Přehled o publikaci

OBJECTIVES: This text aims to evaluate the commonality among the reasons provided for a child’s first placement in alternative childcare in selected contexts. THEORETICAL BASE: The reasons for placing a child outside the care of the family are often related to the family‘s social background and the conditions in which the child is growing up. Sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., family structure) and the involvement of institutions and services in working with the family play an important role. METHODS: The data were collected through a questionnaire survey and expert interviews. OUTCOMES: The most common reasons for placing a child outside family care were neglect, housing sustainability issues, caregivers’ substance abuse issues, and financial difficulties. The range of causes varied according to the child‘s age, and threats of poverty and social exclusion were often noted in family dissolutions. SOCIAL WORK IMPLICATIONS: Our text analyses the causes of first placements in selected contexts. We traced the societal, individual, and systemic reasons for the increase in the number of children in alternative care identified by experts via a qualitative study, and we further contributed recommendations from the data which point to the weaknesses in the system for caring for at-risk children.