Subjective representations of families who have a child with severe disability on the place of social work help within the lawful social support system

This article reviews the representations of families who are raising children with severe disability with social worker help in the lawful support system. This system consists of medical, social and educational sectors that are organized by the government of the Republic of Lithuania. Social work has a short history in Lithuania. Therefore, the study concerns the entire lawful support system with a particular focus on social work. The researchers are orientated towards revealing the subjective representations of families rather than to present objective results; in other words their lived experiences of receiving support. Families coping with severe disability reported that the support received was insufficient. The main problems mentioned were that there was not enough cooperation between medical, educational and social sectors. The most positively represented sector was educational and the least being within the medical sector. The educational system was represented as the most open in collaboration with families compared to other sectors. Problems mentioned in the medical sector were the negative attitudes towards “different” children, often attributing labels to them and not sharing information with their parents. Families did not give any special prominence to the social worker operating in the system. However, families represented a great need for longitudinal supervision and in this role they imagined that the most appropriate professional for such long-lasting... [to full text