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.

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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.

In this paper, the authors deal with the education of girls in a Croatian correctional institution as a risk factor for social exclusion based on the data obtained via semi-structured interviews with experts and the girls and via the documentation analysis method. In this regard, the paper deals with two perspectives, i.e. the girls’ and experts’, in the context of risks related to schooling, intertwining these risks through the past, present and future, according to the stories of the research participants. The authors compare the perspectives given and explore the questions related to possibilities of the education of girls in correctional institutions.