Preparing Young People for Leaving Children’s Homes

Petra Anna-Marie Blahová

Medailon autorů:

Petra Anna-Marie Blahová completed her Master’s  studies in  the  field of  social pedagogy at the Faculty of Humanities, Thomas Bata University. Currently, she is a PhD student at the Faculty of Social Studies, University of Ostrava. Her research focus is social work interventions for young people preparing to leave children’s homes to enter a more natural social environment.

Anotace:

The OBJECTIVE is to understand and describe social work interventions in the situation of
young people preparing to leave children’s homes. THEORETICAL BASE: the article is based
on participatory social work. METHODS: the methods used include a situational analysis
of the data, explicitly presenting ontological and epistemological foundations, and providing
tools to examine reality (Clarke, 2005). OUTCOMES: young people are being prepared to leave
the children’s homes throughout their stay in the institution. Another finding is the limitation
of direct social work in the institution. SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS: we believe that
in order to adequately support young people in preparation for leaving the institution, it is necessary
to involve social workers more in the work in children’s homes, not only indirectly but also directly,
while preparing young people for leaving. The participation of young people themselves should
also be a source of support during their preparation for leaving.

Klíčová slova:

social work, social workers, pedagogical workers, children’s homes, vulnerable children, transition

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