The mobile early support service for families is a new form of support for families facing complex life situations. In this master’s thesis, I explored the experiences of collaboration between families facing multiple challenges and the mobile service, which provides home-based support through Gorenjska Social Work Centre. In the theoretical part, I first addressed the general importance of the family. I then focused on families facing multiple challenges, presenting their key characteristics and the position of the child living in such a family, followed by a discussion of the pressing issue of domestic violence. In the continuation of the theoretical introduction, I examined social work with families facing multiple challenges, particularly in the form of support, assistance, and collaborative approaches. I also addressed the difficulties arising from fragmented support systems and concluded with a presentation of the tasks and services of the Social Work Centre in the field of family support.
In the empirical part of the master's thesis, I conducted a qualitative study involving seven families who have experience collaborating with the mobile service within Gorenjska Social Work Centre. The purpose of the empirical part was to investigate the families’ experiences in working with mobile service professionals, the changes this collaboration has brought in their lives, how the mobile service interacts with other support systems, and how families envision its future development. The findings show that most families are satisfied with the mobile service. They describe an open and trusting relationship with the professionals and report positive changes in their family life as a result of this collaboration. While families also receive support from other services, they expressed greater satisfaction with the approach and relationship offered by the mobile service employees compared to other professionals. The families provided several suggestions for improving the mobile service, including more frequent visits, the establishment of a crisis support telephone line in the afternoons, and more individualized support for children.
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