This article presents a case study from the Czech Republic exploring how service users experience and implement participatory and individualised approaches in the context of Family Support Services. Drawing on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with service users using a Family Support Service, the study examines conditions that support and hinder meaningful involvement in individual planning. It identifies key barriers to effective participation including low levels of education, poverty, mistrust towards professionals, and limited professional reflexivity, while also pointing to the importance of trustful relationships and responsive, context-sensitive support. Findings suggest that while participatory practices are formally embedded in service provision, their realisation in practice is often hindered by systemic pressures, paternalistic attitudes, and narrow interpretations of professional roles. The study underscores the need to strengthen the reflective capacity of social workers and to create organisational conditions that enable authentic user involvement in the planning and delivery of social services. This research adds to the growing body of international literature on participatory social work by offering context-specific insights from a post-socialist welfare setting. The findings have relevance for European contexts seeking to integrate participatory principles into the performance of social work and to support long-term empowerment of marginalised families.