Availability of social services in the Ústecký region: case study Šluknov area

The aim of the diploma thesis is to map and evaluate the availability of social services in the Ústecký Region. Special attention is devoted to Šluknov -- an area, which is known as the northern-Czech end of the world and which is also facing social and ethnic problems. Theoretical part of the thesis introduces social services as a part of a social policy, describes their contemporary significance and concept and further confirms their impact on quality of life. It also presents the typology of social services with focus being placed on two selected users groups -- elderly citizens and ethnic minorities. The theoretical part further addresses the legislative grounding of social services in the Czech Republic and introduces a key process of community planning. The practical part of the thesis, based on publicly available data and interviews, analyzes the availability of each type of social services in the Ústecký Region and more deeply maps available social services in Šluknov area according to users groups which were established in the community plan. With respect to the specifics of the district, the thesis concludes that social services are provided in adequate structure. Nevertheless, most of them are situated in central part of Šluknov area, which leads to poor accessibility to residents in marginal areas of the region.