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With a history of almost 90 years, professional social work in Romania once flourished up until World War II. The Communist Party disbanded the profession in 1968 and it was reinstated after the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. Within the context of the socio-economic transition from a centralised to a free-market economy, Romanian social policy and social work have evolved from a Marxist/socialist-type ideology, one that advocates for state intervention, to a libertarian/neo-liberal-type ideology, which promotes both state withdrawal from welfare provision and individuals taking responsibility for their own welfare. These two trends continue to co-exist subject to sometimes divergent forces such as international institutions and internal Romanian social pressures. Using a qualitative approach, we explore how Romanian social workers are adapting to the neo-liberal realities and identify three types of perceived challenges: 1. those related to regulation, 2. linked with collaboration in social work activity and 3. those related to the social worker-client relationship. Under neo-liberal pressures, the social worker's role of agent of social change becomes marginalised in daily practice, leaving little power to influence agency policies that negatively impact clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper joins the growing scholarly concern for the sharpening of social and environmental inequalities in European cities, particularly those generated in Eastern Europe by evictions of poor Roma from inner-city areas and by the invisibilization of their extreme conditions. We argue that these processes – evictions and invisibilizations – create a heightened vulnerability to climate change impacts for these individuals. The paper uses secondary survey data on compact Roma groups in Romania and analyses qualitative and cartographic information collected by the authors (2019) in two mid-sized cities in Romania to flesh out the particular slum ecologies that emerge following evictions. The focus is also on the subtle processes of invisibilization that render displaced Roma vulnerable and rob them of the "right to the city" in terms of climate change adaptation. Our finding is that evicted Roma experience innumerable, "routine" weather-related impacts, such as floods, storms or cold. By exploring Roma's heightened exposure, sensitivity and reduced adaptive capacity, we show how these impacts increase their vulnerability to future extreme weather events. These findings are indicative of a broader process of fragmentation taking place in urban areas throughout Eastern Europe, which render invisible some very real barriers to climate change adaptation. • The evictions of poor Roma from two cities in Romania are explored. • These evictions create vulnerabilization to climate change impacts. • Evicted Roma face exposures, increased sensitivity and reduced adaptability. • These effects are invisibilized and preclude the adoption of adaptation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This is the first study to document how Romanian child protection social workers perceive engagement in CPD. • The respondents are positively motivated to participate in CPD despite substantial barriers. • Perceived lack of power over the quantity, content and quality of CPD. • Social workers struggle to enact their personal agency in meeting their learning needs. • The tensions between professional regulations, work-related requirements and CPD needs. In twentieth-century Romania, professional social work faced a tortuous development trajectory following the collapse of the communist regime. Such discontinuity, nevertheless, positively influenced specialized education. Trends included government-mandated (Labor Law) continuing professional development (CPD) in 2003, the formation of the National College of Social Workers of Romania in 2005, and specific regulations for child protection workers in 2006. Our paper fills a gap in specialized knowledge regarding CPD in social work in Romania by examining how child protection Romanian social workers experience CPD throughout their professional lives. Twenty-seven in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with child protection social workers with varying years of experience employed in both public service agencies and NGOs. The findings indicate that these social workers are generally motivated to engage in CPD despite barriers such as finances and time. The unidirectional top-down decisions on participation, however, produced discrepancies between completed CPD activities and employees' perceived educational/learning needs. Implications for the enhancement of dialogue between the various key stakeholders (e.g., social workers, employers, professional bodies, government policymakers) as a measure for optimizing the CPD framework for the child protection social workers are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]