Social Workers in Wartime Ukraine: Between Systemic Challenges and Wartime Pressures

Abstract

The full-scale war in Ukraine has deeply affected the country's provision of social services, intensifying longstanding structural vulnerabilities, damaging infrastructure and increasing the need for support. Drawing on focus group discussions with visiting carers, social work specialists and managers of municipal institutions in rural, semi-urban and urban communities, the analysis presented here reveals the impact of the war on their daily work, particularly staff shortages, administrative burdens, and mobility constraints. These findings provide insight into how the wartime state relies on the invisible resilience of these workers and stress the importance that social work has for broader social policy debates.