Integrated assistance in municipalities for social risk families via establishment of interinstitutional networks

Recenzenci: dr Katarzyna Wasilewska-Ostrowska – Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu; dr Elżbieta Woźnicka – Akademia Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna w Łodzi

The aim of the Article is to analyse the possibility to provide an integrated assistance for families at social risk. The Article analyses what institutions and specialists pursue mutual cooperation in order to more effectively solve problems of social risk families; and what difficulties are faced in providing the integrated assistance in Lithuania. According to the research, depending on the specific nature of problems in social risk families, the process of assistance involves: social workers, school social pedagogues, police, psychologists, specialists of care homes, and representatives of day centres and crisis centres. Sometimes it is impossible to ensure effective, efficient and high quality integrated assistance for social risk families in the interinstitutional networks due to an under-developed non-governmental sector in the region, or due to the lack of psychologists, family psychologists and consultants. Interinstitutional cooperation is not regulated; therefore not all the specialists agree to participate in the assistance process and work in the team; problems related to specialists’ knowledge, abilities and personal qualities aggravate the process of integrated assistance in the interinstitutional networks. It should be noted that families themselves are reluctant to solve family problems due to the lack of motivation, self-sufficiency skills and responsibility; they often shift responsibility on to specialists.