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Abstract

This article is part of a larger study that intended to diagnose the needs and the resources of social assistance structures within local public authorities. The specific objectives of the study are: The Identification of the social actors involved in the providing of social services and in the providing of social work benefits at local level (communes, cities, municipalities); A Radiography of the situation of social work structures at local level from the perspective of development and efficiency; The Identification of locally signed partnerships from the perspective of development and efficiency; The Elaboration of directions for the development of social work systems at local level considering the research results. This article presents the difficulties and the risks in the intervention of the staff employed within the Social Work Departments of the local public administration, as presented by the employees of these structures. It is a triangulated study made between January and December 2019 and presents the results of the interviews with 20 employees of social work departments. The results are structured in three dimensions: the difficulties related to the performance of the social work departments; the difficulties encountered in setting up or providing social work services/benefits and the mechanisms for overcoming them; the social needs identified at community level.