Abstract:

The reform of Child foster care system is one of the priority areas of Lithuanian Social Policy. Ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1993) could be considered as the basis of this reform. The number of children living in care institutions is decreasing every year due to the deinstitutionalization processes, but still about two thousand children (in 2019 ) are provided with institutional care. This paper seeks to analyse the preparation (redness) of social pedagogues to meet new challenges while rendering social educational support for children in the context of deinstitutionalization, in new circumstances. The purpose of the research was to identify the subjective experience and preparation of social pedagogues working in child foster care system for deinstitutionalization process while rendering a proper social pedagogical support for a child. The interview as a research method with 5 social pedagogues working in different institutions and thematic analysis were used to achieve above mentioned goal as well and to reveal subjective experience of social pedagogues.

According to the subjective experience of social pedagogues, the process of deinstitutionalization is a positive phenomenon that increases social inclusion, ensures the diversity of individual social assistance and services in the community, the independence and dignity of children. Family model construction importance, creating and organizing support networks, consulting could be treated as core functions of a social pedagogue in childcare institutions in the context of de-institutionalization processes.

Keywords:

Socio-educational activity, deinstitutionalization process, child foster care system, childcare institutions, subjective experiences.