Social work endeavors to help people to live more successfully within their local communities by helping them find solutions to their problems. In doing so, social workers work not only with individuals but with their families, neighbors, and friends, as well as with other organizations such as the police, medical professions, and schools. While predominantly concerned with the care and protection of those in need or at risk, it often involves the use of statutory powers over individuals, for example, in the removal of a child from its parents due to it being considered to be at risk of significant harm or the detention of someone against his or her will under mental health legislation.
The exact forms such interventions take, and the values that underpin them, will vary both historically and from country to country as sociopolitical and other cultural factors influence attitudes to, and provision for, the distressed and disadvantaged within a given society. With...