Nicolau, Maria Célia CorreiaTeles, Joana Darc Matias do Prado2016-08-032016-08-032014-08-29TELES, Joana Darc Matias do Prado. Assistência social ao idoso no município de Natal na proteção social básica: identificando demandas e desafios. 2014. 130f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Serviço Social) - Centro de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, 2014.https://repositorio.ufrn.br/jspui/handle/123456789/21083Over the past decades, starting mainly in the 1960s, the number of elderly has grown in the country and an aging population is considered a remarkable global phenomenon. Given the speed of this process, this growth has produced different implications for the structure of the social, economic and cultural societies and, as such, constitutes new challenges for public policy, and particularly for the Brazilian social assistance policy. Considering the significant increase aging population in Natal and the challenges of social welfare policy, this research aims to identify and analyze the demands and challenges of Social Assistance Policy in the city of Natal / RN, in particular the access of the elderly to social protection basic in the Reference Centers of Social Assistance. This research uses a critical dialectical method, and the methodological procedures that guided the study: the bibliographical research, documentary and field as well as systematic observation. Some initial questions were important to guide this work: What are the demands that come to CRAS the elderly population? What are the answers to these demands by the Basic Social Protection? How this CRAS has implemented social protection responses to these demands as rights guarantee the elderly population? The services offered by CRAS meets user needs? To get the results of this research, bibliographic sources were used, documentary and observation for four (4) CRAS of different district areas of the city of Natal. The results of this research show that basic social protection is quite fragile, leaving part of the population at risk and social vulnerability still without attention due to several factors, including the reduced technical team and the impossibility of service to all neighborhoods referenced by CRAS in the respective zones, and 50% of elderly assisted arising from spontaneous demands.Acesso AbertoPopulação idosaPolítica de assistência socialProteção social básicamasterThesisCNPQ::CIENCIAS SOCIAIS APLICADAS::SERVICO SOCIAL