Help to family encompasses three types of assistance:

• help for home, including professional counselling for family relationship and functioning
• domestic help including social care for persons with disabilities, elderly and others, which can provide an alternative for institutional care and 
• social servicing including help with domestic and other chores in certain cases, namely in case of birth, illness, disability, old age, accidents

HELP TO FAMILY FOR HOME

Help to family for home includes professional counselling and help to re-establish family relationships, professional counselling and help in caring for children and educating the family in performing its daily functions.

Individuals and families are entitled to this service if social distress and difficulties result from disturbed family relationships and can only be improved by changing the inter-family relationships, in cases where a family seeks professional counselling and help in caring for children and the family’s patterns of interaction and its knowledge do not suffice to eliminate the problems and in cases where social distress suffered by two or more family members necessitates more permanent support and guidance to ensure normal conditions for maintaining and developing the family.

There are two conditions for the service to be provided, namely the assessment that the family members are motivated to make necessary changes in their social roles and the adoption of the co-operation agreement.

Help to family is provided by the social work centres.

DOMESTIC HELP TO FAMILY

Domestic help to family includes:

• domestic social care and
• mobile help.

Domestic social care

is intended for beneficiaries who have living and other conditions provided in their living environment but cannot look after and care for themselves due to old age or severe disability and their family members cannot provide such care.

The service covers different forms of useful help and services that offer beneficiaries a temporary alternative to institutional care in an institute, other family or through other organized forms.

The service is adjusted to the needs of an individual beneficiary and includes:

• housework assistance
• assistance in personal hygiene
• assistance in maintaining social contacts.

Domestic social care is intended for persons whose remaining physical and mental abilities enable them to maintain an adequate mental and physical state and who can function in a familiar living environment if organized temporary assistance is provided to them; thus, at least for a given time, they do not need institutional care in an institute, other family or other organized form.

Mobile help

is a type of professional help provided at home, ensuring persons with mental and physical development disorders professional treatment at home. It depends on the beneficiary’s needs and also focuses on their family members. It encompasses tasks and procedures for correcting disorders and counselling and therapeutic work. It is aimed particularly at special pedagogics, social and psychological treatment and employment.

Persons entitled to mobile help are children, youth and adults with moderate, severe or serious mental or physical development disorder to whom this service provides an alternative to guidance, care and employment under special conditions or institutional care and in respect of whom the improvement of their condition or maintenance of acquired knowledge and abilities can be expected. 

Domestic help to family is provided by entities to which the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs grants the authorisation for carrying out the service. 

SOCIAL SERVICING

Social servicing includes help with domestic and other chores in case of childbirth, illness, accidents and in other cases where such help is necessary for the inclusion of a person in everyday life. But social servicing is not part of public service.

It includes, for example, bringing of prepared meals, shopping and bringing food and other necessaries, preparing fuels, buying stores for the winter, laundry and ironing, maintaining the apartment surroundings, thorough apartment cleaning and repairs, furnishing, organizing different kinds of companionship, chiropodist and body care services and maintaining appearances, caring for pets, supervising medicine intake, safeguarding and supervising the user’s condition during the night.

The user is every person who orders certain part of the service and assumes the liability to pay the service and expenses associated with its provision.

Service providers are entities to which the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs grants the authorisation for carrying out the service.