only once. We provide all the information and collect all signatures needed by the police and for the social workers at the same time. Afterwards, we continue our work through psychosocial support and other types of services needed. No need for the survivor of violence to report and go through interviews repeatedly.’
Keeping families together
Aneta feels that social workers are often misunderstood as people who remove children from their families. “This couldn’t be further from the truth. Our main goal is to keep families together.” However, she acknowledges that when a social worker enters a family home for the first time, children are usually the most fearful, and it takes time, patience, consistency and empathy to earn their trust,
“When you achieve it, you can see it in their eyes. It's only then that a child feels secure enough to give you hug - this is the biggest reward for our work.”
The quality of protection systems relies on the competencies and personal commitment of professionals like Aneta, who work tirelessly to help families regain hope and stability. Besides their expertise and dedication, social workers also need the system support to be able to deliver. For children this is even more critical, as disadvantages and exclusion at an early age have an impact on their ability to succeed later.
Ongoing reforms to the social protection system and a stronger social service workforce are essential to expand preventive services and ensure that vulnerable families receive the support they are entitled to. This is key to giving every child a fair chance to reach their full potential, no matter their family circumstances.
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UNICEF supports the Ministry of Social Policy, Demography and Youth to enhance the organisational structure of the Centres for Social Work and capacities the social service workforce to efficiently and effectively protect children at social risk and their families. Based on the experience in European Union member states since 2021, UNICEF is supporting the country to introduce a Child Guarantee mechanism designed to prevent and tackle child poverty and social exclusion by guaranteeing that vulnerable children have access to minimum packages of basic social services, as well as targeted and specialized services appropriate and acceptable to children and their families, provided in a non-stigmatizing and non-discriminatory manner.
