The Issue of Social Services for Families with Children with Down Syndrome

The topic of the bachelor thesis is the issue of social services for families with children with Down syndrome as a target group for social services. The theoretical part defines the concepts related to Down syndrome and associated mental retardation, concepts related to social services, education and its interconnection with the social services system in the Czech Republic. The theoretical part of the thesis includes a list of social services and their providers that families with children can theoretically use together with other helping organisations. This part of the bachelor thesis fulfils two objectives: to map social services for families with children with Down syndrome and to map the providers of these services. The third objective of the thesis, to find out the experiences of families with social services, is fulfilled by the practical part of the bachelor thesis, which was carried out in the form of qualitative research using the method of semi-structured interviews with families with a child with Down syndrome. To achieve the results, three research questions were set: What organisations in the Czech Republic provide social services to families with a child with Down syndrome? What social services do these families actually use? Are these social services perceived by families as sufficient? The results of the survey show that families with children with Down syndrome are aware of social services and their providers and some of them use them or know that they will in the future. It is also evident that if they combine the use of social services with the services of helping organisations that focus specifically on children with Down syndrome, their service needs are currently met and the services are perceived as sufficient thanks to the complementary helping organisations