Peculiarities and practice of social services for families with disabled children in Lithuania

ENThe article reveals the problems of providing social services to families with disabled children, the lack of individual and comprehensive assistance. The main indicators are analyzed, which are identified as opportunities for assistance in the provision of social services. Curently Lithuania seeks to discover a complex assistance mechanism that would ensure the successful functioning of families raising disabled children in public life. This is not enough, because the provision of social services requires a systematic inter-institutional cooperation and process, that brings together the individual segments responsible for the well-being of families raising a child with a disability. Purpose – the aim of this article is to reveal the peculiarities of the provision of social services for families with disabled children and the need for services in Lithuania, based on theoretical analysis. Design/methodology/approach – peculiarities of social services provision and practice in Lithuania are analyzed, systematic and logical analysis of scientific literature is performed. Finding – the analysis of the scientific literature allowed to identify the main features and practices of social service provision.Research limitations/implications – the limitation of the study is that too little attention is paid to the features of social service provision that the literature describes as important for families raising children with disabilities. Practical implications – the results of this study can be useful for the government, municipalities in making decisions that would help to create a systematic mechanism for the provision of social services to families raising children with disabilities. Originality/Value – based on the results of the analysis of scientific literature sources, the author of the article identified the main features of the provision of social services and assistance opportunities for families raising children with disabilities.