This study presents various images of social work and the functioning of social welfare institutions and nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The presented images were constructed by researchers, social workers, the staff of institutional forms of care, journalists, experts, spokesmen of social welfare centers, aid clients and residents of social welfare homes. The multiplicity of sources of information and views was conducive to showing various elements of these images, created for various intentions and for various purposes. In the review of these images, reports from sociological and pedagogical research as well as numerous press and Internet materials are used, showing the unusual situation and the struggle of social workers and representatives of other assistance professions in securing the basic needs of social welfare clients and residents of social welfare homes. The content analysis of the existing sources shows that the images constructed by the researchers differ from the images shown by the authors of journalistic articles. However, the images presented by the social welfare staff do not differ significantly from the images presented by social welfare recipients and residents of social welfare homes.

The purpose of this article is to analyse various forms of professional social work and various forms of rescue or care activities in a non-governmental organization. The research area is Caritas of the Lomza Diocese, especially Parish Caritas Teams and School Caritas Circles. In these types of institutions, social work is particularly important, as it concerns wards who cannot always help themselves. Although social work performed primarily by volunteers does not always have the hallmarks of professional social work. However, activities of a rescue or caring nature can serve to apply professional social work methods in the future. The techniques used by volunteers and methods of social assistance during the pandemic create trust, which is essential in performing social work in other unpredictable circumstances, such as the refuge of Ukrainians in Poland during the current war. The research area, Caritas of the Lomza Diocese, carries out commissioned tasks in the field of social assistance, using various forms of professional action and rescue and care activities. It is worth noting that local government institutions often do not have the social potential of volunteers as Caritas of Lomza Diocese in social assistance provision. Employees undertaking community work are also involved in coordinating various relief actions and activities. They fulfil their role by coordinating activities using modern forms of social work, such as networking and party working. Through the analysis of survey research and analysis of internal documents (desk research), the author of the study attempts to present the specifics of social work provided to the wards of the Caritas Diocese of Lomza during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article is an attempt to introduce the issue of respect for human rights at the Polish-Belarusian border. Since 2016, NGOs and the Ombudsman have been drawing attention to the Border Guard’s denial of the right to apply for international protection. Even before 2021, the courts found that this procedure was incorrect and that Poland  violated human rights. The recommendations were not implemented, and, with the onset of the humanitarian crisis in 2021, the situation changed to the disadvantage of foreigners. Legislative changes and the introduction of the state of emergency allowed for the expulsion of foreigners without any administrative procedure.

The aim of the article entitled The role of non-governmental organizations in the implementation of public tasks of the municipality of Cieszyn in the field of social policy and counteracting social exclusion and addictions and social pathologies is to show the great importance of non-governmental organizations, as a partner of the local government, in the local social welfare system. The paper describes the principles of financial and non-financial cooperation of the local self-government with non-governmental organizations, as well as the public tasks performed by non-governmental organizations operating in the area of Cieszyn, on the example of 2022.

My many years of intensive contacts with the Silesian scientific community began immediately after my sociological studies (1967), strengthened after receiving my doctorate degree, and starting work at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow, and intensified when I occupied the position of a scientific secretary at the Press Research Center in Cracow in 1972 until 1987. From the 1990s onwards, due to my frequent longer trips abroad, these contacts were more occasional, but in the next two decades they intensified again.

The review article discusses the book Returning to the labour issue by Stéphane Beaud and Michel Pialoux. The research conducted at the Peugeot factory in Sochaux-Montbeliaard shows changes in the local labour market, which can be related to the contemporary challenges employees face in Poland. Precarization, technological progress, the disintegration of the working class, the clash of media narratives with society’s perception of professions, and the fear of job loss due to advancing automation. Returning to the labour issue is a book that allows us to observe the recurrence of some problems in the labour market and shows what mistakes we can avoid.