The activity of the third sector in social sphere becomes very important lately. For this reason, the Non-governmental organizations, providing social services in Lithuania, are chosen as the object of presentable research. The place of Non-governmental organizations, taking action in social sphere, in the market of social services and the part taken in solving social problems is being analyzed in this work. Non-governmental organizations are described. The presumptions of attitude of intensification of Non-governmental organizations as participators of market of social services are segregated. The influence of legislation, which regulates presentation of social services, for activity is amplified. The research was carried out trying to proof that Non-governmental organizations can become the main providers of social services. There were used theoretical, empirical and statistic methods of research in this work. The experience of Non-governmental organizations in social activity was evaluated during research. There were determined strong enough positions of Non-governmental organizations in the market of social services. The problems that meet Non-governmental organizations are being analyzed. These problems were determined using scientific literature of Lithuania and foreign authors, legislations of Republic of Lithuania and with help of representatives of Non-governmental organizations that took part in this research. Respondents specified reasons that prevent activity... [to full text]

Demografinė situacija Utenos rajone, kaip ir visoje Lietuvoje, šiuo metu yra pakankamai sudėtinga, tuo atžvilgiu, kad daugelis gyventojų dažnai, net ne dėl savo noro patenka į socialinės rizikos grupes, ir patiria socialinę atskirtį, todėl būtina skirti dėmesį ir tiems, kurie su tuo susiduria. Socialinių paslaugų organizavimo analizė pasirinkta todėl, kad Utenos rajone socialinės paslaugos išplėtotos geriausiai Utenos apskrities mastu, todėl svarbu patyrinėti, kas gerai išvystyta šioje srityje, ir su kokiomis problemomis susiduriama. Darbo tiriamasis objektas – socialinių paslaugų organizavimas Utenos rajone. Tyrimo tikslas – išanalizuoti socialinių paslaugų organizavimą Utenos rajone. Tyrimo uždaviniai : 1. Atlikti socialinių paslaugų organizavimo prielaidų analizę. 2. Atskleisti Utenos rajono socialinių paslaugų teikimo ypatumus. 3. Ištirti Utenos rajono socialinių paslaugų gavėjų ir teikėjų nuomonę apie socialines paslaugas, išsiaiškinant jų lūkesčius ir poreikius. Teorinėje darbo dalyje analizuota socialinių paslaugų samprata, socialinių paslaugų organizavimo teisinės prielaidos (įstatymų ir norminių teisės aktų analizė); organizavimo specifika; pateikta Utenos rajono socialinė charakteristika, pateikta Utenos rajono institucijų ir nevyriausybinių organizacijų, teikiančių socialines paslaugas analizė. Praktinėje darbo dalyje pateikiamas tyrimas, kurio tikslas išsiaiškinti, kokios socialinės paslaugos teikiamos Utenos rajono žmonėms ir numatyti tolimesnes jų vystymo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The demographical situation in Utena region, like in all country of Lithuania, at present is rather complicated in this regard that a lot of inhabitants often not voluntarily make the groups of social risk and suffer from social disjuncture, consequently it is necessary to pay attention to those people, who face it. The analysis of organization of social services is chosen because in Utena region the social services are developed the best in Utena county, so it is important to analyze what is good developed in this field and what problems are faced. The investigative object of work – the organization of social services in Utena region. The purpose of survey – to analyze the organization of social services in Utena region. The goals of survey: 1. To do the analysis of presumptions of social services organization. 2. To open the peculiarities of giving the social services in Utena region. 3. To analyze the opinion of receivers and givers about social services in Utena region clarifying their expectations and needs. In the theoretical part of work is analyzed the conception of organization of social services, the legal assumptions of social services organization (analysis of laws and standard deeds); particularity of organization; there are given the social characteristics of Utena region and the analysis of institutions and non-governmental organizations in Utena region giving the social services. In the practical part of work is given the survey which has an aim to... [to full text]

Savo šeimas praradusių vaikų įvaikinimas kitose šeimose - sudėtingas procesas, keičiantis visų su juo susijusių žmonių gyvenimus bei likimus. Kartu tai sudėtingas socialinis reiškinys mūsų visuomenėje. Galimų įvaikinti vaikų Lietuvoje yra daug, o šeimų, norinčių ir galinčių įsivaikinti – mažai. Visuomenės požiūris į įvaikinusias šeimas nėra supratingas bei palaikantis, šeimoms trūksta paramos, kvalifikuotos specialistų pagalbos. Tyrimo tikslas: atskleisti įvaikinusių šeimų poreikį socialinei pagalbai per jų patirtis. Tyrimo uždaviniai: • Ištirti šeimų pasirengimą įvaikinimui. • Atskleisti įtėvių šeimose kylančius sunkumus, jų priežastis. • Numatyti socialinio darbo galimybes teikiant pagalbą įvaikinusioms šeimoms. Teorinėje darbo dalyje analizuojama tėvų globą praradusių vaikų situacija Lietuvoje, vaikų, augančių vaikų globos institucijose, raida, psichologiniai ypatumai, taip pat apžvelgiamos įvaikinančių šeimų išgyvenamos krizės, gaunama pagalba. Darbe atliktas kokybinis tyrimas. Tyrime dalyvavo 5 sutuoktinių poros ir 1 įmotė, auginantys nepilnamečius įvaikintus vaikus. Duomenų rinkimui buvo pasirinktas pusiau struktūruotas interviu, o duomenų analizė atlikta taikant interpretuojamąją fenomenologiją. Tyrimas patvirtino daugelio autorių tyrimų rezultatus, kad tėvų globos netekusio, institucijoje augančio vaiko fizinė, emocinė, socialinė ir kognityvinė raida atsilieka. Tačiau vaikams apsigyvenus įtėvių šeimose, vyksta visapusiški teigiami jų raidos poslinkiai. Didelę įtaką... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Adoption of children who have lost their families, by other families is a complicated process changing lives and destinies of all involved people. At the same time it is a complex social phenomenon in our society. There are many children available for adoption in Lithuania, but there are few families willing and able to adopt. The attitude of society to adoption is neither supportive nor understanding, families lack of support, help of skilled professionals. The aim of research: to analyse the need of adopting families for social assistance through their experience. Tasks of the study: • To analyse the readiness of families for adoption. • To analyse difficulties and their causes in adoptive parents' families. • To provide opportunities for social work and assistance to adoptive families. The theoretical part of the work contains the analysis of the of children who have lost their the parents in Lithuania, situation of children growing in institutions, development of their psychological traits, as well as an overview of crises experienced by adoptive families and available assistance. The work included a qualitative study. The study included the analysis of 5 couples and 1 stepmother, raising underage adopted children. Data collection was carried out by way of semi-structured interviews, and data analysis was accomplished by applying the interpretative phenomenology. The research confirmed research results of many authors, namely that physical, emotional social and... [to full text]

Pertvarkant pirminės sveikatos priežiūros įstaigų tinklą ir optimizuojant teikiamų paslaugų spektrą, siekiama gerinti socialinių paslaugų prieinamumą ir priimtinumą, todėl aktualu periodiškai tirti pacientų/klientų požiūrį į socialinių paslaugų, teikiamų sveikatos priežiūros įstaigose, prieinamumą bei priimtinumą įvairioms socialinėms grupėms. Darbo objektas: socialinės paslaugos asmens sveikatos priežiūros įstaigose. Darbo tikslas: išanalizuoti socialinių paslaugų prieinamumo ir priimtinumo sveikatos priežiūros įstaigose ypatumus pacientų/klientų požiūriu. Darbo uždaviniai: 1. Aptarti socialinių paslaugų priedermę ir teisės aktus, reglamentuojančius socialinių paslaugų teikimą. 2. Atskleisti socialinių paslaugų integravimo į sveikatos priežiūros sistemą priežastingumą ir svarbą klientų/pacientų sveikatai. 3. Empiriškai ištirti klientų/pacientų požiūrį į asmens sveikatos priežiūros įstaigos teikiamų socialinių paslaugų prieinamumo ir priimtinumo aspektus. Darbo metodai: - Mokslinės literatūros analizė. - Dokumentų analizė. - Kiekybinis tyrimo metodas. VšĮ Varėnos PSPC ir LR VRM Medicinos centro Vilniaus filiale buvo atlikta anketinė pacientų/klientų apklausa. Apklausoje dalyvavo 211 respondentų. Siekiant gerinti socialinių ir sveikatos paslaugų prieinamumą ir priimtinumą klientams/pacientams, nuolat vykdomas veiklos optimizavimas, kuriam įtaką daro Vyriausybės programos, ekonominė ir politinė šalies situacija. Visa tai galima... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Reformation of the primary healthcare network and optimization of the spectrum of the provided services are aimed at improving accessibility and acceptability of social services. For this reason, it is highly relevant to perform periodic evaluation of clients’/patients’ attitude towards accessibility and acceptability of social services provided at healthcare institutions to various social groups. The object of the study: social services at personal healthcare institutions. The aim of the study: to analyze the peculiarities of accessibility and acceptability of social services provided at healthcare institutions from the clients’/patients’ perspective. Objectives: 1. To discuss the purpose of social services and legal acts regulating provision of social services. 2. To reveal the reasons for the integration of social services into the healthcare system, and the importance of this integration for clients’/patients’ health. 3. To conduct empirical research on clients’/patients’ attitude towards various aspects of accessibility and acceptability of social services provided at healthcare institutions. Methods of the study: - Analysis of scientific literature. - Analysis of documents. - A quantitative study. A questionnaire-based inquiry of clients was performed at the public institution Varėna Primary Healthcare Center and Vilnius branch of Health Center of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Lithuania. In... [to full text]

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur barnperspektivet används i det dagliga arbetet. Avsikten är också att undersöka hur barnens inflytande ser ut över de beslut som fattas kring deras livssituation. Studien genomfördes genom intervjuer med socialsekreterare på socialtjänsten. Teorin som användes är systemteori, även barnperspektivet och ett teoretiskt perspektiv på dominansförhållanden i samtal med barn tillämpas. Med hjälp av ovan nämnda teorier och teoretiska perspektiv analyseras och förklaras hur socialsekreterarna använder barnperspektivet. Resultatet visar att socialsekreterarna använder barnperspektivet i begränsad omfattning men att det finns en ambition att alltid utgå från barnets bästa. / The aim of this study is to examine how social workers use the child’s perspective in their daily work. The purpose is also to examine how the children are able to influence the decisions made about their lives. The study is conducted using a qualitative approach. The theory used is system theory and two theoretical perspectives: children’s perspective and the fact that there is a dominance relationship in conversations with children. The conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that social workers use children's perspective on a limited basis but there is an ambition to always proceed in a manner on the child’s best.

The purpose of this study is to find out how social workers in one medium and one small municipality in central Sweden perceive the need of financial support for young adults for more than one year and what the causes might be. To answer our research questions a qualitative research method was used and four social workers were interviewed. The result has been analyzed based of social exclusion, stigma, as well as on structural and individual level and linked to previous research. Our results show that although young adults are an exception for long duration for financial support, there are those who lack other means of support for a long time. The results also show that young adults often are recurring in the social services, and they are long-lasting. The reasons for the need have been shown to be similar in the medium and the smaller municipality, even if it appears differences seen to affect the clients. The result shows that the absence of school results, mental illness, security and organization of social services are causes of long- term need for income support. The study shows that the long-standing young adults often lack a secure social network and social workers perceive that they are often a security, a stable contact in the young adults' lives that may be difficult for these young adults to leave.

Scholars and policy makers alike argue that leaders of democracies should find it in their interest to provide high levels of social services due to a fear of being voted out of office. Yet, I find that Africa's newer democracies provide levels of social services strikingly similar to what the continent's existing non-democracies supply. This dissertation seeks to explain why this is the case. I start by exploring the determinants of Africa's most recent wave of democratization, and find that much of Africa's 1990s democratic wave can be attributed to changes in foreign circumstances rather than from pressures from domestic democratic movements. I argue democratization has become disassociated with social services on the continent because of this exogenous nature of political liberalization. Rather than institutionalizing electoral incentives to provide social services, leadership of exogenously derived democracies become principally accountable to the foreign actors for whom political change was meant to appease. However, foreign actors are effectively unable and unwilling to demand political reforms that will institutionalize a more responsive democracy. This dynamic threatens any electoral incentive a ruling party might have to produce higher levels of social services. I test this argument quantitatively and find support for the notion that exogeneity of political change has dampened the impact that democratization has had on social service delivery in Africa. Additionally, through in-country, qualitative fieldwork I examine how citizens demand social services and how the government responds to such demands in Zambia, a country whose democratization was heavily influenced by foreign pressure. There, I found that while there were important initial strides made by Zambia's post-transition government to institutionalize a higher level of responsiveness in social services, later erosions in Zambia's checks and balances undermined these gains. Finally, using Afrobarometer's cross-national survey data, I explore what impact foreign influenced democratization has on citizens' attachment to and satisfaction with democracy. I find that exogenously derived democratization has a small negative impact on people's attachment to democracy and satisfaction with the way democracy works in their country. I conclude by discussing some of the policy implications of these findings.

Research shows that supervisors in the social service field require on-going training and supervision; however, we do not know much about supervisors’ training and supervision and whether it prepares supervisors for the responsibilities of their jobs. This study used a telephone survey to explore the training and supervision experiences of community agency social service supervisors. The survey directly addressed 20 supervisory knowledge and skill areas identified from the literature review as those necessary for social service supervisors to be effective. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze participants’ responses and describe their training and supervision experiences. The goal of the study was to describe the training and supervision that supervisors receive to see if they address the supervisory knowledge and skill areas identified from the literature. Although the study found that supervisors access more training and supervision than expected, it also found significant inconsistencies in the training and supervision. / Graduate / 0534 / mahbrown@uvic.ca

Thesis (M.S.W.) - Carleton University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 86-88). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

For a long time confined to Article 106(2) TFEU, a provision allowing to justify regulatory measures derogating from Treaty rules by invoking their necessity in order to enable undertakings entrusted with services of general economic interest (SGEIs) to fulfil their special tasks, SGEI has become a constitutional concept of EU law. In the post-Lisbon EU Treaties it is subject to new provisions, in particular Article 14 TFEU and the Protocol on services on general interest. As a legal concept allowing to balance EU market integration and the pursuit of legitimate national policies related to public services, SGEI is also a political concept, and therefore its legal interpretation is an ultra-sensitive matter. This dissertation proposes that SGEI cannot anymore be contrived as a narrow concept of EU competition law, but must be understood as a broad public service concept encompassing both public authorities’ policy missions and undertakings’ public service obligations. This follows from an analysis of the CJEU’s understanding of the EU concept of SGEI in the frame of Hirschman’s theory on exit and voice, and thus on the double background of its own case law foreclosing exit from EU market rules for public services, and of its acknowledgement of the SGEI “voice” this has led to in the Treaties. The analysis shows that the CJEU’s bifurcation by the notions of “public service obligations” and “public service tasks”, is aimed at applying the Treaty SGEI provisions loyally without pre-empting their political use by the Union and the Member States. To shed some light on the political use of the EU concept of SGEI made by the EU legislator and the Member States in a context of Europeanisation and liberalisation, this dissertation scrutinizes also how the new EU procurement and state aid rules applying to social services relate to the Treaty principles on SGEIs, and how the Swedish systems of choice for elderly home care and education relate to the EU rules. It analyses whether these relationships, if too transparent and loyal, may constrain the process of liberalisation of social services in the Member States, and whether it can explain that an explicit characterisation of social services as SGEIs seems to be avoided in EU procurement law and in Swedish law.