Analysis of the Regional Distribution of Social Services for Immigrants

Roman Baláž, Daniel Topinka

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Analysis of the Regional Distribution of Social Services for Immigrants

Roman Baláž, Daniel Topinka

Medailon autora:

Mgr. Roman Baláž studied social work at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, where he is currently continuing in his doctoral studies on social work. He led the Centre for Supporting the Integration of Foreigners in the Zlín Region, and then he worked as a methodologist at integration centres operated by the Refugee Facilities Administration of the Ministry of the Interior. At present, he is an expert at the Institute for Public Policy and Social Work at the Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University. His research topics include discussions on the scope of social work at social work service organisations, relations between managers and social workers, the promotion of interests of the social work discipline, and for establishing agendas for work with foreigners.

PhDr. Daniel Topinka, Ph.D. studied sociology and religious studies at Masaryk University in Brno. In 2008, he defended his doctoral thesis on the integration of Muslims into Czech society at Palacký University in Olomouc. He works as an assistant professor at the Department of Sociology, Andragogy and Cultural Anthropology, Philosophical Faculty, Palacký University in Olomouc. His work is concentrated on the issues of social inclusion, sociology and the anthropology of migration and religion.

Abstrakt:

This article is in response to the increasing pro-integration role played by social services in the implementation of integration activities in areas of working with immigrants in the Czech Republic. The authors are looking for an answer to the question of whether the regional distribution of immigrant-specialised social services corresponds to the number of foreigners living in individual regions of the Czech Republic. The authors will try to conceptualise the relevant terms of the research issue, which involves immigrants in the Czech Republic and the immigrant-specialised social services. The authors found that even if the state and the regions (administrative units) provide social services which specialise in working with immigrants, they lack any systematic tools to monitor, at a minimum level, the distribution and coverage of the services with respect to the number of immigrants in any given locality. This may lead to serious regional problems in the availability and use of social services intended for immigrants.