Social care is an area that deals with the provision of assistance, care and various social services, and includes social policy, the legal system, the practice of social work, the health system and other areas and occupations related to the provision of services. In most contemporary social welfare systems, including Croatia, there is a large number of private social service providers. Although a large number of private service providers is a good feature that indicates the potential of citizens and civil society organizations to provide care, various service providers that perform a large amount of social welfare activities in the Republic of Croatia cannot solve problems within the system. Although a large number of organizations and individuals providing care can be viewed as an opportunity to involve more people in solving certain social problems, such involvement cannot occur without ensuring stability by state bodies responsible for social work. Based on the data presented in the paper, it is evident that the Croatian social welfare system has a large number of unfulfilled requests for social services, which indicates the slowness and inefficiency of the system. Also, goals, strategies and plans of state bodies need to be defined in a way that includes clear monitoring methods. Abstract goals such as improving the efficiency of the system, meeting the needs of a socially vulnerable group, or socially empowering do not offer clear determinants so that the achievement of these goals can be monitored. It is concluded that the Croatian system needs stability and reliability that will enable the private sector of social service providers to not lose quality through its growth and increase in the number of service providers.