Setting and availability of social services does not match the needs of the target groups The threat to the groups at risk of social exclusion and poverty is also exacerbated by a shortage of some types of social services (low-threshold, outreach and outpatient) and social and prevention programmes (integration activities for persons released from prison or serving an alternative sentence, services for families and children, psychological counsellors for the vulnerable groups, preventive activities for persons at high risk of crime, etc.). This is related to the high rate of use of institutional care in addressing the problems of vulnerable children and families, and the insufficient measures for reconciling the work and family life. The fundamental problem lies also in ensuring the quality, availability, throughput and comprehensiveness of the social services system and their interaction with other services, particularly in the areas of employment, health care and housing. The weakness of the social services lies also in the under-performed inspection of the quality of social services, and the absence of quality standards in the follow-up services. Also the education and professional competence of social workers are often not sufficient. In the Czech Republic, there are also territories and regions with insufficient coverage of a network of social services that would reflect and respond to the demand. Development needs: ⮚ Systematizing the funding of social prevention services, social counselling and healthcare (non-profit sector, commercial sector, and the general public) in favour of effective combination of community and institutionalised services. ⮚ Improving the accessibility and efficiency of outpatient and residential services and low-threshold and cultural community centres providing e.g. integration services, as well as ensuring such services for inhabitants of the excluded locations. ⮚ Developing informal and shared care, awareness, transforming and deinstitutionalising services and training in the social sphere, and supporting volunteering. ⮚ Developing new models of community social services of general interest. ⮚ Support for scarce social services, social and preventive programs. ⮚ Advancing the cooperation of social services providers (including cooperation with other actors) to promote social inclusion at local level. ⮚ Streamlining the processes in social services and in services for families and children, development of strategic management and management in orde...
