The paper presents the results of the research of the Student Grant Competition on the topic of vulnerable families. The research was carried out in two regions of the Czech Republic at the OSPOD offices and in organizations implementing social activation services. The paper describes tools for helping vulnerable families, including their use in practice and the conditions for success. We focused on the issue of legal norms in the system of social and legal protection, as well as on cooperation between the city's social workers and organizations implementing social assistance in the family.