In the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic circumstances have caused adoption of crisis measures. In addition to the pandemic health dimensions, it is crucial for social work to explore the consequences for individuals and families in order to provide adequate support and assistance. The theoretical part of my master’s thesis consists of defining the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, I focus more to emergency measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Schooling has mostly, with a few breaks, moved to the family space. The use of information and communication technology was mandatory, which has meant greater parents involvement and helping children with school work, especially for parents of the youngest elementary school children. The measures of social distancing mainly caused the interruption of social life and the changes in the labor market consequently led to unemployment of parents.
Furthermore, in the theoretical part of master’s thesis, I focus on the definition of family and parenthood. Differently structured families respond differently to social changes so that they can communicate, perform their tasks, form roles and satisfy needs within the family. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many changes in the context of family dynamics, and the common household has become a place to socialize, learn and work. This gave some more opportunities to talk and collaborate, while this gave others more nervousness and quarrels.
Many families were faced with various difficulties. Especially during the pandemic, the problems of parenthood itself stand out, also employed single parents who could not work from home, faced the problem of childcare. The measures of distance education has caused difficulties of teaching and motivating children, adjusting spatial capacities due to the smaller apartments, which is also associated with the financial problems of parents. Most parents included in the research have adapted to the situation without difficulty, with the help of protective factors, such as the family itself, communication processes in the family and a positive, hopeful interpretation of reality.
The theoretical part of my master’s thesis is followed by a definition of the role of social work, a description of the modern concept of collaborative social work with families, I also pay attention to the challenges social work is facing during COVID-19. For parents included in the research of elementary school children, social work has a main part in exercising rights from public funds, as they did not seek help due to personal distress, in fact they were not even well informed about the work of the CSD during the pandemic.
As media communication with the public is essential, in discussion I suggested raising awareness of the possibility of formal assistance in the event of personal distress, as well as raising awareness of the positive aspects of the epidemiological situation and facing the problems. With parents included in the research, key problems arose based on homeschooling, which could be helped by better parental involvement with schools. I also suggested more frequent contacts and involvement of the school counseling service, I also suggested lectures or education for parents on the topic of homeschooling and coping with specific problems. I believe that access to the necessary technology and other resources for distance learning should be ensured at national level for all families; special attention should be paid to vulnerable families. The opinions of parents and employees of social workers make an important contribution to the development of better social work practices in this area, so I suggested that they talk about experiences and problems during the pandemic and propose changes, so that social work can follow the principle of providing and making assistance available to all who need it.
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