Social Stores as a New Form of Support for Families Threatened with Exclusion Due to Poverty

Abstract

Poverty of families is one of the most serious social problems faced by the modern world, therefore various ways of counteracting it are being sought, one of which is the establishment of social stores. The topic of social stores is still little known in Poland, as evidenced by the establishment of only one such facility so far. The Austrian and German experiences show, however, that this is an effective solution in the fight against poverty-related exclusion and that it is worth using on a larger scale. The article attempts to analyze the functioning of social stores in terms of counteracting the social problem of family poverty. The article moves from theoretical considerations on poverty and the exclusion of families for this reason to the description of social stores as an effective tool for counteracting poverty. The literature on family poverty was reviewed and the basics of social work in the field of counteracting exclusion in Poland and the European Union were described. The summary of the article contains recommendations that may constitute the basis for setting the directions of social work in the area of family support.