Ethnicity is becoming a recognizable constituent of social work which is shown also in its growing integration in the education programme in social work, as in Slovenia. In order to break the historical silence and the neutral or passive attitude to ethnic differences it is necessary to fight for institutional changes in social work and the transcendence of institutional, cultural and personal racism. The article is concerned mainly with the Roma ethnic minority, being one of the most and historically marginalized ethnic-minority groups in Slovenia. It presents two main areas relevant to social work: the legal and sociological perspective (how minorities are treated in Slovenia) and the social work perspective (how social work has responded to minority needs and how social work education has adapted).