With the Russian attack on Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, and thereof the start of the Ukrainian War, several questions regarding security and the future have emerged amongst Slovenian children, and new emotions arose along with potential distress and dilemmas. Children have received war information from diverse sources in their environment. Besides changes in children’s everyday lives, many changes occurred at a societal level – eventually, the coming of people from Ukraine due to the experience of forced displacement. Newly emerged war-related circumstances can bear different consequences for children in various areas. Thus, the response of social workers and school professional service is crucial, together with recognizing the protective factors and sources of help in the children's close environment and activation of those when they convey distress.
In the theoretical part, I briefly illustrate war events in Ukraine - February 2022 until May 2022 - with the accompanying reportage of Slovenian media, followed by the definition of the key concepts - war and peace – and the presentation of cognitive development theories in children. Further, I present the children’s perception of war and peace and the corresponding role of media. I also exhibit the children’s views on immigration in the theoretical part, ending with the chapter on social work in crises, and the list of protective factors for children facing distress.
In the second part, I present the characteristics of the qualitative research that follows the research questions touching on children’s perception of war and peace, sources of information about the war in Ukraine and interrelated thoughts, what children think has changed in their lives, and the broader society since the beginning of the war. I was also interested in the children's sources of help in those times, where they found it, and what sort of help they hoped to have. Lastly, I wanted to get an insight into children's perception of immigrants coming from Ukraine to Slovenia.
The results from the focus groups regarding the aforementioned questions are presented in the results section, along with an interpretation in the discussion section. The main findings suggest that most children learn about the war in Ukraine through electronic devices and wish that the media would provide more information about the war in Ukraine in lieu of other news. They also express concern about a potential war in Slovenia, but have no difficulty overcoming related fears due to the support they receive from their close relatives. Based on the findings, children show respect and a desire to assist Ukrainian immigrants, further, they also perceive the new situation as an opportunity for their personal growth and learning.
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