Shelter Homes for Mothers with Children in the Czech Republic and the Target Group of Needs They Meet

Veronika Aresta

Čísla

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Shelter Homes for Mothers with Children in the Czech Republic and the Target Group of Needs They Meet

Veronika Aresta

Medailon autora:

Veronika Aresta is an internal doctoral student of the Department of Social Work at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague. She currently works as an expert in the Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences (dep. socioeconomics of housing) and works as a Housing Advisor at the Agency for Social Inclusion (Office of the Government of the Czech Republic). She focuses on local social policies and their setting in the process of ending homelessness.

Abstrakt:

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the article is to capture the practice of social workers in shelters in their current form through the needs/goals of cooperation that refuge clients ask for during individual planning. THEORETICAL BASE: The problem is related to a number of disadvantages that clients have to face. Systemic inequality is considered to be pivotal, causing clients to face unaffordability of housing, which they cannot overcome on their own. METHODS: The needs/ goals of cooperation were analysed by a questionnaire survey, which was always attended by one worker from a shelter for mothers with children in the Czech Republic. OUTCOMES: The research provided a description of the areas of needs/goals of cooperation. The dominant role is played by the needs that are fulfilled in the form of social counselling in the area of housing, dealing with common matters, childcare, financial management. SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS: The findings provide information on the form of social work in shelters and can contribute to the education of social workers specialising in helping homeless people. It draws attention to the link between social workers seeking housing for their clients and calls for a social policy in municipalities that can change the situation in localities.