Description
In 2013, the Parish Priest and members of the Diaconia (Service) Commission requested the Foundation to discuss the critical situation of vulnerable people and families at risk in the community where needs were not being systematically being met by any organization. The Commission members also felt that the Parish should strive to do its utmost to be of service to those most in need within the community. Subsequently, a group of 7 parish pastoral workers were invited to participate in a course on OUTREACH Work and Befriending Service it was delivering in Paola Parish for 42 Parish Pastoral Workers. Through this project, a service hub will be created and it will have a drop-in function. It will use the community outreach method used by the Foundation to identify hard-to-reach families; training parish volunteers as project partners; network with community and parish structures and groups and liaise with service providers at national level. By the end of the project, 60 vulnerable families would have been reached and holistically supported. Birżebbuġa makes up just over 16% of the region’s population.
Summary of project results
Since 2010, referral of persons from Birzebbuga to the Foundation have been increasing, despite the fact that the Foundation does not have a family support base there that cater to their needs. The project seeks to identify those needs of vulnerable individuals and families whose rights are threaten, such as women and children experiencing domestic violence, frail elderly who are abused, families sliding into poverty, families with one or more members with chronic mental illness which has been undiagnosed and untreated, women involved in prostitution, very lonely home-bound persons, and immigrant families especially those with a ‘rejected’ statues that have insufficient knowledge and support to access the range of available services. The project goal was to set up a Family Resource Centre (FRC) in the locality of Birzebbuga, a sizeable seaside town in the South Eastern Region in Malta. At the end of the project all the targets were reached: a Family Resource Centre named Enrichetta Centre was set up in Birzebbuga and is fully functional, initially, the project base was established at the Parish Hall, but a longer term project base was identified and refurbished through funds from the Province of the Sisters of Charity; 2 social workers, 1 family literacy/learning difficulties practitioner and a volunteer were recruited; an outreach was undertaken in 49 streets and all shops (target – 3 neighbourhoods); 181 vulnerable individuals from 101 families (the target for this outcome was 60 families) benefited from social work support, mental health consultations and family learning support; through regular outreach work, the project team was able to identify and assist 77 families who did not have access to any family support services; regular project progress review meetings and case discussion sessions were held; a weekly branch was organised to enable vulnerable families needing in-kind support to access services close to their locality of residence; 23 children with literacy problems were assessed and provided with literacy tuition in the presence of their parents, parents were guided to learn literacy strategies to practice at home to reinforce learning; and a LEAP Project summer courses were held at Centru Enrichetta to encourage use of the project infrastructure and facilities by other organisations.
Summary of bilateral results