Social services: what changes are to be expected in 2022?
Only accredited social care will be provided from the beginning of 2022. Besides, preventive social assistance will be reinforced, social rehabilitation for persons with disabilities in the community will be continued, and assistants of social workers or visiting caregivers will start working with the families of social risk raising babies and children under 3 years old with disabilities.
PREVENTIVE SOCIAL ASSISTANCE IS REINFORCED
At present, social services are provided in order to help to solve particular, the already arisen personal or family social crises, while prevention is left almost unnoticed. A new type of social services will be established from the next year – preventive social services that will help to provide qualitative complex assistance to people solving their life problems before they turn into a social risk.
“The changes under implementation will help to improve quality of social services. We believe that the preventive services will allow people to get help earlier than their problems get old and become difficult to overcome,” – says Minister of Social Security and Labour, Mrs. Monika Navickienė.
All the persons and families will be eligible to free preventive social services. It is important to render the complex services to families or persons as close to their home as possible. These services will be organised and provided through the community family homes that will be coordinated according to single-window principle. Each municipality will have to ensure operation of at least one community family home in its territory and availability of preventive complex services to the family to all in need of them. In addition to the complex family services, other preventive social services are foreseen, for example, search for potential recipients of social services, work with community.
INDIVIDUAL CAREGIVERS
The Ministry of Social Security and Labour is going to assign funds to the municipalities to establish 250 positions of visiting caregivers or assistants of social workers. These employees will provide social care to families: they will not simply give practical advice but will also help to take care about children under one year old and children under three years old with disabilities for approximately 1000 families of social risk.
SOCIAL REHABILITATION FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES IN THE COMMUNITY
From 2023, social rehabilitation for persons with disabilities in the community will be continued by maintaining the same quality as of other social care services. The accredited providers of social rehabilitation services for persons with disabilities in the community will be able to render social rehabilitation services. Therefore, the accessibility and quality of the service will be increased and financial sustainability will be guaranteed.
PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE OF EMPLOYEES IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL SERVICES WILL BE RAISED
Social work as a professional activity encounters many challenges: continuous shortage of social workers associated with accessibility and quality of social services. The shortage of specific competences of the employees in the field of social services determines uneven quality of rendered social services, their lack and overburn of employees.
According to Minister M. Navickienė, dedication, motivation and professional competences of social workers are the qualities that safeguard help of better quality to anyone in need.
One of the methods to solve the above problems is to improve professional competences of employees in the field of social services through their attendance in training and supervision. Improvement of competences will be counted in the employee’s work time when the salary is paid. It is suggested for all the employees in the field of social services to improve their professional competence regularly. The regulatory mechanism of the employees in the field of social services will also be created.
ACCREDITATION OF SOCIAL CARE SERVICES
Only accredited social care will be provided from the beginning of 2022. The requirements for education of the staff and the premises needed to provide social care have been already approved. The information system of social assistance to family (SPIS) has been also updated. It will make available information about all the accredited social care providers in the municipalities and their number.
The requirements of recommendatory character have been applied for social care services provided by approximately 550 institutions of social services in the country until now. At present, approximately 75 thousand persons and families are receiving such services.