Preparing Young People for Leaving Children’s Homes

Petra Anna-Marie Blahová

Abstract:
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.

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