In our democratic society, where work is not a matter of course and the system of social care has changed into a system of social assistance, we increasingly encounter families whose incomes and expenses are out of balance. Their number is growing every day under the pressure of circumstances caused by the ongoing global economic crisis. Many of the families have lost their jobs and their prospects are slim, so they meet their needs within their limited, albeit very limited, means. Although very little is openly talked about in our country so far, it is known that there are also families in our society whose expenses far exceed their incomes. We learn about such families mostly only when the executor has already done his work and their situation becomes unsolvable or difficult to solve. By then it is usually quite late. Loans are often the main problem of these families.

Today, loans are a common part of the life of many families. They are good as long as the family can repay them. When the family loses this ability, a problem arises. In everyday life, many families lose track of their loans, or their incomes and expenses, and thus end up in even greater debt. It is not unusual for a family to solve such a hopeless situation by accepting another, "more advantageous" loan to repay the previous one. As a result, the family falls into a vicious cycle of debt. The term debt is not only associated with loans, but also mortgages, leases, debit on our own account, unpaid rent, debt collection, telephone bills, etc. All these are concepts that we could call "debts" in one word.

In practice, we encounter the possibility of drawing loans from several sources and of several types:

  • non-bank entities (they provide loans without a register, loans without confirmation of income, non-bank loans on promissory notes, immediate loans, loans within 24 hours, online loans),
  • banking entities (they enable current account overdrafts, provide consumer loans, real estate loans,...),
  • building societies,
  • leasing companies.

Determining the exact causes that lead families into debt is a very difficult task. Despite the fact that many experts are paying a lot of attention to it abroad, it still remains unclear. When searching for causes, we can most often come across:

  • loss of job,
  • loss (death) of a partner,
  • divorce,
  • a larger number of children and others.

As Maly (2002) states, these are far from all the reasons that result in the increasing number of indebted families. Belardi (1996) adds to them:

  • early retirement,
  • unplanned arrival of a child in the world,
  • diseases and addictions,
  • inappropriate way of planning the family budget, etc.

Based on numerous surveys, we can conclude that these are often families with minor children and families with unresolved housing issues. (Porubänová, 1995) Here, one important question comes to the fore, namely, how is it possible that many multiple families or incomplete families, e.g. where one of the parents died, etc. they don't have to get into the debt cycle at all. The answer seems obvious at first glance. Among the many reasons mentioned above, the last one is the most decisive. Basically, it is not so important whether a family member is sick or not. Whether it is a large family or just a family with one child, etc., but what is important is whether the family can effectively manage the financial amount it has available. And this inability is often a stumbling block. Many families' expenses far exceed their income. Only a few of the families know how to navigate the tangle of legal norms and can help themselves in this often hopeless situation. This creates space for us for social counseling.

By social counseling we can quite generally understand a social service relating to a person (individual, family, group,...) in which special professional or practical knowledge, know-how and instructions on how to act are conveyed.

The Act on Social Assistance, which was valid until recently, defined social counseling as follows: "Social counseling is a professional activity aimed at determining the extent and nature of a social emergency, at determining the causes of its occurrence, at providing information about possible solutions to a social emergency and at guiding the citizen in choosing and applying forms of social assistance." (Act No. 195/1998, § 12)

The new Social Services Act distinguishes:

and, professional activities,

b, service activities,

c, other activities. (Act No. 448/2008, § 2)

According to the aforementioned law, social counseling is, among other things, a professional activity.

Social counseling is a professional activity aimed at helping a natural person in an unfavorable social situation. Social counseling is carried out at the level of basic and specialized social counseling and can be carried out in an outpatient form through social counseling clinics established for this purpose and in field form through field programs. (Act No. 448/2008, § 19)

Basic social counseling is understood as assessing the nature of the problem of an individual, family or community, then providing basic information about the possibilities of solving the problem and, if necessary, recommending and mediating further professional help. This counseling should be part of every social service.

In contrast, specialized social counseling is explained as finding out the causes of the emergence, nature and extent of individual, family and community problems and then providing specific professional help. Based on the above, it is clear to us that the family should obtain an enormous amount of information through social counseling, e.g. about how:

  • solve your unfavorable or crisis social situation,
  • assert legal claims,
  • to contact institutions and facilities where social assistance will be provided to her,
  • and others.

Counseling for families with debt problems should involve the work of several professionals. They should provide families with information about their legal rights. We can therefore state that experts from various fields should participate in social counseling as a professional form of assistance. They should mainly be social workers - counselors, but also psychologists, lawyers and economists. Their mutual teamwork at the multidisciplinary level would increase the effectiveness of the entire consulting work. Social counseling for families in debt can be provided by several entities, according to the new legislation on social service providers. (Act No. 448/2008, § 3) Their level is influenced by the structure itself, their organization and staffing. Social service providers (in our case, social counseling) are divided into:

and, public providers,

b, non-public providers.

In relation to clients, which in our case are indebted families, the social counselor should work mainly with the following and similar goals:

  • for families to get rid of debt,
  • to be able to live with the money available to them, i.e. j. led a life commensurate with the amount of their income and
  • so that they do not create any new debts.

However, these overall goals can only be achieved with the help of sub-goals. Because the debts of some families are so high, some of them can be successful in living on the subsistence level. However, some families are unable to live life without constantly incurring new debts. They become long-term clients of the social advisor.

This also results in other, as Belardi (1996) states, society-wide goals, of which we could mention at least:

  • the ability of experts from other professions to recognize the family's need for debt counseling,
  • the causes and consequences of indebtedness should become known to the general lay public as well, in order to prevent further unnecessary indebtedness.

All social counseling as a professional activity should be characterized by certain characteristics. These have the effect that social counseling is significantly different from ordinary, lay counseling, by which we mean "counseling". Among these characters, e.g. Belardi (1996) advises:

  • professionalism,
  • availability,
  • selflessness,
  • the possibility of mediating contacts in case of need for other forms of assistance,
  • impartiality.

List of references

BELARDI, N. et al. 1996. Beratung. Eine sozialpädagogische Einfhrüng. Beltz: Weinheim und Basel, 1996. MALY, A. A. 2002. Tatort Banken. Österreich, Schuldenfalle Europas. Eine Tatsachenverdichtung. Wien: Map Mac, 2002. 158 p. ISBN 3-9051689-0-7 PORUBÄNOVÁ, S. 1995. Supporting options of a non-profit institution as one of the alternatives for preventing and overcoming family poverty. In: Poverty as a social problem. Theory and practice. Bratislava. 1995. Law no. 195/1998 Coll. on social assistance Law no. 448/2008 Coll. on social services and amendments to Act no. 455/1991 Coll. about trade business.

Author: PhDr. Barbora Drexlerová, PhD.

The contribution was made at the International Conference on "Social counseling and supervision as a means of increasing the professional competence of social workers", which took place on April 7-8, 2010. The conference was organized by Vysoká škola zdravotníctva a sociálnej práce sv. Alžbety n.o