In this article, the author looks at family centres as meeting places that lead to an increase in the social capital of those involved. She focuses in particular on the "bridging" aspect of social capital and introduces the related concept of "mixed communities". She sees both of these concepts as theantithesis of social segregation, marginalisation and stratification, which may be seen as the key challenges of contemporary life. She examines and questions the ever more present discourse concerning individual responsibility, also dominating the field of support for parents, and in its stead seeks alternative approaches that can be found, for example, in the concept of "shared responsibility" (which can be applied in family centres, half-way between the private and the public) and the similar concept of "relational citizenship". These findings are supported by existing foreign practices which report experiencing the bridging nature of family and mother centres, including, the Belgian "Baboes" and the experiences of the "MINE" (Mother Centres International Network for Empowerment) network of mother centres. The article concludes with a presentation based on the qualitative part of a study on the needs of parents which, among other things, conducted individual or group conversations with specific subgroups of parents, in this specific instance with the parents of children residing in a Slovenian youth home. The primary purpose of including this study in the article is to illustrate those topics connected to the support necessary for dealing with the challenges of parenthood contemporary parents face every day
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