Abstract:

Lithuanian national documents define a social risk family as a family in which parents abuse alcohol, narcotic and psychotropic substances, do not know how or are not able to properly take care of their children due a lack of social skills, use coercion against them, do not create proper conditions to their comprehensive development. In such families, children become socially vulnerable due to an unsafe environment, a lack of positive relationships in their family, neglect, an improper parental behaviour. Due to these reasons a socially immature personality, which is characterised by a negative worldview, low self-esteem and self-control as well as anti-social behaviour, may form. In order to solve children's pedagogical, social, psychological problems, there is a need for the assistance of competent institutions both to children and their family. One of the forms of institutional assistance to a social risk family and child is children's day care centres.

A problematic question of the study: What socio-educational assistance children from social risk families need and what assistance are they provided in a children's day care centre and in what manner the provided socio-educational assistance is significant for child in the process of his socialisation? The objective of the study – to reveal the specificities of socio-educational assistance to children from social risk families in children's day care centres, based on the experience of the social workers of day care centres. The strategy of quantitative research was applied. The study data collection method is a semi-structured interview.

The interview questions covered the following themes:
1.The need for socio-educational assistance to children from social risk families.
2. The directions of socio-educational assistance to children from social risk families in day care centres. The analysis of the results was performed while applying the method of content analysis.

The results of the study revealed the need for socio-educational assistance to children from social risk families due to a disadvantageous socio-cultural, economic and educational situation in a family (anti-social parental behaviour and lifestyle, inferior living conditions, conflictual relationships in a family, a lack of parental skills, an improper upbringing style of a child) and disturbed socialisation of a child (a child lacks personal, social, hygiene, work, learning skills). Children from social risk families are provided with complex socio-educational assistance in day care centres: the doing of homework is organised; there is an individual work with a child; children are engaged in socially meaningful activities; cultural events are organised; personal, social, hygiene, work skills are developed in children; prevention programmes are performed; material assistance to a child is provided; there is a cooperation with a child's family and other institutions.

Keywords:

Child, social risk family, day care center, social worker, socio-educational assistance.