We implement field social work in Prešov thanks to the National Project - Field Social Work in Municipalities, ITMS: 27120130525 from January 1. 2013 on the basis of Cooperation Agreement no. 256/2012-IZ-5.0/V with the Social Development Fund in Bratislava.

The city of Prešov carries out field social work with the help of field social workers who have completed university education in the field of social work of the first or second degree. They work in three locations of the city: Stará Tehelňa, Pod hrádkom and Tarasa Ševčenka. They concentrated their activities mainly in Stará Tehelna, where we have the largest group of citizens from the marginalized Roma community - about 2,000 inhabitants. They live in apartments with a lower standard. Field social workers therefore carry out their activities directly in this part of the city, in specially adapted uni cells. They focus on professional advisory activities, auxiliary administration for these citizens, who are largely illiterate, and accompany them to offices, institutions, schools and extracurricular facilities. Field social workers mostly deal with:

Social area

  • provide basic social counseling, - accompany the client through the entire case - help the client in defining the problem and the subsequent solution procedure,
  • guide clients to responsible planning of the family budget and help solve financial problems (loans, foreclosures, payment schedules...),
  • they provide comprehensive advice in handling social assistance benefits and their contributions (benefit in material need, housing allowance, family allowances...),
  • cooperate with individual institutions in the territory of the City of Prešov – ÚPSVaR Prešov, city and state police, school and health facilities.

Social and legal protection and guardian

  • work with families to eliminate truancy, contribute to improving communication between parents of minors and teachers,
  • they regularly inform families about enrollments in kindergartens and elementary schools, accompany school workers in enrollments in the community,
  • they work with families to ensure good family care for minors (health advice, prevention of pathological phenomena, help with educational problems in families),
  • they help victims of domestic violence and cooperate with relevant institutions in solving these cases.
  • they provide basic social counseling to families in which there are pathological phenomena (alcoholism, drugs, gambling).

Housing

  • explain the procedure for submitting applications for an apartment, repeated tenancy, joint tenancy, permanent and temporary residence, registration and de-registration of persons in the household,
  • help clients in solving rent debts, protect clients from possible consequences related to non-payment, help with the creation of payment schedules,
  • cooperate with the manager of apartment buildings in ensuring necessary repairs and emergency situations.

The experience of implementing social work in the field is encouraging. From January 2013, when the implementation of this project began, until the end of the school year, i.e. until June 2013, the school attendance of children in primary school improved. Field social workers are informed by teachers about the attendance and school results of individual students. In case of problems with these pupils, field social workers resolve the deficiencies with the children's parents.

Solving rent arrears by writing agreements on rent installments in reasonable amounts has also proven effective for us, and thus we prevent eviction and loss of accommodation for these problematic citizens.

Professional employees from the People in Need foundation have success with children from MRK in the afternoons, during free time and holidays. They organize sports and cultural events, summer camps, compete in knowledge quizzes, dancing, singing and drawing.

In this work, we also applied file documentation about each family and each of its members separately. We record there interventions, knowledge, experience, problems and suggestions for their appropriate solution.

Although we have only been implementing the project since January of this year, we believe that field social work among citizens from the marginalized Roma community is bringing its successes. We plan to continue the work. We have prepared other projects in which we also want to employ parents from this community with small handicrafts, who mostly belong to long-term unemployed citizens and at least this way they can contribute to the solution of their employment. Thus, it seems that the current implementation of field social work in the city has held up with this population group.