Introduction of Quality Standards into social and legal Protection of Children from the viewpoint of Social Workers employed by Institutions in Charge of social and legal Protection of Children

The diploma thesis named Introducing quality standards for social and legal protection of children from the point of view of social workers of the institution of social and legal protection of children enables an insight into the issue of how social workers of the institution of social and legal protection of children view the introduction of quality standards for social and legal protection of children. The amendment of Act No. 359/1999 Coll., on social and legal protection of children, has brought significant changes in the activity of institutions of social and legal protection (OSPOD / BSLPC), especially in the field of applying instruments of social work. The conditions for a quality performance of the contents of this responsible work are created by means of standardisation. Standardisation means determining obligatory procedures in the performance of particular management activities as well as minimum parameters for a quality performance thereof (Macela, 2012). The thesis is divided into several parts. The first chapter defines the basic terms of the subject in question. The thesis is devised theoretically and draws on relevant professional literature. It deals with the specifications of social and legal protection of children (SLPC), what kinds of principles of social and legal protection of children there are, the SLPC social workers, the conditions for the performance of the profession of SLPC social workers. Further, the chapter explains terms of quality, social work, the family and the child. It defines perception and which factors may influence perception. Appropriate attention is given to the legislation of quality standards for the institutions of social and legal protection of children, the content and objective of quality standards of the institutions of social and legal protection of children, the process of standardisation and the availability of social and legal protection and the conditions for the performance thereof. The second chapter determines the objective of the thesis and research questions. The third chapter characterises the set examined and the methodology of work chosen for this purpose, the techniques of collecting data, analysis of data and the realisation of the actual research, including the ethics of the research. The fourth chapter deals with the outcomes of the thesis. The main objective of the thesis was to identify how social workers perceive the introduction of quality standards for social and legal protection of children. To achieve the objective of the thesis, I chose the strategy of the qualitative research, method of questioning and the technique of a semi-structured interview. The interviews were realised in the course of July 2016 in the research sample of ten staff members of the institution of social and legal protection of children who work at the position of a SLPC social worker in communities with extended powers, situated in the Region of South Bohemia. The communication partners were chosen by the method of purposive sampling. Based on the objective of the thesis two research questions were set up: Which factors influence the perception of social workers of the institution of social and legal protection of children within the introduction of quality standards for social and legal protection of children? Which aspects of the introduction of quality standards for social and legal protection of children are perceived by social workers of the institution of social and legal protection of children as positive or negative? As has emerged from the research, the changes resulting from the introduction of the standards that social workers of the institution of social and legal protection of children regarded as positive included the improvement in workplace equipment and setting a limit for the number of families that a social worker may work with at one time. The majority of social workers gave a positive evaluation to the introduction of supervision. Work quality has been