Supporting family as a form of family support

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyse the functioning of supporting families. They play an important role in the process of supporting the natural family experiencing difficulties in caring for and bringing up children. In their work with the family, they carry out tasks related to the care and education of children, running a household, shaping and fulfilling social roles. Supporting families are appointed and function on behalf of the commune pursuant to the Act of 9 June 2011 on supporting the family and the foster care system. The article presents legal aspects and figures on the performance of supporting families. The legal aspect includes the performance rules, the recruitment scheme, taking into account a number of requirements and the scope of tasks performed by supporting families. The statistical data presents an analysis of the trends of changes regarding the number of functioning families, the time spent by children in the care of supporting families and the number of supported families. Supporting families become each time more popular form of support for a natural family experiencing caring and upbringing difficulties. By embracing a family with support, members of the supporting family play the role of the authority of behaviour for parents and the role of a “positive adult” model for children. The supporting family is a model of parenting, an authority in fulfilling social roles, a guide for the change made and a teacher of everyday family life. By implementing the entrusted tasks resulting from the Act and the contract concluded with the head of the commune, the supporting family supervises the overall development of the family as a system and its individual members.