Aim of the study is to provide an insight into the experience of residential care from the perspective of beneficiaries and experts. The data was collected in two male residential units. The results show that adolescents and caregivers tend to have a negative attitude toward residential care. Adolescents are even more skeptical about the purpose of treatment since they experience shortcomings in the activities and the methods of treatment, as well as monotony and stigmatization by the local community. Caregivers highlight their disappointment regarding the inadequate intervention system and the complexity of working with children with multiple risks and problems.

Adolescents in educational institutions are one of the groups of children whose voice is seldom heard, who have fewer opportunities to participate, and face more obstacles when they want to participate. Furthermore, growing up in out-of-home care often increases the children’s vulnerability and endangers their participatory rights in terms of obtaining adequate information on the course of care, the opportunities to participate in decisions relevant to their life and care, the impact on the quality of care, etc. The aim of this paper is to describe adolescent participation from two perspectives: prescribed and formalized in the form of beneficiary councils in educational institutions and in the form of adolescent’s experiences in institutions. A qualitative approach was used, and the data were obtained from focus groups with adolescents, as well as from descriptions of beneficiary councils through online questionnaires. The results shed light on the importance of adolescent’s rights but also on the lack of their fulfilment in educational institutions, especially when it comes to participation. Adolescents’ participation in educational institutions is perceived as limited, characterized by restriction and a lack of choice, which results in decreased motivation for participation. Beneficiary councils, despite being regulated in terms of legislation, are not considered a significant form of child participation in educational institutions.

Previous research findings indicate that intervention systems for children, youth and adults in risk should focus simultaneously on the individual with the problem and his/her family. Therefore, gaining new knowledge on families at risk and development of new interventions and services present a permanent research and professional challenge. This research is supplement of bigger study "Specific characteristics of families at risk: contribution to complex interventions planning -FamResPlan", funded by the Croatian Science Foundation. The objective of this research was to gain insight into experiences and perspective of professionals working with families at risk, concerning following characteristics of the families: resilience, readiness for change and readiness for intervention. Two groups of professionals were included in study-those working in public sector (social welfare center) and those working in civil sector. Data were collected through focus groups in specific neighborhood in Zagreb. Participants were mainly female, working closely with families at risk. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results show that professionals recognized spectrum of complex needs of families at risk, concerning individual needs of certain family members, but also of family. The existing intervention system is characterized as inadequate to meet those needs, especially in public sector that often lacks basic resources. The nongovernmental sector is perceived as more flexible and progressive. Perspective of professionals who work directly with families is important not only for practical reasons (creating interventions) but also from methodological aspect in planning further research with families. Lesson learned from professionals is that research should be supported by immediate intervention for certain family.

Considering the ratio of male and female professionals in social pedagogy, a smaller number of male professionals is no‑ ticeable. In an effort to expand the understanding of this social phenomenon, research has been conducted that is inspired by the deliberations on the characteristics of men who choose to become social pedagogues and how they feel about studying and working in a profession where women are the majority. An additional significance of this topic is that it is mostly unexplored in the context of social pedagogy. The aim of the paper was to explore the experience of studying social pedagogy from the perspective of male students. A qualitative approach was used in the research in which the data was collected by using the focus group method. Focus groups included thirteen male students of undergraduate and graduate studies of Social Pedagogy enrolled during the academic year 2015/2016. The results indicated that male students who enrolled in the study of Social Pedagogy are motivated by their interest in criminology and penology subjects and the uniqueness of social pedagogical work. Participants noticed positive discrimination towards male social pedagogues in employment and work. The results also pointed to student satisfaction with the study programme and their experience of increasing personal awareness during the study. Since Social Pedagogy is focused on taking care of individuals/groups, it is important to consider the impact of professionals’ gender roles in their everyday work. Accordingly, the paper focuses on the professional and personal perspective of male social pedagogues and thus contributes to the development of new topics related to gender roles and professional identity of social pedagogues.