Within the framework of the project "Development of professional and modern social work" of the Ministry of Welfare, on 27 - 29 September the summer school "Social work for families with children: intermediate evaluation of methodology content and implementation" was held in Strazde, Talsi district, for social workers of social services working with families with children.
The first day of the summer school was a day for exchange of experiences and ideas. At the end of it, the participants of the summer school both individually as well as in groups experienced, felt and discussed their professional and individual goals, the identity of the professional community.
The second day at the summer school was spent in the co-creation of the participants. In groups of six, creatively constructing multi-problem cases of families with children, researching and evaluating the needs of members of the family system and sequentially finding and modeling resources. This was followed by intervention planning in the dimensions of values, relationships, process and methods. How attentive to the client and nuanced are the results of group work: resources matched to needs were found - support systems, other social services, community resources, everything aimed at balanced support for parents and children in the family system, respecting and complying with their right to self-determination and participation in decision-making.
The third and closing day at the summer school for social workers for families with children was devoted to modeling of the methodology for better implementation and implementation in social services of municipalities. From the very morning, the work groups began to deal with the task of change management: what conditions, resources and regulation would be necessary at the municipal and national level in order to prevent the problems they face in practice and to better and more efficiently provide the necessary support and assistance to the client. A call was made at the national level to continue the development and collection of methods, a collection of examples of ethical practice, to ensure regular maintenance of competences of social workers for families with children in the form of training. The development of social services for families with children in all municipalities and the availability of these services are especially important. The statement was made that it is necessary to increase a remuneration of the social worker for families with children. It is important to teach this specialization in universities as well. As part of the improvement of the child rights protection system, it is important to strengthen and educate the social service partners who work in the inter-institutional system of support for families with children.
On behalf of the project "Professional and modern development of social work", the senior expert Liesma Ose expressed her deep gratitude to the leaders of the summer school, Ieva Ozola and Inese Stankus-Viša, for their important work in maintaining and developing the community of social workers for families with children in our country.
The summer school was organized in the framework of the European Union Cohesion Policy Programme 2021-2027 under the European Social Fund Plus Action 4.3.5.4 project “Development of professional and modern social work”.
The aim of the project “Development of professional and modern social work” is to improve the quality of social work as a profession and as a branch of human science and to facilitate access to social services that meet people’s current needs by investing in the professional development of social work professionals and improving the quality of social work studies.
