Socialno delo, Vol. 45 (2006), Part 1-2
ARTICLES
Introducing Evaluation in Social Care: Proposal of a Procedure - 1, (Abstract)
Guardianship: A Rigidly Regulated Public Mandate or a Flexible Form of Social Care? - 35, (Abstract)
Abstracts
Nino Rode, Liljana Rihter, Barbara Kobal
Introducing Evaluation in Social Care: Proposal of a Procedure
As an evaluation system is soon to be introduced in social care, it is time for discussing its procedures. Each evaluation is unique, yet the procedures must be repeatable, testable, and they must give comprehensible results. Only then may the assessments of one object be compared with those of another. The authors propose a procedure that links the uniqueness of evaluation with the need for comparability: a combination of self-evaluation and external evaluation, which is based on uniform criteria and a uniform collection of the data. They argue for professional evaluation. The question of evaluators' competences leads to their proposal of an institutional place of evaluation. Some solutions are proposed for the problems of collecting the data for evaluation and of the format of assessments. The scenario of evaluation procedures is proposed.
Keywords: research, criteria, evaluators.
Dr. Nino Rode and Dr. Liljana Rihter are assistant lecturers at University of Ljubljana Faculty of Social Work. Barbara Kobal, M. A., is a senior researcher at the Republic of Slovenia Social Protection Institute. Addresses: Nino Rode, Faculty of Social Work, Topniška 31, 1000 Ljubljana, +386 1 2809255 [nino.rode@fsd.uni-lj.si]. Liljana Rihter, same address, +386 1 2809264 [liljana.rihter@fsd.uni-lj.si]. Barbara Kobal, RS Social protection Institute, Rimska 8, 1000 Ljubljana, +386 1 2000251 [barbara.kobal@guest.arnes.si].
Andreja Kavar Vidmar
Unemployment and Retirement
Being employed is a special kind of inclusion. According to M. Jahoda, it has consequences in the fields of income, time structure, contacts outside the family, status and identity, links between individual and collective aims, legality and control. When it ends, because one becomes unemployed or retires, these consequences are brought to an end as well. The author compares the situations of becoming unemployed and becoming retired, illuminating especially the position of the recently retired.
Keywords: law, social policy, social position.
Dr. Andreja Kavar Vidmar is a retired associate professor of University of Ljubljana Faculty of Social Work. Address: Faculty of Social Work, Topniška 31, 1000 Ljubljana [andreja.kavar.vidmar@guest.arnes.si].
Jana Mali
Total Institution and the Aged People's Home
The concepts of living and working in institutions for aged people do not match the needs, wishes and demands of users. To illustrate this point, the author emphasises their essential feature of being institutions, analysing it through Goffman's concept of the total institution. Her research has shown that while there is a greater consideration for the users, and that the staff tries to comply with their needs and demands, but only within the institutional framework. In the first place, these institutions are concerned with providing for large crowds of people.
Keywords: institution, user, culture.
Jana Mali, M. A., is a social worker, an assistant lecturer and a researcher at University of Ljubljana Faculty of Social Work. Address: Faculty of Social Work, Topniška 31, 1000 Ljubljana, +386 1 3006232 [jana.mali@fsd.uni-lj.si].
Simona Hvalič Touzery
Family Members as Carers of Aged People
Informal help to aged people is an important supplement to formal and private care services, yet the state does not sufficiently support and acknowledge it. Family carers of aged people are neglected in both political and professional spheres. The author points out the significance of family care for its aged members in the light of social-demographic changes. She presents the profile of family carers and social care for aged people in Slovenia, comparing it briefly with the situation in Italy and Denmark. In European Union, close family members care for two thirds of aged people in need, and two thirds of this care are provided by women. In Slovenia, too, the bulk of this work is performed by female relatives. The largest part of aged people's social network are family members, most often children and partners, who provide the most of help. Until now, Slovenian programmes of social and medical care have not included family carers of aged people. However, the drafts of the national programme of social care for aged people in 2006-2010 and the new national strategy of social development with a great proportion of aged population do anticipate support for family carers of aged people.
Keywords: family carers, social protection, national programme.
Simona Hvalič Touzery, M. A., is a researcher and an organiser of programmes for social protection at the Anton Trstenjak Institute, and the president of Intergenerational Association for Quality Aging. Address: Anton Trstenjak Institute, Resljeva 11, p. p. 4443, 1001 Ljubljana [simona.hvalic@guest.arnes.si].
Barbara Kobal
Guardianship: A Rigidly Regulated Public Mandate or a Flexible Form of Social Care?
For some time now, a change of family legislation, which includes the regulation of guardianship, is under preparation in Slovenia. Different professional groups have different ideas about how it should be arranged. The author considers the possibility of a greater inclusion of contemporary trends in social care services, in the first place the pluralisation of the welfare system and the related reinforcement of the users' participation. Since the act of social care (dated 1992) and the national programme of social care until 2005 have begun to introduce the pluralisation of social care services, this could be extended to guardianship as a form of social care for the people who, for various reasons, cannot care for themselves. At present, the most disputable provisions are the suspension of transactional ability for the persons under guardianship and the prolongation of parenting rights to the parents of such persons.
Keywords: social welfare reform, suspension of ability, pluralisation.
Barbara Kobal, M. A., is a senior researcher at the Republic of Slovenia Social Protection Institute. Address: RS Social Protection Institute, Rimska 8, 1000 Ljubljana, +386 1 2000251 [barbara.kobal@guest.arnes.si].
Špela Urh
Social Exclusion of the Roma in Bela Krajina
The author's field research shows that the living conditions of the Roma in three municipalities in Bela Krajina (Črnomelj, Metlika, Semič) are quite similar. The Roma live in marginal settlements, most frequently in huts, and only a few families live in apartments. Few Roma settlements have electricity and running water. Most houses are illegal buildings. Only a few dozens Roma in Bela Krajina are fully employed. For the most part, they are non-qualified workers in communal jobs (disposal of garbage, cleaning parks and streets, etc.). The reason is their low level of education, but discrimination is frequent as well. Social workers who meet the Roma professionally often breach the ethical code of social workers, which demands non-discriminatory attitude towards users. The only firmly established provision of the state is granting financial support.
Keywords: ethnicity, discrimination, ethic.
Špela Urh is a social worker, an assistant lecturer of community care at University of Ljubljana Faculty of Social Work, and a researcher in the field of the protection of the Roman ethnic minority. Address: Faculty of Social Work, Topniška 31, 1000 Ljubljana, +386 1 2809247 [spela.u@email.si].
Viktorija Bevc
Emotional State of Infertile Couples Before Adopting a Child
In Slovenia, children are mainly adopted by infertile couples. The results of the questionnaire applied to the couples with fertility problems who participated in the adoption preparation programme that is carried out by the Association "Deteljica" show that most couples are deeply emotionally distressed by their inability of biological reproduction. From the emotional state of these couples before their inclusion into the programme, one can infer the emotional state of the majority of infertile couples who adopt a child without preparations that would relieve them from the pressure caused by infertility. Emotional instability has a strong impact on the capacity to adopt a child and on the general mood of the couple. From the professional point of view, to carry out adoptions without substantial preparations of the couple is a questionable practice. Most children are adopted by infertile couples that, inhibited by their feelings of inadequacy, meet the child's needs with difficulty, since they primarily follow their need to feel on a par with couples that give birth to their children.
Keywords: substitute parents, fostering, preparation for adoption.
Viktorija Bevc, M. A., is a social worker, the regional coordinator for the treatment of family violence, and the founder-director of the programmes of preparation for substitute parenthood and personal help to couples distressed by their infertility at the Association "Deteljica". Address: Association "Deteljica", Grablovičeva 28, 1000 Ljubljana [viktorija.bevc@gov.si].