The thesis deals with the concept of family conferences, which are a support tool for the functioning of families. The paper' s objective is to present information about the character, implementation and difficulties of the practice of family conferences. The text is divided into a theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part focuses on the topic of family, its functioning and possibilities of its support within the Czech system of social care. Furthermore, it provides information about the benefits and the process of family conferences. The research part presents and evaluates the research of documents presenting the reasons for the implementation of family conferences, its impact and development in New Zealand, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. The research part includes qualitative research carried out in the form of an interview. It provides information about some problem-solving processes in the families. The research findings suggest that we can benefit from experience from other countries during the implementation of family conferences in the Czech Republic and that the families involved in the research are inclined to solving complex situations by their own efforts. Key words: family, vulnerable family, family group conferences, empowerment, support

The pandemic is not only a crisis itself but has created multiple crises for the vulnerable population as well. Worldwide, they encountered multiple challenges to assistance and protection, but due to the pandemic, their needs might have increased. As the number of refugees, migrants, and asylum-seeker is rising, all the health risks and the challenges that this group is exposed to, demonstrates the need for increased support, protection, and assistance. This scoping review aims to investigate if the arisen challenges faced by vulnerable children and their families have exacerbated in the context of COVID-19, in the published research literature. In this scoping review, information was collected on multiple databases between January and February 2021. Seven empirical studies were analysed in order to examine which are the new challenges that have arisen due to COVID-19 and explore if they worsened in this context. Seven areas emerged due to the pandemic: hygiene measures, food insecurity, child labour, child marriage, freedom of movement, access to education, access to services and sources of information, while five areas have worsened: economic, psychological, violence, discrimination and overcrowding. The findings are showing that COVID-19’s disease burden is higher in vulnerable contexts, due to the living conditions, high risks jobs, and poor access to services. The outcomes of these challenges are likely to be long-standing, as they breached into the processes and structures of the family system Although efforts to control the virus’s spread remain critical, the negative effects on vulnerables, must be addressed and identified to avoid the risk of more challenges getting exacerbated, and reduce the parental stress that will lead to the well-being of the future generations. Limitations, practical implications and future research are discussed.

This thesis constitutes an analysis and instructions for use of the Communi-crate resources, the 'communication crate' which is a set of specific practical tools used in working with vulnerable children and families as used in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and are being introduced in practice in the Czech Republic. The tools contained in this thesis are designed for use by special educators and social workers in direct work with vulnerable families, children, young persons, or even adults. All of these tools have actually been tested and proven in practice and some have been adapted from their original language versions for use in the Czech Republic. In this thesis, the resources contained in the Communi-crate are divided into logical groups and each of them is described structured into chapters accordingly. Each tool is described in more or less detail, including tips for use. Most resources are also illustrated. The case studies described have been collected from practice in the Czech Republic and in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This thesis has been compiled from materials gathered by the author during foreign study visits and in seminars conducted by foreign experts in the Czech Republic in 2009 through 2014. This thesis uses analytical...