The master's thesis titled "Challenges and Experiences of Support by Parents of Children with Disabilities prior to the Placement of their Children in an Education, Work and Care Facility" examines the needs of parents of children with special needs for assistance and support in the daily care of their children with special needs, examples of good practices from abroad, and possibilities for further development of this field in the Slovenian context. The theoretical part of the master's thesis focuses on parenting a child with special needs, the emotional experience of parents regarding the child's special needs, as well as the process of dealing with various challenges that such life brings. I also identified forms of assistance available to parents and presented some important legal frameworks in this context. The concept of decision-making and consequent placement of the child in a social care institution is also presented.
In the empirical part of the master's thesis, I conducted qualitative research and studied the experience of parents in terms of their needs, the challenges they face in caring for the child, and the forms of assistance they receive outside of family support. I explored what parents would still need to prevent the placement of the child in a social care institution. I also investigated the implementation of practices abroad utilized by parents of children with special needs. I was also interested in the perspective of professionals and their views on the burdens of parents, as well as their responses to perceived burdens and the needs of parents and suggestions for changes. In my work, I used a qualitative research approach, and the research tool was a semi-structured interview. The sample included five parents of children with special needs and five professionals working with children with special needs.
The results indicate that the burdens on parents of children with special needs are numerous. Both parents and professionals mention that parents are overwhelmed and exhausted due to caring for a child with special needs. They also emphasize that the support and assistance available to them in alleviating daily burdens are crucial for their partial relief. The interviewees also provided suggestions for changes, most commonly related to the emotional burden on parents, the area of information and managing children's behavioral problems, and possible forms and ways of assistance to parents in the field of care, including timely as well as physical relief.
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